AS with all things in life, money is an important part of the fuel which drives the conservation works in Wyre Forest.

Fortunately, this year the district council has been awarded funds through English Nature and a lottery grant scheme called "Tomorrow's Heathland Heritage".

This has allowed Wyre Forest District Council to carry out extensive heathland conservation works at Burlish Top.

These works have involved using a giant "lawnmower-type machine" to cut and collect large areas of gorse, broom and birch scrub.

Prior to such large works, small areas of a variety of heathland management methods were under trial.

These included digging shallow scrapes and filling them with heather cuttings, plus the excavation of the topsoil to expose the underlying sandy mineral soil.

Following inspection by local and national experts from English Nature, the wildlife trusts and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the cutting technique was found to have the best results.

The heathland heritage programme is also providing funds to carry out work to enable a small patch of heath next to Whittall Drive in Kidderminster to be declared a new local nature reserve.

The planned works aim to make the site safe by removing tipped materials and damaged trees, to help block access for the burning out of cars and illegally ridden motorcycles, and to also conserve the heath by controlling invasive scrub.

Money may be important to conservation, but almost of equal importance is the understanding and co-operation of residents.

To this end, various educational events have been run on the heathland sites throughout the years to highlight the national and even international importance of Kidderminster's lowland heathland nature reserves.

However, in my opinion, there has been no more heartfelt education activity than the play that was performed by the pupils of Birchen Coppice Middle School last month.

The children delivered a humorous play about the perils facing the rare and often overlooked habitat, to members of the Birchen Coppice and Rifle Range community.

I feel that both the pupils and hopefully their audiences understood the message about the value of these heathland sites and I have renewed hope that Kidderminster will indeed take forward into the future its beautiful heathland heritage for future generations to enjoy.