Manx Telecom is to sponsor Manx Wildlife Trust’s Cooildarry nature reserve just outside Kirk Michael in the first arrangement of its kind between MWT and a local business.
The venture will see Manx Telecom support the maintenance programme for the reserve and will also involve Manx Telecom staff helping out with work on site, reflecting the company’s ongoing commitment to caring for the environment and giving back to the community.
Cooildarry is an area of woodland of around seven hectares that was planted predominantly in Victorian times. As well as many varieties of tree such as elm, ash, alder, sycamore and beech, it contains rhododendron and cherry laurel and sports a magnificent display of flowers such as bluebells, buttercups and primroses each Spring.
Ongoing work at the reserve includes the removal of some of the invasive species such as montbretia and controlling the rhododendron. Manx Telecom staff volunteers will get to test out their green fingers on a Wild Work Day in late May under the guidance of MWT Conservation Officer Tricia Sayle, with further events planned later in the year.
Manx Telecom CEO Gary Lamb said the sponsorship was a way for Manx Telecom to proactively move forward on some of its environmental goals as well as help MWT with its conservation work.