More than £13,000 is to be spent on protecting the county s meadows and the wild flowers, birds and butterflies which live there. Conservation work by The Wildlife Trust will take place on eight sites in the county – three of them in Huntingdonshire. The

More than £13,000 is to be spent on protecting the county's meadows and the wild flowers, birds and butterflies which live there.

Conservation work by The Wildlife Trust will take place on eight sites in the county - three of them in Huntingdonshire.

The Magical Meadows project will benefit Upwood Meadows near Ramsey, Arthurs Meadow south of St Ives, and Houghton Meadows.

Emma Pollard, business development manager at The Wildlife Trust, said: "The project will provide vital support for all sorts of amazing wildlife, and will benefit people all across the county, with hundreds more visitors enjoying these havens thanks to the improvements."

The funding for the project includes £7,000 from the Landfill Communities Fund of Waste Recycling Group, £5,000 from the Linley Wightman Shaw Foundation, and £1,100 from Volvo Construction Equipment Ltd.

At least 97 per cent of the areas present in 1939 have been destroyed because of intensive agriculture and development.

The Magical Meadows project will enhance more than 100 acres of Cambridgeshire meadows. Left unmanaged, the meadows would be colonised by scrub and thistles.

Other meadows to benefit from the project include Chettisham Meadow near Ely, Fulbourn Fen and Skaters Meadow near Cambridge, Soham Meadow and Southorpe Meadow near Peterborough

INFORMATION: For more details visit www.wildlifebcnp.org