A rare wetland habitat is set to be created in one of Chester’s most popular parks to benefit the local community and wildlife. Proposals for The Chester Wetland Centre were publicly announced at a packed launch event, held in the University of Chester.
The project aims to turn an area of the Countess of Chester Country Park into a wet meadow, full of wildlife and educational material.
Behind the scheme is Dr Christian Dunn, a wetland scientist, “straw free Chester” pioneer and senior lecturer from Bangor University, and Andy Scargill, chair of the park’s active friends group.
Dr Dunn, who lives in Chester, said: “Wet meadows used to be an iconic part of the British landscape but unfortunately they’ve become pretty rare nowadays.
“The Chester Wetland Centre – as we’re calling it – aims to create a wet meadow habitat in an area of the park which is often flooded, but unfortunately doesn’t have much biodiversity.”
“It’s going to take a lot of work over several years, but hopefully not only will we see an abundance of plants and wildlife on the site, we’ll also be able to use it to show people just how important wetlands, like wet meadows, are to us all, “ Dr Dunn added.
Mr Scargill said: “This is going to be a big project and the first job is to start fundraising to make sure it can happen.
“We also need to pull in as many different organisations, groups and individuals as we can because we want to make this a real community project and link up with all the other fantastic environmental projects going on around the city.”
“So far we’ve had a tremendously positive response to the Chester Wetland Centre from organisations including Bangor University, University of Chester, Chester Zoo, the Environment Agency, the Land Trust, Cheshire Wildlife Trust, the local authority and Chris Matheson MP,” Mr Scargill added.
Dr Dunn and Mr Scargill officially launched the project at the University of Chester with the help of Dr Servel Miller from the university’s Department of Geography and International Development.
If you would like to know more about the Chester Wetland Centre please email friends.coccp@gmail.com .
The Chester blog 