Chalk Lines

What will the project do?

Working with a range of landowners such as Surrey Wildlife Trust, National Trust, Guildford Borough Council as well as private landowners, we will restore habitat to allow invertebrates to move more freely through the landscape by improving the quality and connectivity along our B-lines and Important Invertebrate Areas. Habitat works will include scrub management, wildflower seeding, planting of species foodplants and advising on invertebrate friendly habitat management.

We will raise awareness of our seven target species through engagement and training for a range of communities to enable people to learn about and champion our invertebrates. Project activities and community events will connect people to the landscape, increasing local pride in, and concern for, globally important chalk grassland habitats and species.

Activities will reconnect people from the urban centres of Guildford, Dorking, and Leatherhead to the special landscape of the North Downs. Activities for care home residents and the prison population at HMP Send will expand the range of people engaged with Surrey’s natural heritage.

The project aims to restore and reconnect 30 hectares of chalk grassland habitat within the Surrey Hills National Landscape as well as restore populations of seven threatened invertebrate species.

Proposed outcomes

• Outreach visits to 6 residential care homes will develop pollinator-friendly planting schemes for their grounds and deliver gentle gardening activities for more active residents while talks and nature-based arts and crafts sessions will bring the outdoors inside.
• A joint initiative with HMP Send and The Clink will support women impacted by the justice system to develop skills in conservation management, invertebrate identification, and sustainable growing practices alongside their horticultural studies. Buglife staff will advise on invertebrate-friendly planting schemes for the 4.5 acres of prison gardens, and horticultural students from HMP Send will grow up to 600 native wildflowers for the project.
• Identification workshops will be organised, and citizen science initiatives will train new volunteers to survey easily identifiable target species and submit these records to Surrey Biodiversity Information Centre (SBIC).
• Additionally, five volunteer workdays will be organised.

How can you get involved?

There will be opportunities to get involved and volunteer with Chalk Lines through practical habitat management workdays and carrying out surveying and monitoring. We will also be running sessions on introductions to invertebrates and botany as well as more in-depth species identification workshops.

Information, advice, and support is also available to landowners who would like to learn more about the project and improve their land for invertebrates.

To find out more about our Chalk Lines project or how to get involved, contact out project officers Alice at [email protected] or Peter [email protected]