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Help Nature to Re-Nature South Downs National Park
Why do we need to ReNature the South Downs? The South Downs National Park is home to some incredibly beautiful and rare habitats and wildlife. Our chalk grassland has up to 40 species in one square metre and our lowland heath is rarer than rainforest and home to all of our native reptiles and amphibians. Even here, nature is under pressure, and it needs our help. Since it came into being, the National Park Authority has worked with local partners to deliver ambitious projects, bringing together land managers, conservationists, planners and volunteers to conserve and enhance the landscape. These partnerships have not only restored habitats and reintroduced keystone species but also helped people better understand the history of the South Downs and the special role people have played in its changing character. At the moment, 25% of the National Park is managed for nature. Our goal is to increase that to 33% by 2030. This will add an extra 13,000 hectares managed for nature. But, we don’t want to stop there! We want to ensure that there really is nature everywhere, and so we want the remaining 67% to be nature friendly. Using our experience and best practice from previous projects, we will support those projects that will help us reach 33% of land for nature by 2030. We are going to be working with farmers, communities, local authorities and other partners to make this happen. Together we can create a nature network spreading across the South Downs National Park making this an even better place for nature and people, where wildlife can flourish, habitats thrive and where everyone can experience nature and wildlife at their best. Simply put, we want nature everywhere, for everyone. We cannot do it without your help.
What does ReNaturing in the South Downs look like? With ambitious goals of adding 13,000 hectares managed for nature and ensuring there is space for nature everywhere and for everyone, we will support nature recovery projects from large landscape scale restoration of entire habitats to small-scale projects in the community. Our projects will include: Woodland Trees are incredible. They give us clean air to breathe, enhance natural beauty, support wildlife and are vital for tackling climate change. The South Downs National Park has more trees than any
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other National Park in England but with a changing climate and many pests and diseases, they need our help. As part of our Trees for the Downs project, we aim to plant 100,000 native trees over the next 5 years.
Heathland restoration Our stunning heathland is brimming with biodiversity but with only 1% of rare heathland left in the South Downs, we need to restore and increase this rare habitat that support so many amazing species including one of the UK’s rarest reptiles, the sand lizard. We aim to improve and expand an additional 12,000 football pitches worth of heathland. Beelines The iconic chalk grassland of the South Downs attracts a multitude of bees and butterflies with its array of stunning wildflowers. However, with a continuing deterioration in chalk grassland these key pollinating species are on the decline and in need of our support. We will be working with farmers and partners within the Arun to Adur area, to create wildflower corridors across downland linking species rich chalk grassland to sites which are in need of pollination.
South Downs hedgeroads Hedges are like highways for wildlife, providing homes, food and highways to travel between habitats. We plan to work with farmers and land managers to restore hedgeroads across the National Park. Water Our rivers, streams and ponds are vital to our wildlife. There are 1000 historic dew ponds spread across the South Downs that provided vital water for wildlife and grazing livestock. In recent years many have fallen into disrepair. We will work with landowners across the South Downs to restore this pond network for the great-crested newt, invertebrates and other key species that depend on them. We will also work to help our rivers to renature, restoring natural processes and supporting habitat for watervoles, otters and the other iconic creatures that call our rivers home. You can help by ReNaturing your home, garden and even your flat. There are so many ways that you can help nature – in small spaces, community spaces and out and about, with little or no budget.
For more information and to find out how you can help re-nature the South Downs visit: https://www.southdowns.gov.uk/renature/ renature-your-place/
