By Dr Chloe Hardman, Senior Project Manager, West Midlands Team
Bustling towns and cities, major transport routes, the birthplace of the industrial revolution. Where are we? The northern edge of the West Midlands Conurbation, home to 2.9 million people. Step away from the busy areas into a nature reserve and you will find a sense of calm. Veteran oak trees tower over you and you may spot a majestic stag, conjuring up the spirit of the historical hunting forest of Cannock Chase. Explore further and you will find swathes of purple heather buzzing with bees and rock faces that tell the story of the world when dinosaurs roamed.
This landscape is home to the Purple Horizons Nature Recovery Project (NRP), a partnership of cross-sectoral organisations, including local authorities, researchers and environmental NGOs, working together to recover nature. The project is one of 12 landscape scale NRPs covering over 285,500 ha across the country. Their aim is to counter biodiversity loss, address climate change and improve access to nature, contributing towards a growing national Nature Recovery Network. Restoring healthy natural ecosystems is essential to support human life - the water we drink, the food we eat and the air we breathe. We know that helping nature to recover is a powerful tool with multiple benefits for improving people's health, generating wealth and building the country's resilience to climate change and for food security.
The Purple Horizons partnership has received funding from Natural England to build on the long-standing ambition to reconnect heathland and associated habitats between the two largest nature reserves in the area: Sutton Park in Birmingham and Cannock Chase in Staffordshire. I have been the project manager coordinating this partnership for three years. It's been a rewarding journey, working with people in a range of roles and organisations to collaborate around a common cause. This blog highlights some of the work we are undertaking to help nature thrive and bring the natural world into people's daily lives.
Give the mower a rest
Sometimes the actions needed to bring nature back are simple. When Walsall Council reduced the mowing frequency of several greenspaces, wildflowers and bees started to thrive. In Pelsall, heathland plants are now flourishing on an urban common. At Brownhills, orchids have appeared in a field for the first time in decades.
Reducing mowing and taking part in campaigns like #NoMowMay is an important way to help pollinators. Mowing less often helps restore native wildflower-rich grasslands that have co-evolved with native pollinators and are adapted to local soils. Plus, it is cost-effective. Letting dandelions bloom in Spring is a great way to help bees. If you manage grassland, however small, why not let it grow next Spring and look a bit closer at what you find? A cut and collect in September, will help your patch become a pollinator haven. If you think others will criticise the "messy" look, add a sign to explain what you are doing.
Using locally sourced seeds and plants
For species on the brink of extinction, there is a case for targeted action. Through Natural England's Species Recovery Programme, we are helping the nationally rare and threatened Tormentil Mining Bee. This bee is dependent on pollen from the Tormentil plant. We are increasing the abundance of this plant through the use of locally-sourced seed. This is giving the Tormentil Mining Bee and other rare ground-nesting pollinators a real boost when combined with our work to increase nesting site availability. Bare ground scrapes are also set to benefit rare and threatened butterflies too, such as Dingy Skipper. Butterfly Conservation, our newest project partner, are carrying out surveys and training up local volunteers, to help the group understand how we can better support butterflies and moths in this landscape.
Expanding the Nature Recovery Network into the wider countryside
We aim to create more, improved and better-connected spaces for nature to thrive. We have so far restored 12 ha of heathland, 21 ha of lowland meadow and 9 ha of woodland. Most is on land under local authority or charity ownership, but we have also developed Biodiversity Net Gain habitat bank projects on private land, which are increasingly investment ready.
As more details emerge about government funding for environmental land management, the Purple Horizons partnership hope to expand the number of land managers involved. We aim to create a pollinator-friendly corridor of wildflower strips, hedgerows, bare ground scrapes and species-rich grasslands between Sutton Park and Cannock Chase, which farmers, golf course managers and housing developers can all contribute to.
Our aim is to re-introduce more natural processes to more sites such as conservation grazing and naturally functioning wetlands. Working with the Environment Agency, we are co-funding hydrological research on the Crane Brook. This will help inform future wetland restoration, which would be particularly beneficial on the peaty soils in the headwaters of the River Tame catchment.
People need nature
We know that £2.1bn per year would be saved in health costs if everyone in England had good access to green space. But not everyone lives close to a nature reserve, so we want to bring nature into urban areas too, enhancing health and wellbeing. We are funding Groundwork West Midlands to plant a wildlife garden and meadow at Walsall Manor Hospital, which will be available to staff and patients to use and will be maintained by volunteers. We are funding a local organisation Mettaminds to deliver wellbeing sessions in these new nature spaces. Use of hospital green spaces has been shown to be associated with improved mental health and faster recovery in patients. We hope it will be one of many lasting legacies of the Nature Recovery Project.
Thank you
With thanks to all the project partners mentioned, plus Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, Lichfield District Council, Staffordshire County Council and Canal & River Trust.