A wildlife trust is aiming to bring back rare bitterns to Staffordshire by spending £25,000 on buying a quarry.
Staffordshire Wildlife Trust wants to buy 130-acre (5.2 sq km) Tucklesholme Quarry, near Barton-under-Needwood, and turn it into a nature reserve.
According to the RSPB, bitterns disappeared from Britain in 1886
The birds began to reappear in 1910 and their numbers picked up, before declining again. In 1997, there were just 11 males
Grahame Madge, RSPB spokesperson, said more was now known about the birds' habitats and efforts were being made to encourage stable inland breeding populations
So far the trust, which has been fundraising since early November, has raised £18,000 for the project.
The trust believes bitterns, which were once extinct in Britain, have not bred in the county for more than a century.
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