Manx Wildlife Trust to manage Internationally Important Creggans Nature Reserve in Sulby Valley - Manx Wildlife Trust

Manx Wildlife Trust (MWT) has secured the long-term management of a site known as Creggans above Tholt y Will in the upper Sulby Valley, after the 46-acre site was purchased by a private donor for conservation as a nature reserve.

MWT will manage the site for at least the next 21 years. The Creggans is one of the most important waxcap grassland sites on the Isle of Man, supporting an internationally significant assemblage of grassland fungi.

Waxcap grasslands are among the world’s most threatened habitats. They depend on unimproved pasture that has not been ploughed, reseeded or intensively fertilised in many decades. Creggans escaped post-Second World War agricultural intensification, allowing an exceptional fungi community to persist and flourish to this day.

Surveys have recorded numerous rare and globally vulnerable species at the site, including Ballerina Waxcap, Crimson Waxcap, Golden Spindles, Oily Waxcap and Violet Coral.

The striking green tones of the Parrot Waxcap make it one of the most recognisable fungi of species-rich waxcap grasslands. Although not as rare as some of the site’s other species, it is an iconic indicator of long established, low-intensity pasture managed in balance with nature and is still declining across Europe.