Prince looked natty at official opening (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Prince looked natty at official opening

8:12am Tuesday 15th May 2007

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The Prince of Wales showed off his green-fingered talents yesterday - in fetching lilac gardening gloves - as he opened a groundbreaking new nature reserve near Malmesbury.

The Prince, joined by the Duchess of Cornwall, planted rare wildflowers at the new Lower Moor Farm visitors centre, part of a £1 million project developed by the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust.

And there were smiles all round when Camilla grabbed the traditional green gardening gloves which staff had laid out for the job, leaving her husband to don the natty lilac ones that had been meant for her.

The couple planted common spotted orchids which will help the fragile eco-system of one of the last remaining havens for traditional wildflower ecosystems in the West.

And the Prince of Wales backed plans revealed yesterday by conservation bosses to buy yet more farmland to turn into a huge wildlife corridor which could end up running for 20 miles along the county border on the edge of the Cotswolds.

The Prince arrived on the outskirts of the village of Oaksey for a mile-long stroll through the wildflower-rich meadows of Clattinger Farm, which were bought ten years ago from a family who eschewed modern farming methods for decades, allowing the conservation of original natural habitats.

Picking his way carefully through rare green-winged orchids, cowslips, milkwort and buttercups, the Prince received a guided tour from Wiltshire Wildlife Trust boss Gary Mantle and conservation expert Paul Darby.

A grey and drizzly day burst into life as soon as the Prince arrived. The second he stepped from his car, the sun came out and the rain stopped, sparking a shimmering riot of colour just above the grass, as butterflies and bees emerged into the warm rays.

Then Charles was shown the new Lower Moor Farm nature reserve next door, which the Trust bought for £1.3 million two years ago, which contains some of the nation's only remaining habitats for scarce lesser-bearded s toneworts, herons, shimmering blue damselflies, rare fritillaries and orchids.

At a reception to thank the trust supporters who donated hundreds of thousands of pounds to help the purchase, the Prince joked that today was his lucky day.

"It's given me a wonderful opportunity to walk through Clattinger Farm, which I first did in 1997, not long after the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust managed to buy it, to see the orchids," said the Prince.

"Thankfully we did see some orchids today and it reminded me that I found, when I was here last, I collected an enormous amount of seeds in the turn-up of my trousers, which I experimented with when I got home."

The Prince went on to warn that climate change posed the biggest danger to mankind in the world and congratulated the trust for taking steps to preserve habitats against the challenges brought by global warming.

"The growing impact of climate change with natural systems being disrupted means increasingly our landscapes are not fit to cope anymore. Small, isolated pockets can no longer provide the protection needed for wildlife," the prince said.

He called on the public to back the trust's attempts to raise funds to buy Sandpool, another farm next door, to increase the size of the nature reserve with the aim one day of joining the north Wiltshire sites up with the Cotswold Water Park's nature reserves to create a 20-mile corridor of wildlife stretching from near Malmesbury to Lechlade.

Wiltshire Wildlife Trust director Gary Mantle said: "The success of this project means that in 1997 there were 1,600 snakeshead fritillaries on Clattinger Farm, now there are 20,000.

"With this visitors' centre we want to inspire people to lead a greener lifestyle."

The Prince toured the centre, which was built with the idea that it should create habitats for wildlife rather than destroying them ; it has a grass and wildflower roof, nooks and crannies for bats and utilises solar power to heat the building.

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