Network for Nature

The Wildlife Trusts worked in partnership with National Highways to enhance habitats across England, benefiting people, nature, and wildlife. Network for Nature has improved, created, and restored habitats affected by historic road activity.

Over a five-year partnership, the Wildlife Trusts in England undertook a wide array of projects, including enhancing chalk downlands to support rare butterflies like the Duke of Burgundy, and conserving wetlands and rare chalk streams for endangered water voles. Some projects used natural solutions, such as reedbeds and ponds, to filter road run-off and prevent it from contaminating rivers or nature reserves. Network for Nature also established wildlife corridors to reconnect areas fragmented by roads, allowing wildlife such as pollinators to move and disperse across the landscape.

Initially funded with £6 million across 22 projects, Network for Nature expanded to encompass four phases of funding totalling £11.5 million across 51 projects delivered by 24 local Wildlife Trusts. Of these, 46 delivery projects produced over 3,600 biodiversity units by enhancing, restoring, and creating over 2,300 acres of woodlands, grasslands, peatlands, and wetlands throughout England. Five feasibility studies were also conducted, designing landscape-scale projects focusing on increasing biodiversity and connectivity.