Press Release

Wakehurst place top collector for RSPB

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has acknowledged Wakehurst Place, Ardingly, as one of the top collectors in the region after banking over £2000.

Visitors to the Wakehurst Place gardens and the Millennium Seed Bank have donated £2161 to the RSPB over the last two years through the purchase of enamel bird pin badges. These are displayed in a counter top box for a suggested donation of £1 each and their popularity has been astounding.

Shaun Taylor, a volunteer for the RSPB who collects the takings from the boxes in West Sussex, said: “The amount of money collected at Wakehurst Place is exceptional, way ahead of other collections hosted in my area, and an indication of the high level of interest visitors have in conservation of wildlife in their local environment.”

Wakehurst Place, managed by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is home to the Millennium Seed Bank and 500 acres of formal gardens, exotic plant collections, natural woodlands and wetland conservation areas. Located at Ardingly, four miles north of Haywards Heath, West Sussex, it is open daily, from 10am, except December 24 and 25. Admission is free for children under 17. For more information, telephone 01444 894066 or visit www.kew.org/wakehurst.

-ENDS-

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