A BID to restore rare heathland at a Kidderminster nature reserve started last week.

Worcestershire Wildlife Trust is felling trees at Devil's Spittleful Nature Reserve.

It is one the few extensive areas of lowland heathland in the county.

But its survival is threatened by an increasing loss of healthland spots as young birch, oak and pine have grown up and are shading out areas of heather.

The project, which runs for the next three years, will involve the clearance of 8.5 hectares of woodland.

Reserves officer Steve Procter said: "Two hundred years ago large parts of north Worcestershire were heathland covered with heather, ling and gorse.

"So much has been lost, it is essential that we care for the fragments which still remain."