Title image: Small Blue butterfly by Charles J Sharp CC BY-SA 4.0
Cycle with Sutton’s Biodiversity Team and learn about our new project to build ecological resilience against a changing climate.
Our new project: Link the SINCs funded by the Mayor of London in partnership with London Wildlife Trust seeks to test how recycled building materials can be repurposed to create habitats for the small blue, chalk hill blue and dark green fritillary butterflies.
The aim is to create chalk grassland stepping stones between existing populations of small blue butterflies and to provide new habitat that improves landscape scale connectivity for other priority butterfly species, including chalkhill blue and dark-green fritillary.
More and better connected habitat will enable species to disperse from their current strongholds helping them reach and colonise additional sites reducing the risk of inbreeding depression and local extinctions. Aka avoiding SINCs becoming sinks!
The cycle tour will visit the proposed butterfly bank location whilst cycling through a mix of woodland, grassland, urban and greenbelt areas. On route we will see the landscape at a faster speed allowing us to see it with a different perspective - a landscape scale. We will discuss features we see and experience, their impact positively or negatively on humans and non-human populations. All useful considerations when thinking about Local Nature Recovery Strategies and Biodiversity Net Gain delivery within the Environment Act.
If you are interested in attending please contact rosie.whicheloe@sutton.gov.uk who will be organising the event. More details will follow in August.
