Rare wildlife gets a lifeline in Bristol’s Avon Gorge
By Conservation Correspondent
Some of England’s rarest wildlife is set to get a major boost after Bristol Zoological Society secured £298,780 to protect threatened species in the Avon Gorge.
The two-and-a-half-year project will restore habitats and support nine priority species, including plants and invertebrates found nowhere else in the UK.
The funding comes through Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme and will support the Bristol Zoological Society’s Avon Gorge & Downs Wildlife project, working alongside the National Trust, Bristol City Council and the University of Bristol Botanic Garden.
The Avon Gorge is particularly important for wildlife because its steep slopes, calcareous soils and warmer microclimate – around 1°C higher than the surrounding area – create ideal conditions for rare species.
It is the only place in the UK where Bristol rock-cress grows naturally and the only place where Bristol onion is found in the wild.
The Gorge is also home to 33 of the estimated 76 White's whitebeam trees remaining anywhere in the world. The Endangered species survives naturally in just two locations worldwide.
The area is also the only known location in England for the silky wave moth, which continues to thrive there.
Over the next two and a half years, conservationists will restore habitats, remove invasive species, collect and propagate seeds, trial new habitat creation techniques and carry out targeted work to boost populations of threatened species.
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Anna Stevens, Biodiversity Engagement Manager at Bristol Zoological Society’s Avon Gorge & Downs Wildlife project, said:
“The Avon Gorge is a remarkable landscape where targeted management can make a real difference to some of England’s most threatened species.
“This project will help restore and expand the habitats they depend on, while testing new approaches to improve their chances of long-term survival.”
The Society is also contributing its expertise to a £1.5 million national programme led by The Wildlife Trusts to protect the UK’s only native freshwater crayfish, backed by Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme.
White-clawed crayfish populations have fallen by up to 80% in recent decades, due to habitat loss, pollution, invasive crayfish and crayfish plague.
Bristol Zoological Society has worked to protect the species since 2008.
Jen Nightingale, UK Conservation Manager at Bristol Zoological Society, said:
“This national programme represents a lifeline for the globally Endangered white-clawed crayfish. Our experience will contribute to a coordinated effort to strengthen populations, restore freshwater habitats and secure a future for this threatened native species.”
Together, the projects will help restore threatened habitats and give some of England’s rarest wildlife a better chance of survival.
