A Natural England-funded nature recovery project on heathlands in the West Midlands has won the Public Sector Award at the West Midlands Combined Authority Natural Environment Awards.

The Purple Horizons Nature Recovery Project is led by Natural England with partners including local councils and wildlife trusts and aims to connect Sutton Park National Nature Reserve and Cannock Chase Special Area of Conservation.

The initiative was announced as the winner at the West Midlands Combined Authority Natural Environment Awards earleir this month. These awards aim to recognise excellence within organisations in the West Midlands for protecting, restoring and enhancing the natural environment.

The project extends across 10,000ha and is creating a "mosaic of heathland, wetland, woodland and grassland", Natural England said, which is vital for the recovery and long-term resilience of the area's reptiles, birds and pollinators.

Julie Button, Natural England's project manager for the Purple Horizons Nature Recovery Project, said: "We are very proud the Purple Horizons Nature Recovery Project work has been recognised with this important award.

"The Purple Horizons Nature Recovery Project is about delivering a great place for nature and people to thrive while tackling the adaptations and mitigation needed for climate change."

Purple Horizons Nature Recovery Project

The area is home to more than 500,000 people within two miles and the project aims to reconnect these people with the local nature.

Project partners have said they are working with local communities in Walsall to understand their needs and where habitat creation and green infrastructure will provide health benefits.

The project aims to enhance the geodiversity in the Black County UNESCO Global Geopark and provide new information signs and boards for visitors.

Natural England said the project has so far:

Kick-started the restoration of 21ha of important heathland, acid grassland and lowland meadow in its first year;
Funded machinery to enable seed collection, mowing, scrub-control and further habitat restoration, some of which is suitable for volunteers to operate;
Worked closely with the Black Country Geopark team in order to capitalise on the unique underlying geology of the area and its considerable importance in the development of the rare lowland heathland habitat;
Has developed new interpretation panels to explain the importance of the geology and the underlying soils to the restoration of heathland in the area;
The project partners are also exploring opportunities for community engagement and the development of health and wellbeing programmes to ignite local interest in the common land and nature reserves in the Purple Horizons project;
A rare nobel jewel wasp has been discovered, demonstrating that climate change is affecting the spread of this species, allowing it to move further north.