Habitat Restoration – Principles and Practice

Welcome to our new series of 'on-line' wildlife habitat restoration features, based on our practical conservation guide booklets and newsletter articles.

A crucial element of the Denmark Farm case study has been habitat integration, the joining together of a wide range of grassland, woodland, scrub and wetland. Degraded hedgerows, sparse tree cover, drained and heavily fertilised fields, have now been replaced by a vibrant, biodiverse patch of countryside, aided by strategically planned corridors to facilitate species movement.

Denmark Farm now offers a genetic 'bank' – species populations that could expand into the surrounding countryside. This can only happen if wildlife can cross less hospitable areas by 'wildlife friendly' links – habitat strips, corridors and stepping stones, especially species which cannot fly or are not windblown to other sites.

The Trust has long been promoting habitat integration and linkage across 'ordinary' countryside, land outside nature reserves or agri-environment schemes which can be managed to help support a wider range of wildlife, especially if species can move between habitat 'islands' across more intensively managed areas. This key concept of habitat linkage is now enshrined in international conservation doctrine. The EU Habitats Directive Natura 2000 (to promote 'Special Areas of Conservation' across Europe) states that Member States should try to ensure that the management of the countryside outside Natura 2000 areas helps plants and animals survive in, and move between, protected areas. Our keynote article A Patchwork of Nature epitomises this strategic approach to wider habitat restoration.