National park’s nature initiative nears milestone

The rewilding project has included the planting of almost 50,000 trees and the addition of wildflowers

A goal to renature a huge swathe of land in Sussex and Hampshire to help fight biodiversity loss is almost halfway to its target.

In 2021, the South Downs National Park set a goal of transforming 13,000 hectares (32,100 acres) into habitat for wildlife by 2030.

A total of 6,082 hectares (15,000 acres) has so far been created or improved to help nature thrive.

Tim Slaney, interim chief executive of the park, said it was "wonderful" to be reaching the halfway mark and he was "excited" about what could be achieved in the rest of this decade.

Rare habitats

The South Downs National Park, which stretches from Winchester in Hampshire to Eastbourne in East Sussex, is the newest of the UK's national parks, having come into being in March 2010.

The rewilding work has included planting almost 50,000 trees, adding more than 100 hectares (247 acres) of wildflowers, planting hedges, restoring ponds, and improving rare habitats such as chalk grassland and lowland heath.

Some of the land, including on farms and large estates, has been formally secured for nature through planning agreements for biodiversity net gain.

Young kestrels have been spotted nesting in the national park

The national park said it was working on more than 350 different projects with its partners around nature recovery, including new wildflower meadows, hedgerows, wetlands, heathlands, woodlands and chalk grasslands.

Mr Slaney said: "We want nature to thrive everywhere for everyone, not only for biodiversity bouncing back but also people’s health and wellbeing.

"National parks can, and should, be the nation’s nature recovery hubs and we’ve proved that we can do it and do it well."

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