Space4Nature

What was Space4Nature’s purpose?

When deciding how best to protect nature, conservationists must locate, protect and connect vital habitats. But nature is constantly changing, so keeping nationwide records up to date is difficult, made more challenging due to limitations such as resources, funding and even site access. This means a lack of comprehensive mapping has left many rare UK habitats unrecognised and unprotected – until now!

Thanks to advancements in satellite imagery, the Space4Nature partnership is solving this by combining satellite imagery and citizen science to train AI to map UK habitats from space. Using these insights, Buglife has created wildflower-rich habitats to connect Surrey’s B-Line insect superhighway – part of the world’s largest and most connected habitat connectivity project!

Project outcome

key achievements

• 64 hectares of new habitat created within Surrey’s B-Lines network (exceeding the 30-hectare target).
• 350 citizen scientists trained in the Space4Nature ground truthing surveys.
• Launched the Space4Nature citizen science surveying scheme, which undertook over 1,000 botanical surveys across Surrey Wildlife Trust reserves.
• Winner of the 2024 International Geospatial Innovation Awards for developing a predictive model to identify chalk grassland and heathland.

Building the B-Line

Buglife’s B-Lines Network are a series of ‘insect pathways’ running through our countryside and towns. We are restoring them to create a series of wildflower-rich habitat stepping stones that link existing wildlife areas together.

As part of Space4Nature, Buglife more than doubled its 30-hectare target, delivering over 60 hectares of enhanced pollinator-friendly habitat, including wildflower meadows, heathlands, wetlands and hedgerows. These vital habitat corridors have strengthened Surrey’s B-lines, enabling insects to disperse and recolonise other habitats.

Public and private habitats restored

Habitat restoration was carried out at 22 sites across Surrey, which included vineyards, orchards, churchyards, playing fields, road verges, private gardens, and areas of established nature reserves managed by Surrey Wildlife Trust. Working with national and local government, charities, community groups and private landowners, we undertook wildflower seeding, scrub clearance, hedge planting and pond creation.

Ongoing site management will include traditional grassland and heathland techniques, notably conservation grazing with cattle, sheep, and goats via no-fence collars. To ensure long-term conservation, we secured 10-year landowner agreements and provided site-specific habitat management plans, sharing our invertebrate conservation expertise.

Helped by hundreds of people

Local volunteer groups have supported with much of the habitat restoration work, alongside external contractors and our conservation officers. We also worked closely with our project partners to train 350 volunteers in vegetation and invertebrate surveys.

To promote this project and Buglife’s broader mission, we engaged with local landowners, community groups, schools and Surrey Nature Partnership. The whole Space4Nature project has engaged 110 landowners and was involved in over 150 events, both in-person and online.

Space4Nature’s legacy

Space4Nature has only scratched the surface – the potential for environmental conservation goes beyond Surrey!

Based on citizen scientist volunteer data, satellite imagery, and machine learning, the project’s habitat maps will be free to access on the LandApp platform. This tool will enable conservationists to make real-time assessments, identify new habitats for vulnerable species, and connect fragmented existing habitats. Landowners will also benefit by easily identifying the ecological value of their property.

Meanwhile, continuing the work in Surrey, Chalk Lines kicked off in spring 2026, working with Surrey Wildlife Trust to enable further habitat restoration of chalk grassland for insects in the Surrey Hills National Landscape.

Can I get involved with Space4Nature or similar projects?

At Buglife, we always want to involve people who are passionate about invertebrates. If you’re doing something to help insects – no matter how big or small – map it on our interactive B-Lines map.

If you’re based in Surrey, keep an eye on our Chalk Lines project for local and online events, and volunteer opportunities.