[title]
Tawny owls, kingfishers and butterflies are some of the wild animals that could be making their return to the Thames and London’s other natural habitats over the next few years.
Wild creatures have been slowly pushed out of the city by increasing urbanisation and pollution. But a huge donation to Sadiq Khan’s Rewild London Fund will see more than 20 rewilding projects take place across the city by local authorities, helping natural species to thrive again.
Londoners can expect to see more critters in green spaces and woodlands, which include a variety of birds, insects and rodents. The fund also hopes to help animals like water voles, swifts and skylarks driven from the city to return on their own accord.
Amazon has pledged to donate £2.8 million to the Rewild London Fund and the Woodland Trust’s Emergency Tree Fund with some of the money going towards planting more than 450,000 trees in the UK.
Since being introduced in 2021, the Rewild London Fund has granted £600,000 to projects including the reintroduction of grazing cattle in Enfield; water voles in Kingston’s Hogsmill River; new chalk grassland habitats for butterflies in Sutton; and working with the Zoological Society of London to help hedgehogs flourish.
Elsewhere in the UK, wild bison returned to the Kent countryside for the first time in 6,000 years earlier this year as part of a huge conservation project.
Applications for grants for the 2022 Rewild London Fund remain open until Monday November 14, and local authorities and civil society organisations can apply.
Let’s hope our city is more accommodating to the creatures this time around.
London’s last atmospheric Victorian gas streetlamps are in danger of disappearing.
ICYMI: Take the first look inside the spectacular revamped Battersea Power Station.