Rare species seen at Cheshire’s Wybunbury Moss nature reserve after restoration project

A number of rare animals have returned to a nature reserve after a restoration project aimed at improving its biodiversity.

Natural England leased the fields neighbouring Wybunbury Moss, near Crewe, Cheshire, from the Church Commissioners for England in September 2023.

As part of its work to restore them, the organisation stopped the use of fertiliser on the fields, reintroduced grazing by livestock and restored hedgerows.

Since then, 169 species have been recorded at the site, Natural England said, with several locally rare and threatened birds, mammals and insects among them.