South Downs National Park announces grants to boost nature across Sussex and Hampshire

Thirteen community-led projects across Hampshire and Sussex will be receiving a 'ReNature' grant from the South Downs National Park Trust to help restore biodiversity.

The initiative enters its third year with the goal of creating 13,000 hectares of new habitat to help wildlife flourish and improve the existing nature in the National Park.

Projects will be benefiting from a funding of over £130,000.

Some of the plans include creating a new wildflower meadow at Twyford, near Winchester, to help encourage butterflies and small mammals.

At Lewes, work will take place to restore a chalk stream and provide more wetland habitat for species such as dragonflies and lapwings.

In Slindon, in West Sussex, hedgerows will be restored to help bird species, such as blue tits and yellowhammer.

At Queen Elizabeth Country Park, near Waterlooville, there will be an effort to bring back the juniper tree - it has struggled in recent decades due to diseases and poor seed quality.

The project aims to save the country park’s last two juniper trees and plant a wildlife corridor of more than 100 juniper trees.

A £43,754 grant will be given to the 'Community Cut and Collect Scheme' in the Western Downs in Hampshire.

Gilbert White House and Garden will help maintain a wildflower meadow and support other small meadows in the local area through the Selbourne Landscape Partnership, which is made up of local farmers.

Another grant includes £25,000, that will be handed to Itford Farm at Beggingham, near Lewes, which is led by South Downs Youth Hostel Association.

The project aims to conserve and enhance a nature site with increased access opportunities to benefit local schools, youth groups and the wider community.

Jan Knowlson, Biodiversity Officer for the National Park, says: "ReNature is about creating nature everywhere, for everyone, and involves establishing new wildlife havens and improving existing habitats such as chalk grassland, heathland and woodland.

"The biodiversity crisis is not going away – one in six species are now at risk of being lost in Great Britain and the figure from a decade ago was one in 10.

"The time for action is now and that’s why these grants are so important.

"The National Park is doing a lot of work with major landowners around establishing new habitats, but there’s also an incredible amount of work taking place in the community on smaller-scale projects.

"Often these smaller projects struggle for funding and that’s where a ReNature grant can make a huge difference."

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