Species Coastal and Wetlands: More, Bigger, Better, Joined

The Species Coastal and Wetlands programme works at landscape-scale in Southeast England to create, enhance, and restore these wetland and coastal habitats. Guided by the Lawton Principles of ‘More, Bigger, Better, Joined’, the programme will benefit a wide range of species, including some of the UK’s most threatened birds and mammals. It also works in some of the most deprived wards in Southeast England to enhance nature engagement and offer RSPB Nature Prescriptions.

Working at 13 sites from the Solent to the Norfolk Broads, the programme is creating and enhancing an abundance of natural features to support wetland and coastal wildlife. These include new islands for breeding birds, restored reedbeds and lagoons, enhanced wet grazing meadows for waders, and the creation of scrapes, dragonfly ponds, predator exclusion fencing and tern nesting rafts.

• RSPB Wallasea​
• RSPB Vange Marsh
• RSPB Rainham​
• RSPB Otmoor​
• RSPB Dungeness​
• The Hoo Peninsula
• Medmerry
• The Norfolk Broads
• The Suffolk Coast

Resilience to the climate crisis is at the heart of the programme’s work. This means preparing for rising sea levels and unpredictable rainfall. To create this resilience, the programme is building features like culverts and bunds (earth walls), to hold water through periods of drought, and installing sluices and solar pumps to help manage water for wildlife.

At Vange Wick, part of South Essex Marshes, new bunds have been built around and across the marsh. This has given the site-team greater control over how water moves on and off the land, meaning they can better maintain habitat in unusually high or low rainfall. These efforts will benefit Avocet, Redshank and Lapwing. Vange is also home to a population of Water Voles – a species which has declined by 90% in the UK. The new habitat will allow these ecosystem engineers to expand their territory.

The location of the new islands at Wallasea also reflects these priorities. By building them in a lagoon behind the seawall, they are safe from rising sea levels.

In the Norfolk Broads and along the Suffolk Coast, the programme is working to help landowners create wet grassland for breeding waders. This crucial habitat has declined due to changes in the relationship between farming and water, but can be restored through relatively simple steps.

The programme offers tailored advice on how to enhance existing grazing marsh, support with new and existing grassland Agri-Environment schemes, workshops and site visits. If you farm or own grazing marsh in these areas, we can help you to help nature. Email [email protected], to find out more.

Protecting our precious wetlands is a collective effort, and it cannot be achieved without community support and understanding. As such, the programme works in some of the most deprived parts of Southeast England to engage young people and boost nature connectedness.

The programme has already trained 50 healthcare professionals to offer RSPB Nature Prescriptions. This is an innovative approach to tackling the interconnected crises we face in nature, mental, and physical health. By training healthcare professionals in Kent, Essex and Suffolk to prescribe nature, we can boost people’s connection to the natural world.

This has proven benefits for wellbeing, but it also benefits wildlife. After all, when people feel they have a stake in nature, they are inspired to restore and protect it. You can read more about the programme’s Kent nature prescriptions project here.

In the coming year, the programme will pioneer a translation project so that RSPB Nature Prescriptions can be offered to refugees in the Southeast for the first time.

The programme is also midway through running a series of ‘Get Started with Nature and Conservation’ courses at Rainham Marshes, in partnership with The King’s Trust. These are an opportunity for young people who are not currently in education, employment or training to learn about nature and develop some of the skills needed to kickstart a career in conservation.

The courses are free to attend, and two attendees now work on the programme as apprentices, further developing their skills and experiences.

Species Coastal and Wetlands is a partnership between the RSPB, The King's Trust, The Church Commissioners for England, Kent Wildfowling and Conservation Association and private landowners. 

The programme is funded by the Government's Species Survival Fund. The Fund was developed by Defra and its Arm's-Length Bodies. It is being delivered by The National Lottery Heritage Fund in partnership with Natural England and the Environment Agency.

The Species Survival Fund supports projects which “tackle habitat loss, safeguard our fragile ecosystems, and create and restore nature-rich landscapes”. It has been targeted to deliver against the Government’s legally binding target to stop the decline in species abundance in England by 2030.

The Species Coastal and Wetlands programme successfully applied for and was awarded £2,487,752 from the Fund, which makes up 94% of the programme’s funding. The remaining 6% is made up of match funding from partners.