UK Wildlife: European bison are coming to the UK

You may have spotted colourful birds, wild flowers and maybe even the odd deer when out in about in nature over the last few months.

However, a new animal will soon be coming to the UK.

Four European bison, one male and three females, are going to be introduced to a new home in Kent in Spring 2022.

It's all part of a £1 million project, headed up by Kent Wildlife Trust and the Wildwood Trust, to help restore an ancient habitat and its wildlife.

Bison have actually been absent from the UK for several thousand years, but the small herd will be settling in Blean Woods near Canterbury very soon.

The project may seem a little strange, but it's all for a very important reason.

Bison are able to look after habitats really well. More sunlight is needed in Blean Woods to help the plants and animals living there to thrive.

The bison is able to help with this by knocking down trees, which will create more space for wildlife and provide more sunlight for a wider diversity of plants to grow, similar to the job that elephant do elsewhere.

It'll also help produce deadwood, which is the dead parts of trees or branches, which means good news for fungi and insects.

"A wilder, nature-based solution is the right one to tackling the climate and nature crisis we now face," said Paul Hadaway from the Kent Wildlife Trust."Using missing keystone species like bison to restore natural processes to habitats is the key to creating bio-abundance in our landscape."