England needs a massive \u201ccollective endeavour\u201d to halt the country\u2019s nature decline, its top conservation official says, after multimillion-pound investments in nature helped dormice, voles, willow tits and other species thrive.<\/p>\n
Targeted conservation projects led by Natural England<\/a> as part of its \u00a313m species recovery programme\u2019s capital grants scheme, have supported the recovery of 150 species, according to findings published on Wednesday.<\/p>\n As part of the work, conservationists relocated more than 15,000 individual animals and plants to expand species\u2019 territories, and bred more than 12,000 individual invertebrates, mammals and birds in captivity for release into the wild.<\/p>\n According to Natural England, rare species have returned to areas they have not been seen in for generations.<\/p>\n The hawksbeard mining bee (Andrena fulvago) has been spotted in wildflower meadows in East Sussex for the first time in a century. Photograph: Henk Wallays\/Alamy<\/p>\n In Hastings, East Sussex, the rare hawksbeard mining bee was discovered for the first time in a century buzzing between blooms in newly created wildflower meadows. In Northamptonshire<\/a>, Cheshire, Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire, projects created new wetlands, ponds and bankside habitats for water voles, including 420 that were captive-bred and released to help increase population numbers.<\/p>\n In Kent, a chough chick hatched for the first time in 200 years<\/a> thanks to an extensive captive breeding programme and supervised release. In total, projects have created or enhanced over 2,400 hectares (5,930 acres) of wildlife-rich habitat, Natural England said.<\/p>\n The agency is holding a celebration event on Wednesday at Brandon Marsh in Warwickshire<\/a>, where the once rare Eurasian bittern is making a recovery with the help of a new habitat of deep pools and reedbeds created as part of the species recovery programme.<\/p>\n The once rare Eurasian bittern is making a recovery in Warwickshire thanks to new habitats. Photograph: Ben Andrew\/PA<\/p>\n In a keynote speech hailing the success of the programme, Natural England\u2019s chair, Tony Juniper, will say the successes show what is possible with a \u201cjoined up, collaborative approach\u201d to conservation. \u201cWe know we can turn round species decline and improve ecosystems with the right targeted actions, the drive and the funding,\u201d he is expected to say.<\/p>\n \u201cBut time is running out fast \u2013 turning round nature\u2019s decline needs to be a collective endeavour, so this is not just the preserve of dedicated specialists. Nature recovery work needs more projects, more volunteers and more money to flow from all sources, particularly the private sector. It will also need to go hand in hand with improved environmental quality, including through reduced pollution.\u201d<\/p>\n Centuries of industrialisation and intensive agricultural practices have left the UK one of the world\u2019s most nature-depleted countries, with thousands of once endemic species no longer to be found, and thousands more on the brink of extinction.<\/p>\n Similar processes now accelerating around the globe have led to ecologists warning the world is on the brink of ecosystem collapse, with urgent action needed to reverse course.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n The planet’s most important stories. Get all the week’s environment news – the good, the bad and the essential<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n To support this crucial work in the UK, Natural England is publishing a threatened species recovery actions guide, which will address the needs of more than 1,000 of England\u2019s most threatened species. Natural England plans to extend the species recovery programme for up to four years to act on its recommendations.<\/p>\n Choughs \u2013 members of the corvid family \u2013 have hatched in Kent after an extensive captive breeding programme and supervised release. Photograph: Wildwood Trust<\/p>\n The agency is calling for mass participation from the public. Already, more than 80,000 people have taken part in 465 educational events and activities, and volunteers contributed nearly 100,000 hours of conservation work worth over \u00a31m.<\/p>\n \u201cThe publication of the government\u2019s revised environmental improvement plan in the autumn will be a key moment,\u201d Juniper will say.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will need to see increased ambition on species recovery, particularly looking at what can be done on some of our lost species. In the coming years, habitat management and creation alongside species reintroductions could be a real gamechanger for the health of ecosystems and help us achieve the country\u2019s legally binding targets.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England needs a massive \u201ccollective endeavour\u201d to halt the country\u2019s nature decline, its top conservation official says, after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340393,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3843],"tags":[728,70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-340392","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115019887626319502","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}