THE FIRST images of how a converted Whitchurch scrapyard will look in its new life as a nature reserve have been released.

Shropshire Wildlife Trust have plans in place to turn the former Furber’s Breakers Yard in Whixall into the reserve and have set up a £500,000 appeal for funds.

Luke Neal, community officer for Shropshire Wildlife Trust, believes the project will educate residents on the importance of a restored Mosses, and is looking forward to getting going.

“Shropshire Wildlife Trust is very excited to be going ahead with cleaning up this polluted site,” said Luke, who is based with Shropshire Council.

“We look forward to creating a vibrant visitor centre to allow people to learn about the Mosses and their restoration – one of the rarest habitats on Earth.”

Luke added that he hopes the project will have begun by this coming March, with around a year set aside to clear the site before the visitor centre can be built in the third year of the project.

The Trust needs to raise £500,000 to clean more than 50 years of use as a scrapyard, before they begin to fill the land with peat and convert it into a bog.

When the project was first announced, Colin Preston, CEO of Shropshire Wildlife Trust, said: “It has taken years of investigations, negotiations and planning to come to this point.

“Taking on a project of this scale as a local charity is a massive deal.

“But if we don’t step up and do this, nobody will and the scrapyard will continue to damage this wild and important place.”

Funds are being made available to the trust, and the work is part of a wider £5 million five-year project for restoring habitats across the Mosses.

To make a donation online visit www.shropshirewildlifetrust. org.uk or text YARD16 £5 to 70070.