Country diary: The sight - and smell - of a habitat success story | Paul Evans

The Marches, Shropshire: The wonderful Stiperstones nature reserve now includes two sites from a community organisation, with a welcome focus on restoration, not just protectionA shower of rain finds Nipstone Rock. After days of oppressive heat, there's a scent released from the heath: peaty earth, heather, glistening stone. Smell is an associative sense and, like a shared memory, we're returned to a place from an earlier age that is refreshed - innocent yet fiercely "singular", as Tom Wall, who was the first warden of the Stiperstones national nature reserve (NNR), puts it.This feeling of restoration is why we're here. Rain dampens a group of conservationists at the Nipstone Rock, but not their enthusiasm to celebrate new additions to the Stiperstones NNR, tripling its size. Tony Juniper, the chair of Natural England, says the extended Stiperstones is number 11 of the 25 new NNRs that are being created under the "King's series" banner. The series marks a change: from 70 years of traditional protection of remnants of wildlife habitats to a focus on the ecological restoration of landscapes and creating a jigsaw of places for communities and the natural world. Continue reading...