Local Wildlife Sites are locally important sites for the conservation of wildlife. They’re identified and selected for the significant habitats and species that they host.  

Local Wildlife Sites come in all shapes and sizes, from vast open marshes and winding river valleys to small wildflower meadows and secluded ponds. They can be ancient woodlands or 20-year-old recently created habitat. They’re home to many of our native plant and animal species including some rare, declining or protected species.  

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Only around 10% of land in Cheshire and Warrington is classed as wildlife-rich. Even more alarming is that only 3% is legally protected – the remaining 7% has little or no protection. This means that the natural value of these sites is easily undervalued or overlooked, putting them at risk of being earmarked for development, housing and infrastructure in the planning system.   

If we don’t protect potential Local Wildlife Sites now, they’re more at risk of being lost at any moment.   

The steps we need to take to get a Local Wildlife Site designated:  

1. Write to the landowner for permission to access the land.  

2. Survey the land carefully during spring and summer when most species are active.  

3. If it meets the criteria, submit a report to the Local Wildlife Site’s Partnership for consideration.  

4. Once designated, add the site to the Local Wildlife Site register so that its true value for nature is recognised in future decision making.  

This can take up to a year to complete – which is why it’s so urgent we start the process now. It costs roughly £1,765 to identify, survey and designate a site.

We urgently need to raise £35,000 to start work on 10 potential Local Wildlife Sites this year. The more we raise, the quicker we can act and the more sites we can save. 

We need donations urgently to designate and protect these at-risk sites. 

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Thanks to our supporters, in 2024 we were able to:  

• influence several major developments including one impacting Helsby, Frodsham and Ince marshes Local Wildlife Site.   

• spend months mapping all the habitats on Local Wildlife Sites in Cheshire as part of the Local Nature Recovery Strategy.  

• fight hard to try to defend Longridge Local Wildlife Site in Knutsford, spending six days giving evidence at the planning inquiry.  

We did all of this, and much more, with limited staff capacity in our Evidence and Planning team. Your support would help us dedicate the time and resources needed for this vital work. 

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There are around 1,100 Local Wildlife Sites across Cheshire West & Cheshire, Cheshire East, Halton, Warrington, and Wirral.  

Examples include: 

Kerridge Hill Local Wildlife Site near Bollington is a wonderful example of the species-rich grassland that once covered Cheshire and the surrounding Peak District. Sadly, 99% of species-rich grassland in Cheshire have been destroyed, making precious places like this even more important to protect and defend for pollinators such as the threatened Wall and Small Heath butterflies and for its unusual plants such as Mountain Pansy, Burnet Saxifrage and Adder’s tongue fern.

Dane-in-Shaw Coronation Meadow near Congleton is a Local Wildlife Site   and is one of the few remaining unimproved grasslands in the UK. This means it hasn’t been heavily fertilised or ploughed in the past, so an array of wildflowers such as Ox-eye daisy and yellow rattle are able to thrive there. Close to the iconic backdrop of the railway viaduct, This meadow will soon be bursting with colour and teeming with life.

Others include much loved locations such as:

• Earl’s Eye and Handbridge Meadows (Chester Meadows) which boasts an impressive assemblage of warblers 

• Astbury Mere, Congleton with an array of orchids and butterflies 

• Delamere Forest, including sites where CWT have reintroduced the white-faced darter dragonfly  

• Budworth Mere,Marbury, with its reedbed which plays host to over-wintering bitterns 

• Millington Clough, near Altrincham one of the last refuges for the water vole 

Laura Saker-George, Conservation Officer at Cheshire Wildlife Trust, says:

"When I surveyed Millington Clough back in 2022, I remember arriving at a beautiful scene of a meandering stream bounded by a floodplain fen covered in marsh marigolds and steep-sided wooded banks carpeted with native bluebells. I felt privileged to be in such a special place, where less than a mile south of the M56, all you could hear was a chorus of birdsong.  

“Once the surveying season was over, I spent weeks typing up my reports for this site and the others I’d visited during the last year. Seven months later, we approved Millington Clough as a LWS at the Partnership meeting. The designation of this site felt particularly precious, because the elusive and highly threatened water vole was recorded here. This mammal is declining both locally and nationally, making any remaining sites vital for their survival in Cheshire.  

“Millington Clough’s LWS designation meant that the site's true value for nature is understood and protected in Cheshire’s planning system. Doing this sort of work makes me feel incredibly proud to work for Cheshire Wildlife Trust, knowing that I’m doing my part to protect nature in Cheshire." 

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