AN ambitious project to restore traditional wetland on Longdon Marsh has been set back by a series of targeted attacks.

The project, launched by Worcestershire Wildlife Trust three years ago, reached a milestone this spring with the completion of engineering and landscaping works.

This enables storage and distribution of water around the site, which will restore a wetland habitat to the marsh, progressively drained for agricultural use since the 1860s.

But since Easter, equipment on the nature reserve has been deliberately damaged and destroyed. Water held in a storage lagoon was released, the pumping mechanism damaged and dipwells used to monitor the water table destroyed.

In other incidents, a concrete slab was dropped onto technical monitoring equipment and a caravan temporarily on the site was burnt down.

Repairing and replacing the equipment is likely to cost the trust tens of thousands of pounds.

Police are investigating the incidents and the trust hopes local people may be able to help.

Spokesman Kate Thomas said they could not imagine who had carried out the attacks.

But she said: "We're hoping that if people read this they will be as disappointed and shocked as we are and perhaps may come forward if they have heard or seen something related to the attacks."

She added the main problem was the effect the loss of water on site would have on the breeding season for wading birds.

The trust had hoped that this year could be a trial run for introducing the birds, but this has now had to be postponed until 2006.

"You only get one chance a year and because we now can't get water on the site, it's totally banjaxed that," she said.

Anyone with any information should call police on 08457 444888.