World Wetlands Day is celebrated on 2nd February each year to raise global awareness about the vital role of wetlands for people and our planet.
Wetlands are rich with biodiversity and comprise of habitats for a dense variety of plant and animal species that boost ecosystem productivity and ensures natural sustainability – however they are disappearing three times faster than forests.
TEP works with a lot of wetland areas including the Heathlands project – a 300 house development on a former claypit at Buckley, in the North West. TEP designed and implemented a detailed restoration scheme to enable the infilling of the unsafe lagoon, the re-vegetation of the moonscape landscape and conversion to a multi-pond nature reserve. The scheme demonstrates long term management to secure the ecological success of regeneration.
The Avenue Coking Works in Chesterfield was deemed one of the most polluted pieces of land in Europe and now the site has been transformed into a place that can be used and enjoyed by people and wildlife. TEP provided ecological assessments, designs and habitat creation works on the project. This consisted of a landscape masterplan including areas of new wetlands, grasslands and reedbeds, new and enhanced woodlands and improved habitats. The new wetlands and wet grasslands have increased the area’s biodiversity and now have become home to several protected species such as great crested newts, grass snakes and harvest mice.
This day is a unique opportunity to highlight wetland biodiversity, its status, why it matters and promote actions to reverse its loss. Both projects demonstrate the importance of these habitats and how working closely with developers and local communities helps combat loss in biodiversity and promotes sustainable development instead.
