THE most wonderful thing about wildlife is its amazing diversity.

In Britain alone there are over 1,000 different plant species and tens of thousands of different animal species, when one takes into account the multitudes of different insects.

There is even the possibility of as yet undiscovered species still lurking in some hidden corner.

In the Wyre Forest district alone there are many different habitats with their own unique variety of wildlife.

The local nature reserves of the Wyre Forest District Council are a good example of some of these different habitats.

Habberley Valley, for instance, has a mixture of semi-natural ancient woodland and acid grassland, while Burlish Top and the Rifle Range are covered in a lowland heath. Spennells Valley and Redstone Marsh both have a wet grassland and meadow habitat, while Springfield Park in Kidderminster has a variety of fresh water and meadow.

When walking through many of these reserves the wildlife around you seems completely natural and you think would require no interference from man to sustain its present levels of wonderful wildlife.

However, in many cases this is far from true.

Nature is always trying to follow the rule of succession hereby any patch of land when left completely alone and away from the influences of man will strive to change itself into a woodland. The process is known as "natural succession".

Man has been around in the natural world and influencing the environment around him through his agriculture and various domestic needs for over 10,000 years, and during this time his influence on the landscape has created various habitats which today appear to be completely natural.

Heathlands, for instance, were generated in areas of poor soil, often declared as common land, which were regularly harvested for timber for firewood.

Meadows were formed by less intensive grazing regimes.

With these methods being carried out regularly for thousands of years, large quantities of our wildlife have evolved and adapted to living in these conditions depending on the influence of man to complete the natural cycle.

Since the Second World War, with the advent of intensive farming and many mechanised processes, these old management regimes have fallen into disuse with the land either being developed for other purposes or just being abandoned.

It has now become the job of Countryside Services to try to save what remains of our meadows, marshes and heaths by mimicking the way these areas used to be managed and to constantly keep in check the young trees that constantly threaten to overgrow these areas.