Invertebrate upsurge at landfill site
Part of a former landfill site in the Thames Estuary, returned to wildlife use to compensate for a nearby warehouse development, has been found to provide a habitat to 236 invertebrate species.
Rarities like the bombardier beetle and bee wolf have taken up residence on the 3.5ha Mucking Marshes site, which eventually will become part of the Thurrock Thameside Nature Park. Dominic Woodfield, of environmental consultancy Bioscan, which managed the project to offset the loss of habitat at Tilbury’s London Distribution Park, says sites such as Mucking can provide a vital refuge for scarce and declining insects.
“Government policy is to concentrate development on previously developed sites, but these are often a refuge for many species,”
Woodfield says. Without compensation projects, we would lose much of our insect fauna, he adds.
Due to its location in the south east of England, and its unusual geology, the Thames Estuary has always been important for invertebrates. Industrial sites are often the only places to have avoided the worst impacts of agricultural intensification, and they have become even more significant.
“As well as a diversity of substrates and disturbed ground, industrial areas such as old brickworks often contain small remnants of habitat in pockets that were never built on,” Woodfield says. “These may never have had herbicides or fertilisers on them, and so they’re rich in [plant life] and invertebrates.” James Fair