Bid to raise £240k to buy orchid meadows

An appeal has been launched to raise £240,000 to buy two Shropshire meadows "to safeguard them for future generations".

The flower-rich meadows next to Minsterley were of "county and national importance", according to the land trust of volunteers hoping to own them.

Another group of enthusiasts, Marches Meadow Group, said the sites featured 5,000 Green-winged orchids - 99% of all those known to exist in the county.

About £90,000 has been raised so far and the trust has until October to secure the money.

The two groups said the meadows, which adjoin Callow Lane, had been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Janet Cobb, from Middle Marches Community Land Trust, said people were "very interested in this" and there had been "fantastic public engagement".

She said seeds from the orchids could potentially be harvested and used to create many other orchid-rich meadows around Shropshire.

Peter Carty, chair of Marches Meadow Group, said the Green-winged orchid used to be a very common plant, but had "declined a lot".

He added: "That also tells us that these meadows have got special soils with complex fungal relationships that we need to do nature recovery and habitat restoration in other meadows that... [the group is] working on."

Mr Carty said nature had declined "significantly in Britain".

"We need insects to be pollinators to pollinate our crops. We need to see nature, enjoy nature, to feel health and wellbeing," he said.

"We need our soils to be in better condition. We need our rivers to be in better condition.

"This project is part and parcel of putting a jigsaw piece in the future map of a much richer landscape in nature."

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