RARE birds and plants on East Lancashire's moorland are to receive VIP treatment as a massive pipeline project marches across the county.

Gas company Transco is laying a 30km pipeline from Samlesbury to Helmshore which will cross designated biological heritage sites -- home to important wildlife habitats.

A detailed plan has been put into place to ensure that four areas -- Darwen Moor, Cranberry Moss, Aushaw Moss and Musden Head Moor -- bear no lasting trace of Transco's presence. Once laid, the entire 30km pipeline will be buried underground.

The strategy will ensure that plants such as deer grass and northern dock can continue to flourish and that rare bird habitats are protected.

Brian Parmenter, Transco's contracts manager, said: "We commissioned a study into the ecology of the moorland areas and this showed they are very important for a wide range of flora and fauna.

"As a result, we have drawn up a special construction strategy for these areas."

This will see grass, heather and the top layer of peat carefully removed from the path of the pipeline. These turves will be stored and kept moist while a trench is dug and the pipeline welded and laid into it.

The peat will then be replaced and its recovery monitored by an ecologist over at least five years.

All the machinery used on the moorlands will travel along special timber mats which will distribute their weight evenly to prevent them compressing the peat below.

Brian added: "In addition to rare plants we have found these areas also support a number of species of upland bird, including red grouse, snipe, curlew and skylark.

"We will only have trenches open for a few days on each stretch of moorland and will be seeking to cover our tracks as quickly and completely as possible to ensure that plants and wildlife are disturbed as little as possible."