A row over the sacking of one of the country's top conservation bosses will not affect the running of the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust.

The decision to get rid of Dr Simon Lyster, director general at the Wildlife Trusts' UK office, was met with a storm of protest which has been followed with a call for his reinstatement.

Among those backing the protest movement is conservationist Dr David Bellamy and wildlife expert Sir David Attenborough. They have been joined by trusts in several counties.

But WWT director, Dr Gary Mantle, made it clear that the departure of Dr Lyster from his £60,000 a year job will not affect Wiltshire.

He said: "The WWT is an entirely separate charity from the Wildlife Trusts.

"WWT has its own council of trustees and its own sources of income, which are unaffected by developments in the Wildlife Trusts partnership.

"We work with the other 46 Wildlife trusts across the UK, particularly with our colleagues in the South West. We were aware that changes at UK Office were inevitable because of limited financial resources, as well as the need to reflect the devolution of government in the UK.

"This has meant that increasingly, environmental decisions are now being taken in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast as well as in London."