WILDLIFE havens across the county will see the benefit of new funding for Devon Wildlife Trust.

The charity has secured £500,000 to help its work for the future of some of the region's most valuable natural habitats.

The funding from Biffa Awards' Flagship Scheme, which will be paid over three years, is set to fund the charity's Working Wetlands project to restore, re-create and re-connect precious culm grasslands of North Devon.

In West Devon, the main target area is Hollow Moor. Other areas include Knowstone and Witheridge, and the Torridge and Tamar headwaters.

Devon Wildlife Trust's land manager Matt Boydell said: 'We have a track-record of working in north Devon's wildlife-rich culm grasslands, which stretches back more than 20 years.

'This funding will help us build on this. Our targets are ambitious: we plan to restore 780 hectares of grassland to make it better for wildlife including species such as the marsh fritillary butterfly and the lesser butterfly orchid. We plan to re-create more than 60 hectares of wildlife-rich grassland in places where it is now absent. We'll also be restoring more than a mile of Devon's hedges.'

The funding is also enabling the trust to 're-wet' 400 metres of Bude Canal at its Dunsdon and Vealand nature reserves, near Holsworthy. The canal's new water-bodies will then act as a vital wildlife resource for dragonflies, frogs, toads and grass snakes.

Mr Boydell said: 'The funding is allowing us to do work for wildlife which would otherwise have remained beyond our reach. It will give us the opportunity to work with local volunteers, with local farmers and land managers, both on our nature reserves and across the wider north Devon countryside. It's very exciting news for us and for north Devon's natural environment.'

Gillian French, Biffa Award programme manager, said: 'Devon Wildlife Trust's Working Wetlands project will play a vital role in recreating and protecting native culm grassland and rare associated species in Devon, and we are delighted to help it come to life through the Biffa Award Flagship Scheme.'