Manea station noted for its valuable support for biodiversity
Greater Anglia has partnered with the region’s Wildlife Trusts to formally recognise the achievements of its teams of volunteer ‘station adopters’ to create wildlife havens at stations across its network, through the ‘Greater Anglia Wildlife Friendly Stations Accreditation Scheme.’
Two of Manea’s station adopters, Peter and Libby Townrow, received the award following an assessment by an ecologist to determine how well the station supports local flora and fauna. They are helped by Allyson Gadsby, also an adopter at the station.
Much of the space adjacent to the platforms has been left to grow wild, with minimal human intervention.
The ecologist’s report noted that although the area of green space at the station is small, it is valuable for biodiversity, featuring bramble, scrub, mature trees, climbing plants and a wide variety of wild plants and flowers. Scrub and hedgerows on neighbouring land connects to the station’s habitats providing important corridors for wildlife across the farmed landscape.
They also noted that dense ground cover behind Platform 1 is vital for small mammals and hedgehogs as they can forage in safety from predators, and it provides a good structure for nesting birds to use. They also noted the remains of a rotten wooden structure under the brambles, which provides niches for beetles and woodlice.
James Hogg, Development Officer at the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, the lead Trust for the initiative, said:
“The alarming decline in the abundance of wildlife and the plight of species under threat means that just protecting the nature we have left is not enough – we need to put nature into recovery, and to do so at scale and with urgency.
“This project with Greater Anglia is a fantastic example of how people can transform nature-poor areas into new nature-rich places – and change the way we think about land, seizing opportunities to help nature outside traditional nature reserves.”
Each assessment also offers tips and advice for how to make the stations more wildlife friendly and the reports can also be used as examples of best practice, to help spread good ideas around all Greater Anglia’s stations.
Greater Anglia’s Customer and Community Engagement Manager, Alan Neville, said,
“We are delighted to partner with the region’s wildlife trusts to formally recognise the valuable work of our station adopter volunteers in supporting wildlife and improving their local environment.”
Rail stations in East Anglia are increasingly becoming havens for local wildlife thanks to the efforts of over 340 volunteers who last year transformed over 10,000 square metres of land into thriving wildlife gardens.
In a recent survey, Greater Anglia station adopters reported a wide range of creatures visiting their stations, including many different types of butterflies as well as bees, slow worms, bats, foxes, toads, lizards, deer, and many varieties of birds.
Over the last 20 years, since the start of station adoption in East Anglia, the initiative has thrived, so that the vast majority of Greater Anglia stations now have station adopters. These ongoing increases in the areas adopted and the wildlife being seen on the stations show that the adopters are really playing their part in helping to make stations more biodiverse, as well as becoming more attractive gateways to the communities they serve.