The fight for the willow tit and the importance of protecting scrubland

We meet the man trying to preserve a dying species in Wigan

Good morning members — today’s story is a lovely piece by Jack Dulhanty, a first-time Mill writer. He went to Wigan Flashes, a nature reserve made up of eight shallow wetlands formed as a result of mining subsidence. There he met a man who has dedicated his life to helping the willow tit — an urgently endangered species. Jack’s story somewhat confounds our normal assumptions about what kind of countryside we should be working to preserve.