Theresa Sadler at hedgerow

»An eight-month campaign to save an important hedgerow from destruction has been hailed a success.

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Primary schoolteacher Theresa Sadler, 32, made it her own personal fight to save the home to a host of birds, mice, voles, shrews and the protected dormouse.

It was last autumn when she noticed council staff hacking away the hedgerow, as part of routine maintenance work. It borders the recreation ground off White Post Lane, Culverstone.

Her persistence was recognised at a tea party on Friday when a blue plaque from the People’s Trust for Endangered Species and Natural England was unveiled at the site.

She said: “It is an important green corridor. In the end the success actually came down to a few nibbled nuts. When the experts studied them they realised they could only have been made by dormice and they are a protected species. Work was halted and the remainder of the hedgerow saved.”

A council spokesman said: “We had no idea of dormice activity there and we stopped work as soon as Miss Sadler raised it and we are happy to co-operate further.”