Staffordshire Wildlife Trust

Stanton Grasslands Project

Restore contributed to the acquisition by the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust of 90 acres of high quality grassland habitat in north-east Staffordshire. Unimproved grassland is a nationally declining habitat and has been recognised as being of great importance in both national and local Bio-diversity Action Plans. Thorswood, the land for sale, represented a significant landholding within the Stanton Grassland project area.

It demonstrates a number of habitat types and is almost unique in Staffordshire, supporting acidic, neutral, and calcareous grassland within the same site. Although a significant area of the land was listed as a Grade 1 site, it did not receive statutory protection and in the hands of other landowners could have been agriculturally improved and the diverse grassland community lost forever.

Orchids. Photo: © Colin Hayes

Photo © SWT

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