A NATURE reserve will be restored after receiving thousands of pounds to give it a new lease of life.

Environment-body Yorventure has handed over £14,000 to Yorkshire Wildlife Trust to help work go ahead at Askham Bog Nature Reserve.

This support will help the charity and its volunteers to carry out essential maintenance, as well as install new features.

Specialist contractors will help to dig out the ponds and ditches and restore the open water, handing a big boost to the rare wildlife found at the site, including water violets, great crested newts and water voles.

Brian Lavelle, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s Living Landscapes Manager, said: “Askham Bog is a beautiful nature reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest.

“It was gifted to the Trust in 1946 by Messrs Terry and Rowntree.

“Seventy years later, Askham Bog provides a green lung to south western York and is a valuable natural asset for local residents.”

New visitor facilities will also be installed as part of the changes.

Information signs, and benches will help everyone make the most of their visit, a new gateway and improvements to the exit boardwalk will also improve access for visitors to the unique reserve.

The changes will allow them to see some of its rarities such as the royal fern, without having a detrimental effect on them.

The nature reserve is a well-respected educational and research resource, while the flora and fauna found at Askham Bog is of national importance.

The Trust works regularly at Askham Bog with the help of local volunteers and other groups to manage the reserve for wildlife and help its many visitors learn more about the environment and the Bog’s residents.

Sir David Attenborough visited the site in the summer and described the nature reserve as a ‘cathedral of nature conservation which should be held in the same regard as York Minster’.

The bog - which Sir David visited - is not particularly big: less than 110 acres in size. It formed on the site of an ancient lake left behind by a retreating glacier 15,000 years ago.

The Romans cut the peat to burn, and by medieval times monks were also using it as fuel, reducing the dome of peat to its present level.

More than 300 plant species are to be found there.

For more details and for details about volunteering visit www.ywt.org.uk