As March came to a close there was a spell of sunny weather that had us all stripping down to our shirt sleeves. Men were seen wandering around supermarkets in shorts and flip-flops as the temperatures soared to 17 degrees.

On the Lancashire Wildlife Trust’s mosslands reserves, volunteers dressed in woolly winter hats and fleeces suddenly found themselves overdressed after months of wet and chilly weather.

It was perfect for 20 of our friends from HLF to come out and plant cross-leaved heath plugs on Astley Moss. Cross-leaved heath is a major nectar plant for butterflies that have become extinct in many areas of the North West.

[quote]“Thanks to National Lottery players, HLF has funded a massive part of the works on the mosslands, helping us to buy mosses damaged by peat extraction for more than a century and restore them.”[/quote]

The planting sessions were the first part of major reintroduction plan for these butterflies onto mosses close to Manchester, Salford and Wigan.

And it was great to see the HLF staff as, thanks to National Lottery players, HLF has supported a massive part of the works on the mosslands. They have helped the Wildlife Trust to buy mosses damaged by peat extraction for more than a century and restore them.

It means that not only is your National Lottery money going into restoration on your doorstep, the people who work for HLF are doing their bit as well.

Return of wildlife

It has led to the restoration of landscapes for wildlife and the return of creatures like the buzzard, brown hare, bog bush cricket, common darter dragonfly and roe deer.

Before the work party arrived, I spotted two roe deer heading off into woodland on the moss. I just couldn’t get close enough to grab a picture.

As the gang worked away a buzzard was gracefully gliding on the therms, a hundred feet above us. Birds of prey are common over the mosses seeking small mammals that inhabit the wet and grassy carpets. More than 50 species of bird are recorded on the Chat Moss area every month of the year.

[quote]“There is a huge variety of wildlife on this area just a few miles from the centre of Salford.”[/quote]

While we were on the moss, a common lizard appeared basking in the first rays of spring sunshine. There is a huge variety of wildlife on this area just a few miles from the centre of Salford.

The warm weather meant sunny smiles all around but this is generally the case on work parties whatever nature throws at us. Passion, enthusiasm and a love of wildlife are all musts for the 750,000 volunteers working for the Wildlife Trusts across the UK.

Find out more on the Lancashire Wildlife Trust website.