Biodiversity boost for Langford Lakes nature reserve to help lapwings
11 hectares of wetland habitat to be created
Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and National Highways have joined forces to launch a new Network for Nature programme, with projects that will improve habitats across Wiltshire, benefitting people, nature and wildlife.
At Langford Lakes nature reserve between Warminster and Salisbury, just next to the A36, an additional 11 hectares of wetland habitat will be created and enhanced for birds of conservation concern.
New habitat features will include a sand martin bank, tern rafts, and an area of reedbed. Wet grassland and muddy wetland margins will support breeding and overwintering wading birds, including lapwing.
A stretch of the River Were which flows through Smallbrook Meadows nature reserve in Warminster will also be restored, allowing it to once more meander through the floodplain creating space to support water vole, birds, and vital insects.
Ashley White, Conservation Manager at Wiltshire Wildlife Trust said;
“We live in one of the most nature- depleted countries in the world. Wading birds, like lapwing, are on the red list and water vole are struggling in polluted rivers, so we are delighted that the work at Langford Lakes and Smallbrook Meadows, which will support these species, is one of 26 projects funded by National Highways within the Network for Nature programme.”
In England, the roadside estate is vast and yet is adjacent to some of our most precious habitats. When situated alongside linear infrastructure, such as motorways, habitats can create crucial corridors for pollinating insects, birds and small mammals, enabling wildlife to move through the wider landscape.
Nikki Robinson, Network for Nature Programme Manager for The Wildlife Trusts said:
“We’re very pleased that National Highways is committed to Network for Nature, with a strategic approach to restoring nature and joining up vital places for wildlife to help counter the damaging impacts of previous road building. Historic road building programmes have contributed to nature’s decline, fragmenting wild spaces and causing environmental pollution, and this programme will help Wildlife Trusts throughout England carry out important nature conservation work, and contribute to a national Nature Recovery Network, connecting town and countryside, and joining up vital places for wildlife, and promoting landscape scale connectivity.”
Stephen Elderkin, Environmental Sustainability Division lead for National Highways, said:
“We’re committed to significantly improving biodiversity near our road network,and the projects set out by The Wildlife Trusts will be a vital step in putting the strategic road network at the heart of nature’s recovery.”