THE WELSH Wildlife Centre in Cilgerran has received £10,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to make its buildings more sustainable and increase the number and diversity of visitors.

The money will be used by the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales (WTSWW) for an options appraisal project which will focus on improving the WTSWW Visitor Centre, infrastructure and ancillary buildings at the Teifi Marshes nature reserve, Cilgerran.

The aim of the project will be to strengthen the trust's financial resilience, increase the number and diversity of visitors, particularly during the off peak seasons and making the WWC buildings more sustainable.

"We are grateful to Lottery players for this opportunity to invest in the Welsh Wildlife Centre," said Sarah Kessell, WTSWW chief executive.

"Income from our visitor centres helps to fund our conservation work and so directly benefits local habitats and species.'

WWC and the Teifi Marshes is one of the trust's flagship nature reserves and welcomes over 80,000 visitors per year. The 300 acre reserve has four nature trails and is home to some of Wales' iconic species of wildlife including kingfisher, otters and red deer.

WTSWW are hopeful that the options appraisal will be the first step to improving the visitor experience and efficiency of the Welsh Wildlife Centre.

The options appraisal and other research collected during the duration of the project, which will run until June 2020, will be used to submit a full project application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the funding to implement the recommendations and to raise funds to match the HLF application.