Wildlife habitat to be restored thanks to £6m project
A WILDLIFE habitat near Winchester is due to be restored thanks to a new £6 million national project from National Highways and The Wildlife Trusts.
Twenty-six biodiversity projects will enhance, restore and create more than 1,700 acres of woodlands, grass lands, peat lands, and wetlands across every region of England, with two sitting in the south east.
The projects will plant wildflowers and trees, as well as introduce wildlife, where the environment has been impacted by activities from previous road building.
A pair of chalk downland sites near Winchester, on either side of the M3 motorway, will undergo works across approximately 65 hectares of land with the aim of improving the habitat for the rare Duke of Burgundy butterfly.
Meanwhile next to the M4 in Berkshire, the Woodland Wonders of Moor Copse will be enhanced to accommodate dormice, bats, butterflies and wildflowers.
Nikki Robinson, Network for Nature programme manager for The Wildlife Trusts said: ‘We’re very pleased that National Highways is committedto Network for Nature, with a strategic approach to joining up vital places for wildlife to help counter the impacts of previous road building.
‘Historic road building programmes have contributed to nature’s decline and this programme will help Wildlife
Trusts throughout England .’
Nicola Bell, South East regional director for National Highways, added :‘ We’ re committedto significantly improving biodiversity near our road network, and this investment in the South East underlines our commitment to reducing the impact of our roads on the environment and supporting biodiversity.’