How can wildlife corridors help with habitat fragmentation?

Have you ever thought about how you would travel between your home and the supermarket without roads or pavements? You might have to make your way through some difficult terrain to reach it, and you’d probably struggle to find food. This is the kind of thing that’s happening to lots of species in Hampshire. Thankfully, we can help to alleviate some of these problems with wildlife corridors. Read on to learn more about what wildlife corridors are, why they’re so important, and how you can help us create them.

What is habitat fragmentation?

Habitat fragmentation happens when larger, continuous habitats are broken into small, isolated patches. This is usually caused by things like human development, agriculture, or deforestation. While some species can fly between close patches, lots of others aren’t able to travel between them. Dormice, for example, spend much of their time in tree canopies and don’t like crossing open areas between patches of woodland.

When species are prevented from moving freely between patches of habitat, they’re less able to find food, mates, and shelter. This, in turn, causes the loss of biodiversity and leads to wildlife populations becoming vulnerable to disease and outside threats. These isolated populations may die out if their local habitats become unsuitable.

In Hampshire, lots of important and unique habitats like chalk downland and heathland have been significantly reduced. However, there are steps we can take to mitigate these losses and help nature recover. One of these is by creating wildlife corridors.

What is a wildlife corridor?

Wildlife corridors are routes that connect fragmented habitats, allowing wildlife to move freely between the fragments. These can either be natural, things like hedgerows or strips of woodland, or artificial, like green bridges over or tunnels under roads. By providing a safe route between patches of habitat, these corridors help maintain biodiversity.

One example of an animal that uses wildlife corridors is the great crested newt. They breed in ponds but spend much of the rest of their time out of the water, relying on wet grassland or ditches to find their way back to a pond for breeding. Without these corridors, they may never find a pond, leading to declining newt populations.

Hampshire has lots of landscapes that function as corridors for wildlife. The fringe of salt marshes, mudflats and estuaries of the Solent coast are part of a protected network of habitats that support marine birds and animals. The River Itchen is lined with riverside vegetation that benefits aquatic animals like otters, which have been spotted under the City Mill in Winchester.

How are we creating wildlife corridors in Hampshire?

Hampshire County Council have projects running across the county, working on our own sites, and with both communities and landowners.

As a result of nature recovery efforts at Martin Down National Nature Reserve and on surrounding farmland, the turtle dove population, which had been increasingly rare in the area, is starting to become re-established. This is thanks to the work of surrounding landowners, improving hedgerows, establishing seed-rich field edges, and creating ponds.

With the Hampshire Forest Partnership, we’ve planted community orchards and mini forests that create wildlife corridors through urban areas and provide food for animals passing through. Tree species have been chosen with care to support wildlife such as the hazel dormouse, one of the UK’s rarest mammals, and the vulnerable white-letter hairstreak butterfly.

How can I help create a wildlife corridor?

If you’ve got a garden, there are easy ways you can help us build corridors between habitat patches in Hampshire. Planting pollinator-friendly plants is a low-effort way to encourage pollinators like bees and butterflies in your garden. In fact, much of the pollen resources in Hampshire can be found in people’s gardens! Leave undisturbed leaf piles, stacks of logs, or compost heaps where possible, as animals tend to make their homes in these. You could even create a hedgehog highway by cutting small holes in your fences at ground level so that they can travel between your and your neighbours’ gardens.

If you don’t have access to a garden, there are still plenty of ways you can help create wildlife corridors. Hampshire Forest Partnership are looking for people to support with tree planting and care. You can also make a donation to Hampshire Forest Partnership and they’ll plant a tree on your behalf.