English Nature was supporting Essex Biodiversity Week yesterday at Tiptree Heath site of special scientific interest.

Tiptree Heath is the county's largest surviving heathland where drastic management works have had to be undertaken to restore areas of heath to the site which were in danger of being lost under scrub and woodland.

Tiptree Parish Council, Colchester Borough Council and residents have removed scrub and scraped back the soil to allow new heather to germinate and grow in the open.

Now these areas are becoming purple again and once more slow worms and common lizards have returned and butterflies and bees are feeding on the heather.

Another aim is to get back adders on the heath which have disappeared over the last decades.

Visiting the area on Friday Baroness Young of Old Scone, chairman of English Nature said: "We cannot afford to delay action to bring back the heaths of the past and I am delighted to see how far the restoration work at Tiptree Heath has already helped towards achieving the heathland recreation targets for Essex.

"Commons and greens were once the focus of so many Essex villages and towns and to neglect them now would be turning a blind eye to the vital part they play in the biodiversity of Essex, England and Europe."

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