A HAMPSHIRE wildlife centre will be transformed into a must-see visitor attraction, thanks to a £83,600 award from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The money has come for the Hawthorn Wildlife Centre on Southampton Common - where work can now begin on a £127,000 revamp project.

Plans for the centre - on the former Southampton zoo site - include creating interactive displays, improving accommodation for fish and mice, and building a new reception area.

Dr Lin Hand, Southampton City Council's natural environment manager, said: "We're very excited. A lot of people have been waiting a long time for this and a lot of work has been done.

"The whole point of the Hawthorns is to give information about the Common and the wildlife, but since we opened in 1990 we have had to make do with putting up displays ourselves or talking to people, and it hasn't been easy to give information to visitors. It was always planned that there would be information available if you looked round and looked at displays - and now that's going to be possible at last."

Displays will guide visitors through the building to reveal the past, present and future for the Common.

Features will include full-colour graphic panels, push-button displays, feely boxes, artefact drawers, listening posts with recorded information and videos.