A POWYS wildlife charity has been boosted by an anonymous £10,000 donation towards an ambitious new project aimed at helping wildlife fight back and tackle climate change.

The Radnorshire Wildlife Trust’s (RWT) ‘A Wilder Pentwyn Appeal’ was launched last month with the aim of helping to breathe new life into an upland area of Powys.

The RWT took out a loan in 2021 to buy 164 acres – about the size of 80 rugby pitches – of land at Pentwyn, near Llanbister Road, as a way to fight climate change, river pollution and flooding across central Wales.

The trust now needs to raise £1 million to secure the future of the land, and were boosted this week after an anonymous donor chipped in with a contribution of £10,000 – which will be made up to £12,500 thanks to Gift Aid.

Radnorshire Wildlife Trust patron Iolo Williams with chief executive James Hitchcock at Pentwyn.

“We are very grateful to have received a significant donation of £10,000 towards our Pentwyn Appeal,” tweeted the RWT on Wednesday morning, August 10.

“A huge thank you to this very generous donor.”

With around £550,000 having been put into the original pot, the campaign has raised approximately £20,000 in a month, with 67 donations made – including the generous £10,000.

One supporter, Ellis Roberts said: “I love Radnorshire as a second home, and I'd be delighted to help retrieve this piece of country from the EU's poisonous nitrogen green.”

Another, Debbie Tann added: “The Pentwyn project is a real inspiration and we need bold action like this to help put nature into recovery. Well done RWT.”

The RWT was loaned £1.5m by four individuals to buy Pentwyn. The trust says it has already secured grants and expects to receive a generous legacy and has now set out to raise £1m to secure the future of Pentwyn.

“The land at Pentwyn will be transformed from an intensively farmed landscape into a humming, buzzing and chirruping oasis where the calls of threatened birds can be heard once more," the appeal website reads. "It lies beside other wild land so there is good potential to help wildlife thrive again across a wider area by expanding and connecting wild habitat.

“We will allow natural habitats to grow back, creating wetlands, scrub and potentially some new woodland, as well as increasing flowering plant numbers and diversity, so that the land is better able to store carbon and help tackle the climate crisis.

“By restoring nature, the land will also retain more rainwater, filtering it and releasing it more slowly – helping keep the nearby River Lugg clean and healthy.”

The RWT says additional funds are also needed to restore the land.

You can donate to the Pentwyn appeal, which has so far raised £570,538, at https://www.rwtwales.org/appeals/wilder-pentwyn-appeal

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