Natural England

Natural England announces a £1 million boost for East of England’s threatened biodiversity

The tiny hazel dormouse, often isolated in safe pockets of wildlife friendly reserves in Suffolk, and farmland birds such as corn bunting, linnet, and stone curlew - once familiar childhood sights but now rarely are amongst habitats and species due to benefit from one of the biggest ever wildlife preservation projects.

Natural England is announcing details today (Monday 6 October) of the key conservation projects in the East of England to receive over £1m of the £5.5m under its Countdown 2010 biodiversity action fund which aims to help some of England’s most threatened biodiversity.

Natural England's Regional Director for the East of England, Shaun Thomas, said: "We want to improve the fortunes of some our most precious species and habitats and today’s funding will help our conservation partners to meet these challenges. Many of the projects will help our iconic natural heritage adapt to climate change and I am particularly interested to see the results of a pilot using wetlands to strip pollution from rivers and for flood prevention.”

Natural England’s Chief Executive, Dr Helen Phillips, said: “Halting biodiversity loss takes time. We’ve already seen major biodiversity successes for many species such as bitterns, ladybird spiders and many important habitats are being steadily improved. Clean water, flood management and carbon storage are all delivered by a healthy natural environment and we all benefit from these improvements.”

Recipients of the grants include:

The full list of recipients, which includes species and habitats across England, is outlined below:

Froglife £89,126
Ponds in the Landscape in Cambridgeshire
In addition to pond restoration and monitoring at 16 sites across the county which will benefit stonewort communities, aquatic beetles and great crested newts some of the money will be used to run an innovative pilot scheme to use wetlands and ponds to purify, recycle and prevent local flooding. For more information contact Kathy Wormald of Froglife on 01733 558844

The Greensand Trust £144,140 - Bedfordshire
Heathlands of the Greensand Ridge, Bedfordshire (running from Leighton Buzzard in the west to Gamlingay in the east). This independent local charity will use the money to join up pockets of heathland and acid grassland to create better conditions for adder, common lizard, tree pipit, and rare ground nesting birds nightjar and woodlark. For more details please contact Jon.Balaam@greensandtrust.org or telephone 01234 743666

RSPB
Bringing Reedbeds to Life £207,739 - Norfolk
Research and farm visits to help create and sustain high quality network of redbeeds for bittern in Norfolk at Ham Wall, Stodmarsh National Nature Reserve, Wicken Fen, Hickling Broad and Far Ings. For more information contact John Clare on 01767 680541

Priority Farmland Birds Recover Project in the Fens £246,200
RSPB working together with Natural England have identified bird hotspots around the Fens and will work with farmers and land owners to share the most effective techniques likely to increase numbers of grey partridge, bullfinch, lapwing, corn bunting, linnet, skylark, starling, treesparrows and many other farmland birds. For more information contact John Clare on 01767 680541

Wildlife Trusts
Getting to Grips with Grasslands – Beds,Cambs, Northants & Peterborough Wildlife Trust £95, 524
We have lost a lot of grasslands in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire and this project hopes to reverse some of those losses by carrying out detailed survey work, talking to land managers to encourage scrub removal and collecting rare seeds to spread a rich carpet of species along our remaining grasslands. For more information contact John Leadley on 01954 713000

Reconnecting Suffolk’s Farmland – Suffolk Wildlife Trust £129,416
Building on fantastic results reconnecting habitat for barn owls and great crested newts, Suffolk Wildlife Trust are using the same proactive programme of farm visits to benefit hazel dormouse, great crested newts, and tree sparrows. For more information contact Dorothy Casey on 01473 890089

Grazing for Norfolk’s Wildlife £108,128
Norfolk Wildlife Trust operates a ‘flying flock’ of sheep which will be joined by 14 Dartmoor ponies and 157 sheep complete with their own shepherd to look after them. The enlarged flock will allow the trust to bring 15,000 hectares of land into conservation based farm management. The mobile munchers will create ideal conditions for the critically endangered Norfolk flapwort (a tiny brown moss found in wetlands), silver-studded blue butterfly and stone curlew. For more information please contact Rebecca Worsfold on 01603 625540

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Notes for editors:

For more information please contact:
Linzee Kottman 07824475359, 01223 533431 or Linzee.J.Kottman@naturalengland.org.uk
Heather McMorland 01733 455080, 07919 228388 heather.mcmorland@naturalengland.org.uk
Andrew Smith 01223 533474 or 07920 138194 Andrew.R.Smith@naturalengland.org.uk
or the national press office on 0845 603 9953, press@naturalengland.org.uk, out of hours 07970 098005. For further information about Natural England please visit: www.naturalengland.org.uk

Countdown 2010
Countdown 2010 galvanises European Union member countries to take specific steps to save biodiversity in its realm by supporting governments and other stakeholders to achieve the 2010 biodiversity target. Countdown 2010 combines efforts to save biodiversity within a powerful network of active partners, including governments, cities and regions, and civil society organisations. National platforms assess performance, create awareness and demand action. For more information visit the website www.countdown2010.org

Natural England
Natural England works for people, places and nature to conserve and enhance biodiversity, landscapes and wildlife in rural, urban, coastal and marine areas. We conserve and enhance the natural environment for its intrinsic value, the wellbeing and enjoyment of people, and the economic prosperity it brings.