Creating new havens for butterflies and barn owls, establishing new wetlands and saving the under-threat juniper tree are among the exciting projects to benefit from a funding boost of over £130,000.
Thirteen community-led projects across Hampshire and Sussex will be receiving a ReNature grant from the South Downs National Park Trust to help restore biodiversity.
It comes as the ReNature initiative enters its third year with an ambitious goal of creating 13,000 hectares of new habitat to help wildlife flourish, as well as improving existing nature havens in the National Park.
Among the projects will be creating a new wildflower meadow at Twyford, near Winchester, to help encourage butterflies and small mammals. At Slindon, in West Sussex, hedgerows will be restored to help bird species, such as blue tits and yellowhammer, while in Lewes work will take place to restore a chalk stream and provide more wetland habitat for species such as dragonflies and lapwings.
At Queen Elizabeth Country Park, near Waterlooville, there will be a concerted effort to bring back the juniper tree, one of Britain’s three native conifer species that has struggled in recent decades across the UK due to diseases and poor seed quality. Adapted to chalk downland, it supports a host of unique insects and fungi, such as the juniper carpet moth, and is an important food source for thrushes and fieldfare. The project will save the country park’s last two juniper trees and plant a wildlife corridor of more than 100 juniper trees.
Jan Knowlson, Biodiversity Officer for the National Park, said: “ReNature is about creating nature everywhere, for everyone, and involves establishing new wildlife havens and improving existing habitats such as chalk grassland, heathland and woodland.
“The biodiversity crisis is not going away – one in six species are now at risk of being lost in Great Britain and the figure from a decade ago was one in 10.
“The time for action is now and that’s why these grants are so important.
“The National Park is doing a lot of work with major landowners around establishing new habitats, but there’s also an incredible amount of work taking place in the community on smaller-scale projects. Often these smaller projects struggle for funding and that’s where a ReNature grant can make a huge difference.”
The list of local projects to benefit are:
Community Cut and Collect scheme in the Western Downs in Hampshire – provide a cut and collect machine for the local ranger team that will be available to landowners and organisations. The machine encourages the growth of wildflowers to help bees and butterflies. £43,754
Saving the juniper tree at Queen Elizabeth Forest, Hampshire – the rescue of the last two remaining juniper trees in the forest. An area of the commercial plantation will be cleared, returned to chalk downland, and planted with more than 100 juniper trees. £2,925
The ReNature initiative is being led by the National Park Authority in partnership with the South Downs National Park Trust, the official charity for the National Park. Significant funding has been generated through donations and grants from the public and private sector, as well as National Lottery funding.
To help with the fundraising and to donate visit www.southdownstrust.org.uk
Future rounds of applications for ReNature grants may take place. To be put on the notification list please email grants@southdowns.gov.uk
For more information contact: www.southdowns.gov.uk