THE town of Kidderminster is very fortunate in that it has some wonderful wildlife.

There are, of course, both the impressive heaths with their spectacular and rare wildlife and the wet woods and marshlands along the Stour and its tributaries.

Away from the obvious wildlife mecca, there are some real gems to be found. I have seen otters in the parks and even around the urban areas on the fringes of town.

A variety of species of bats can be frequently found almost everywhere. There are also many magnificent veteran trees including some of our rarer native species.

Frequently, it has been the case that Kidderminster has been the focus of much attention by bird watchers as rare species have turned up, while many unusual species are very happy to make Kidderminster their home.

As well as these more easily recognised wildlife gems, Kidderminster is home to some really rare and intriguing wildlife that, for the most part, goes by completely unnoticed. One example is a plant called Tower Mustard, which grows along the verges of Kidderminster and not many other places in the world.

Like plants, insects are also frequently overlooked. One of these is a wonderful animal known as the Hornet Robberfly. At just under 30mm in length with a large yellow abdomen, this beasty is rather spectacular.

While superficially resembling a wasp or hornet, the hornet robberflies are totally harmless to humans, only eating other flies and the larva of dung beetles. Unfortunately, throughout the country the habitat of scattered dung in sandy pastures is rapidly declining and, without intervention, this animal is facing extinction.

In Kidderminster, it has been found living in meadows around the Hurcott area. This land, while having a recognised high wildlife value, is not under the stewardship of the Wildlife Trust, Wyre Forest District Council or any other public body. Yet, it desperately needs to have controlled grazing on it to generate the dung the robberfly needs in order to live.

Last year, English Nature fenced the land and the Wyre Forest grazing animals' project put some cattle on the land. Unfortunately, the fencing was vandalised and the cattle were chased. Therefore, for their safety, they had to be removed.

They are due to return this year, but a plant that's far from rare, ragwort, has been having a good year and has infested the hornet robberflies' field. This is of no great concern to the robberfly itself, but it is poisonous to cattle. Its presence in such numbers threatens to prevent the cattle returning, thus there will be no dung, which the hornet robberfly needs in order to survive.

The only option would be to hand pull the ragwort, which is quite a tiresome job. At the moment it is proving to be a task beyond the capacity of the conservation staff. So, if you do have a some spare time on your hands and fancy lending a hand to help one of Kidderminster's wildlife rarities, please call Martin Quine, the grazing animals ranger on 07813 6653963.