Award for community wildlife team

The project will be awarded £1,500 to boost their conservation work

A community project in Norfolk has won a national award for recreating a wildlife-rich river valley.

The Little Ouse Headwaters Project has helped to restore wildlife habitats for frogs and newts to the Little Ouse.

The project's chair, Dr Jo-Anne Pitt, said the scheme aimed to protect a unique landscape and its wildlife.

The award is from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management Living Wetlands.

The scheme was founded by members of five parishes and is run by local volunteers of all ages.

Cash boost

"We are a voluntary organisation with no paid staff, so this success will be a great encouragement to everyone who has devoted time to the project over the last few years," Dr Pitt added.

The judges of the award said the scheme had created valuable wildlife habitats within a landscape that benefits the local community.

Managers of the Little Ouse Project will be awarded £1,500 to boost their conservation work and a bronze trophy of a snipe.

In the future it is hoped the scheme will benefit birds of High Conservation Concern such as the turtle dove, song thrush and marsh tit.