Chessington World of Adventures has pledged £20,000 towards preserving wildlife living in hedgerows.

The theme park has its own conservation fund, which has fully funded the Surrey Wildlife Trust’s ‘hedgerow heroes’ project, which focuses on educating communities in Surrey and training them to look after their hedgerows.

A survey taken by the People’s Trust for Endangered Species between 2009-11 showed 93 per cent of hedges in Surrey were in a poor condition for wildlife.

Richard Hunt, of the Surrey Wildlife Trust, said: “Hedgerows are vital places for wildlife. They provide homes and green highways for animals such as hedgehogs, bats and dormice which use them to travel between woodland patches which characterise our landscape.

“Hedgerow Heroes will help us to restore one of the most important and iconic parts of our landscape – hedgerows.

“With Chessington Conservation Fund’s support we will be able to launch this project and through volunteers right across the county and start to understand and protect these incredible habitats.”