Rewild London Fund 2022

London water vole recovery

Led by Zoological Society of London, this project built a partnership to complete essential first steps toward recovering water vole populations, and managing mink in London. The aim is to benefit all London's river corridor SINCs, building a strategic regional approach to support wider rewilding objectives.

This partnership project produced a water vole in London status report, and the project assessed baseline water vole data, creating a communications campaign requesting water vole and mink sightings, and training in water vole survey methods.

Once widespread, the water vole (Arvicola amphibius) is now the UK’s fastest declining mammal. In London, remnant populations still exist, but this project was needed to build a clearer picture of where they are while beginning to monitor them - two new sites were added to the National Water Vole Monitoring Programme. A principal cause of declining water voles is the introduced, highly damaging invasive American Mink (Neovison vison) - so the project also planned how to work collaboratively to remove mink.

Further activity will take place via awarding for the Rewild London Fund (2023 programme).

Wimbledon, Merton, Kingston-upon-Thames

Restoring the Commons Wetlands: ponds and reedbeds

Wimbledon and Putney Commons are 1,140 acres of open green space in south-west London. They are managed and owned by a charity, Wimbledon and Putney Commons Conservators (WPCC).

The Commons have a rich array of habitats and are designated an SSSI and a Special Area of Conservation. WPCC is embarking on a major conservation project to improve the ponds and other wetland habitats. This project delivered the survey and design phase of restoring Queensmere, one of the Common’s largest ponds, which is far from reaching its full potential for wildlife.

Rewild London funding supported the design of reedbed habitat creation in line with London Environment Strategy targets, to make sure the pond and surrounding landscape are more resilient and can support increased biodiversity. Training in freshwater habitat management will enable the charity to better manage the other ponds and surrounding habitats. 

Multiple boroughs - Hackney and Waltham Forest

Old Lea River restoration project

Protected on both banks by Metropolitan Open Land, the Old Lea is the wildest, most natural area in Hackney. The apparent remoteness and scenic grandeur that belies the urban setting is one of the reasons for the river’s recent popularity that has caused accelerated bank compaction and erosion, disturbance of wildlife and locally sourced pollution.

This project, created and delivered by the Wildlife Gardeners of Haggerston in partnership with Hackney Council, is bringing the Old Lea back to health and provides resilience for the future. Project activities have installed berms and large woody debris to improve habitat and flow, removed non-native and invasive Himalayan Balsam, planted native species, and built loggeries. One hectare of improved river habitat and the creation of 0.3 hectares of reedbeds have been achieved. This project is one of the first in south-east England to use the Urban Riverfly monitoring method.

Multiple boroughs - Harrow and Hillingdon

Yeading brook unbound (London Borough of Harrow lead)

As part of the Crane Valley Partnership and in collaboration with local groups and volunteers, the ambitious, large-scale Yeading Brook Unbound (YBU) project will make lasting changes. These will be both major and minor - to the brook, its margins and adjoining areas within SINCs, parks and neighbouring allotments along its course where the greatest benefit can be achieved and engaging a wider community in its management, monitoring and ongoing improvement. 

Alongside making much needed, positive intervention on the ground, YBU will have a significant people focus, seeking in particular to involve community group members in survey, management and reporting activities. It will also help establish new groups, growing an involved, enthusiastic, and well-supported volunteer taskforce to care for individual sites and the wider environment of the Yeading. This will be critical to the project’s legacy and to encouraging and enabling more nature and climate positive engagement.

This project has secured additional funding from other sources and will continue delivery in 2024-25.

Multiple boroughs - Richmond and Wandsworth

Palewell Beverley Brook restoration

The Beverley Brook is 14.3 km in length. There are virtually no natural parts of the river and the whole length has at some point been altered.

The stretch of river targeted within this project is over 1km long and runs from Upper Richmond Road to the boundary of Richmond Park. The river here has historically been realigned, straightened, widened, and deepened, changing the course from its former meandering channel to the present. This straightened channel lacked the flow and habitat diversity underpinning a healthy ecosystem and could lead to greater flood risk downstream.

Led by Barnes Conservation, part of Barnes Common Limited, the project has re-naturalised the channel and created a diverse mix of flow types, depths, velocities, widths, and cover in this stretch of the Brook, by installing berms and brushwood, tree thinning and planting of alder and sallow. Overall 2.2 hectares of river habitat was improved, that will encourage a more diverse and complex composition of plants and animals to colonise and establish. Bat roosting opportunities have been created. Morphological and water quality surveys have been carried out and will continue in the future. An extensive volunteer and engagement programme now means many more local Londoners understand the Brook.

The Chase LNR Wetland Restoration Phase two

The Chase Local Nature Reserve is a biodiversity haven in an otherwise urban location. It is in easy reach of communities within the London boroughs of Barking and Dagenham and Havering and is a vital component in the jigsaw of open spaces and habitats across this landscape. The funding enabled London Borough of Barking and Dagenham to undertake further habitat enhancement at the reserve specifically focused on The Slack Bird Sanctuary, at the heart of this reserve and a leading reason for designation as a Site of Metropolitan Importance.

The reedbed habitat was extended by 1 hectare through the planting of 5,000 reed plugs. Water levels can now be managed to prevent The Slack from drying out. Restoration of 4 hectares of marsh habitat was through controls on self-seeding willow and the removal of invasive crassula species, supporting the longer-term resilience of the habitats.

Rewilding for reptiles

Beam Parklands is a biodiversity haven and forms the southernmost part of the Dagenham Corridor. This 53-hectare site is managed by The Land Trust in partnership with the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. The site comprises a mosaic of habitats including species rich acid grassland, river, ponds, woodland, and scrub.

Reptile sightings had highlighted the opportunity to undertake a focused programme for reptile and amphibian populations across these SINCs. Staff and volunteers were trained in reptile and amphibian surveying. The resulting surveys identified habitat improvements throughout the Dagenham Corridor, leading to scrub management to halt the decline of meadow areas due to succession and a total area of almost 6 hectares of priority habitats restored.

Public engagement and education on reptiles were a core part of the project with new interpretation panels installed and a series of community events and guided walks delivered.

Thamesmead pollinator corridor

This was a partnership project between north-west Kent Countryside Partnership (NWKCP), The Ridgeway Users Group, University Of East London, Bow Arts and Bumblebee Conservation Trust (BBCT) to work with communities, creating a pollinator corridor through Thamesmead.

Working with local volunteers and members of the community improved 3.5 hectares of priority habitat to boost numbers of rare Shrill Carder Bee and other pollinator species by increasing the abundance and diversity of forage plants and nesting sites. Public engagement events and workshops have enabled people to plant for pollinators locally, on school grounds, community gardens and balconies.

Wilding city gardens

City of London’s (CoL) Wilding City Gardens programme reviewed the City’s existing SINC habitats and and enabled changes to management practices to support biodiversity and target species in the City’s Biodiversity Action Plan.  Staff and residents took part in training to identify butterflies and learnt to scythe. The project created 0.05 hectares of climate resilient species-rich meadows through the removal of invasive species, followed by plug planting. Engagement of stakeholders throughout involved residents and corporate groups in planting, walks to learn more about the habitats and surveying pollinators.

London Borough of Ealing SINC meadows improvements

Led by London Borough of Ealing, this project improved 11 hectares of native wildflower meadows by addressing historic scrub encroachment and subsequently seed-sowing wildflowers (including Yellow Rattle). Equipment purchased and expertise built during the project will facilitate effective ongoing site management. 

Bringing back beavers to Ealing

Citizen Zoo, alongside Ealing Wildlife Group, Ealing Council and Friends of Horsenden Hill, have reintroduced beavers to West London after a 400-year absence with the release of a family of five beavers in November 2023.

Rewild funding enabled the physical preparation of the chosen site, baseline surveys and establishing monitoring activity. A new officer was recruited to manage the project and support the engagement of over 150 Beaver Believers. The beavers have flourished, building five dams on site in just five months, transforming the site into a flourishing and immersive wetland, combatting the climate crisis and creating a biodiverse ecosystem.

Harvest mouse reintroduction project

Perivale Wood is a Site of Metropolitan Importance and is Britain's second oldest nature reserve. The reserve comprises 27 acres of mostly ancient oak woodland, with five acres of neutral unimproved grassland and several ponds. The Selborne Society, one of Britain's oldest conservation organisations, owns and manages Perivale Wood.

This project improved over 3 hectares of lowland meadow and stream habitats at Perivale Wood, through hedge laying, scrub clearance, coppicing willow and the creation of a new pond. In April 2024, 150 harvest mice were reintroduced. The project also created wildlife corridors linking the existing population at Horsenden Hill to the habitats at Perivale Wood and railsides to the south. Improvements to the harvest mice breeding facility at Horsenden Farm included provision of an ecology lab for wildlife surveying and community engagement.

King’s Oak Wetlands

The London Borough of Enfield (LBE) aims to create new wetlands in a rural area of the borough. This forms part of Enfield’s wider landscape restoration proposals, building on the success of the first phase which delivered 100,000 trees across 60 hectares and over 40 wetland ponds and scrapes (which won the London Tree and Woodland Awards prize for trees and water).
The project will build on this approach in the next phase of woodland creation aiming to create four natural flood management (NFM) ponds into the new woodland.

This project is continuing to deliver in 2024-25.

Rewilding the Grove

The Grove was once the grounds of a large house on the edge of Hillingdon Village. This old Victorian garden is now a site of increasing value for wildlife, aided by the presence of wetland areas. The central feature is a sequence of a wet meadow, one small and one large pond, which runs for much of the length of the reserve. The ground flora, including wetland vegetation in the ponds was restricted by the tree canopy.
London Borough of Hillingdon used the funding to pollard the mature trees next to the pond, to allow more light to penetrate into the ponds improving 2 hectares of priority habitat. Planting with native wetland species has improved the overall biodiversity and restored  the wetland area for amphibians and aquatic invertebrates.

Rewild Brockwell North

Brockwell Park is a popular open space in London Borough of Lambeth where leisure areas are juxtaposed with habitat including veteran trees, meadows, and ponds. Improvements connect habitats across the north side of the park in response to research detailed in the Ecological Planning for Brockwell Park report. New species-rich wildflower and grass meadow with banks were created improving 3.25 hectares of the SINC. A belt of trees and native hedges, chosen for their climate resilience, were planted by council staff volunteers and local school children. 

Forster Park ancient woodland restoration project

The project has taken the first steps to restore and maximise the ecological integrity and resilience of the ancient woodland areas in Forster Park, London Borough of Lewisham. A management plan was devised to increase the diversity of woodland floor vegetation and dominance of some competitive species. Species and veteran tree surveys have been completed. Volunteers were trained in coppicing, dead hedging and blackthorn management and have implemented these as part of the planned works programme. They also built loggeries for stag beetles and cleared scrub. School visits to the site involved primary children learning about woodland habitats. The project increased community involvement in the improvement and management of the park and provided opportunities to improve wellbeing through nature conservation activities.

The Green Line - nature's railway - hedge laying and orchard restoration

The Buckthorne Cutting Nature Reserve is at the centre of a four and a half kilometre SINC and is adjacent to Gorne Wood (ancient woodland). It already has stag beetles, owls, slow worms and bats. This project restored 0.2 hectares of the orchard and created hedgerow helping to sustain wildlife that travel along this corridor while attracting more wildlife.

The project, led by the Fourth Reserve Foundation, involved volunteers and trainees (from the Work and Retrain as a Gardener Scheme), who developed their hedge laying skills and supported the creation of 0.08 hectares of species rich woodland. Local schools visit the nature reserve, and have observed the works, increasing their understanding of nature and habitat restoration. 

Breathing life back into the Hogsmill Wood

The Hogsmill Wood was once a much loved local nature reserve and is a key part of the Hogsmill Valley SINC. The site has had limited management since the early 2000s and had become degraded with issues of fly tipping and litter build up, as well as invasive species such a snowberry and Himalayan balsam dominating areas of the site.

Led by the Royal Borough of Kingston, the project has increased understanding of the site’s ecological condition through a series of surveys and field recorder days involving volunteers.  A restoration plan for the site is now in place. Two woodland glades have been created and river bank conservation work has restored 2 hectares of river and stream habitat. The site is seeking a Forest School to use this special place. 

Beckton Meadow

Newham Council created 0.9 hectares of species-rich wildflower meadow at the heart of Beckton District Park as one of the first steps in the realisation of the Beckton Parks Masterplan. The new meadow connects with the new Queen Elizabeth Memorial Pathway, with flowers and grasses enabling a playful exploration and immersive experience in nature. Planting design was based on ecological surveys of the site, and residents’ views, while raising awareness of the need for wild spaces. The meadow seeding event involved 50 residents, and the local school planted a butterfly garden and co-designed the information signage.

Beckton District Park is the largest area of local authority managed green space in the borough. It is also the largest SINC managed by the borough and strategically links other green spaces.

Richmond Corridors

Rewild London funding has enabled London Borough of Richmond to strengthen environmental links between a network of SINC sites in Hampton and build environmental resilience between sites. This network of green spaces in the west of the London Borough Richmond has high environmental value and includes off-road walking links between and through the sites that form green corridors.

Horse drawn scythes cut hay to restore 7 hectares of flower rich grassland, coppicing alder enabled more light into the pond and a dead hedge was created around an area where rescued hedgehogs are released back into the wild. Volunteers planted a newly created pond, while another was deepened to hold water throughout the year. The habitat for bats was improved through the replacement of street lamp bulbs. Residents have been led on exploratory walks looking for bats and reptiles.

Improving biodiversity in Dulwich Woods

Dulwich Wood in combination with neighbouring Sydenham Hill Wood, is one of the largest remaining tracts of the historic Great North Wood in south London. The project, led by The Dulwich Estate, focused on allowing a variety of woodland species to regrow in trampled and damaged areas of Dulwich Wood.

Planting of disease resistant elm trees and 130m of new hedging, while combating erosion through new pathways and planted bunds and earthworks have restored 0.19ha and created 0.03 hectares of species rich woodland.

Greening the Wapping Canal

Led by London Borough of Tower Hamlets, this project installed floating rafts with mixed native wetland vegetation along a 220 metre stretch of the south-western section of the Wapping Ornamental Canal alongside Spirit Quay to create 0.01 hectares of fen, marsh and swamp habitat. This will support aquatic invertebrates including dragonflies and damselflies.

The Wapping Ornamental Canal is a shallow, vertical-sided waterway leading between Hermitage Basin and Shadwell Basin. It has reasonable amounts of submerged vegetation, including the London scarcities Chara vulgaris and Potamogeton pusillus, but for most of its length it lacked emergent vegetation or opportunities for water birds to nest or rest.

Rafts were designed to support different species, including nesting swans, providing space where other water birds can nest and/or rest, and which give shelter for small fish and aquatic invertebrates.