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The South Essex Stepping Stones project

The South Essex Stepping Stones project will carry out invertebrate survey work and implement habitat enhancement and creation work on a landscape scale across the South Essex region. This will create habitat links, or ‘stepping stones’ throughout South Essex which will allow the dispersal of invertebrates.

This project follows on from the Buglife and Natural England ‘All of a buzz in the Thames Gateway’ project. Buglife is working in partnership with the RSPB, Basildon District Council and University of East London Buglife to undertake this project.

Protecting wildlife in South Essex

This project will benefit wildlife in South Essex including invertebrates, native reptiles and amphibians such as slow worms, viviparous lizard, snakes and great crested newt, mammals such as water vole and a wealth of protected bird species.

Five banded weevil wasp
Five banded weevil-wasp (Cerceris quinquefasciata) © Mike Edwards

By creating and restoring mosaic habitat features, Buglife will enhance the value of brownfield sites for invertebrates in South Essex, targeting rare, scarce, UK and local Biodiversity Action Plan priority species (species of conservation concern). This project will to help slow down the loss of the UK’s biodiversity by conserving the rich and diverse invertebrate fauna of the South Essex region.

Five key brownfield sites

The South Essex Stepping Stones for Wildlife project will focus on five key brownfield sites across the South Essex region. These sites have been selected because of the rare, scarce, UK and local Biodiversity Action Plan priority invertebrate species (species of conservation concern) they support, or have the potential to support. The sites selected are: Canvey Wick SSSI, Canvey Heights , Wat Tyler Country Park, Vange North and Untidy Industries.

Map showing Stepping Stones
Stepping Stones project area highlighted in green.

Why is South Essex important for bugs?

The South Essex region, north of the Thames has played host to a variety of industry and aggregate extraction, dating back over 400 years. It is sites of this nature, situated alongside estuarine salt marsh habitats and a warm climate that make South Essex a particularly important region for invertebrates.

A brownfield site in South Essex
A brownfield site in South Essex © Claudia Watts

In Britain the majority of open bare ground, low nutrient and species rich grassland have been destroyed by intensive agricultural techniques and improvement with agro-chemicals. Because of this habitat loss, many of the invertebrate species formerly associated with them now occur in association with the habitat mosaic which occurs on the nutrient poor, drought stressed substrates offered by brownfield sites.