WILDLIFE is being encouraged in local cemeteries and graveyards.

Bat and bird boxes have already been installed at borough council sites, now the authority has pledged more protection by joining Cheshire Wildlife Trust's corporate membership scheme.

"There is a great deal of wildlife living in our cemeteries and around our headstones. Our association with the Trust will ensure that any wildlife that we have around will be treated with the respect that it deserves," said Mary Slinn, cemetery and crematorium manager.

Some 80 companies have signed up with the Trust scheme.

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