THE public can take a behind-the-scenes look at a multi-million pound canal restoration project.

The Canal and River Trust is inviting the public to visit the £4 million project to restore a section of the Montgomery Canal on the Shropshire - Welsh border, near Oswestry.

On Thursday, July 5, the Trust will be host two guided tours at 11am and 2pm to see the new Aston Locks Nature Reserve, which is being created next to the canal to provide a protected home for birds, wildlife such as damselflies, dragonflies, otters and water voles, and rare aquatic plants like Floating Water Plantain Luronium natans.

Canal & River Trust project manager, David Hennessey, said: "On Thursday, July 5, we welcome the opportunity to host a ‘hard hat’ day and take members of public behind the scenes of this amazing project."

Trust ecologists and engineers will explain the works and show how the plants and animals are being transferred into the new nature reserve from the main line of the canal.

The project is being funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), supported by the Montgomery Canal Partnership, and delivered by the Canal & River Trust, which cares for the Montgomery Canal and 2,000 miles of waterways in England and Wales.

Known for its outstanding natural beauty, wildlife and heritage, the Montgomery Canal runs for 35 miles between England and Wales.

The canal is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest on both sides of the border. The whole length in Wales is also recognised as a Special Area of Conservation.

Funding for the restoration programme was announced a year ago and since then good progress has been made towards upgrading nearly five miles of towpath, restoring 1¼ miles of the canal to navigation from Maesbury to Crickheath and creating a dedicated turning point for narrowboats, known as a ‘winding hole’.

This will enable boats to return to the area for the first time since 1936 when the canal was closed.

The Canal & River Trust works with 15 partner organisations which make up the Montgomery Canal Partnership.

The Partnership aims to restore the canal fully within the next decade as a haven for people and nature.

Only around half of the canal is currently navigable but, with the help of Shropshire Union Canal Society volunteers, this latest major phase should be completed by 2020.

Mr Hennessey added: "The Montgomery is a special canal and its restoration has required a special solution. The absence of boat movements over the last 80 years has allowed the man-made channel to become colonised by a wide range of rare flora and fauna.

"By creating a new three hectare wildlife habitat, we will be able to protect and conserve these species for generations to come, while enabling boats to return by excavating the main channel into a navigation again."

Places on each the free guided tour are limited to a maximum of 20 people and can be reserved in advance at www.eventbrite.com/e/aston-reserve-behind-the-scenes-tour-tickets-47205806839 .

Participants are asked to meet in the carpark at Queens Head, near Oswestry, by 10.45am and 1.45pm, and wear sensible footwear. The guided tour will last about 90 minutes and involve walking about c.3km.

For more information, viait www.canalrivertrust.org.uk.