VITAL work to increase the range and number of wildflowers at a nature reserve near Sourton will go ahead this winter thanks to support from the Biffa Award.

Sourton Quarry nature reserve was once a thriving limestone quarry, but since its abandonment in 1906 it has become a wildlife haven and its spoil heaps have become a home to plants that thrive in the nutrient-poor limestone soils.

The rusty-back fern, black knapweed, wild strawberry, great mullein and fairy flax are some of the plants known to have grown well on these heaps.

The rich wildflower communities, typical of neutral grassland, attracted rare beetles and butterflies. The heaps developed into light, open woodland whose fruiting hazel attracted dormice.

But the slopes have now been invaded by scrub, much of it alien cotoneaster, and the wooded areas are losing their ground flora due to lack of light. The Biffa Award grant will allow the Devon Wildlife Trust to deliver an intensive programme of scrub removal and woodland thinning while raising the reserve's profile locally.

Devon Wildlife Trust thanked Biffa Award for the grant towards conservation work.: 'DWT will be able to raise the reserve's local profile and engage local volunteer groups to take an active role in the site's future and ongoing management, whilst carrying out the important conservation work.'

The Biffa Award is a multi-million pound fund which awards grants to community and environmental projects across the UK. The fund's money comes from landfill tax credits donated by Biffa Waste Services. The scheme is managed by the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts on Biffa's behalf.