MORE than £67,879 has been awarded to Gloucestershire Wild­life Trust to help people discover the beauty of some of the Forest's most secret places and to get 'hands on experience of wildlife'.

The money, from the Forest of Dean Local Local Action Group (LAG), is means the trust has employed two members of staff, in addition to an existing Forest of Dean nature reserves manager to deliver this new project.

The three members of staff are Kevin Caster, Rosie Kelsall and Neil Lodge.

Rosie Kelsall, the community wildlife officer, explained they'll be working with partners like the Forestry Commission to deliver:

•'Hands on' activities like pond dipping for newts or meeting the sheep grazing at the Trust's little known Stenders Quarry reserve in Mitcheldean.

•Helping re-do parish maps, last done more than 35 years ago back in 1974. These will be habitat maps showing hedges, field sizes, walls and fences and should demonstrate the changes between then and now.

•Explanation panels at some of the Trust's reserves. The most well known are Lancaut and Ban-y-Gor in Tidenham, but the Trust also leases between 12 and 14 lesser known reserves from the Forestry Commission.

"There's the beautiful but secret Woorgreens Lake, situated a stone's throw from Speech House in the heart of the Forest," says Rosie.

"Then there's Ridley Bottom just off Rosemary Lane in Tidenham, three tiny meadows full of wild flowers. And Clarkes Pool Meadow near Blakeney which is so full of green winged orchids in spring you can barely put your foot down without stepping on one."

There will be opportunities for local people to get involved in both the practical survey and monitoring work

"This is a really exciting project," says Rosie. "There's so much wonderful wildlife to discover in the Forest of Dean, from beautiful bluebell glades, woodland rides full of heather and amazing autumn colours! We want to people to discover the wildlife of the Forest, as well as the picnic spots, walks and fantastic attractions!"