The Great Manchester Wetlands are a place of great biodiversity, both in their flora and fauna. However, time and humans have not been easy on them and unfortunately, the ecosystem has lost many of its inhabitants and thus the whole ecosystem was thrown off balance.
Still, there is hope for the Great Manchester Wetlands and one environmental project makes us optimistic about the future. The Great Manchester Wetlands Species Reintroduction Project means to, as the name suggests, reintroduce animal and plant species to the wetlands and revitalise them. This article will tell you more about this ambitious project.
The State of the Great Manchester Wetlands
Before we delve deeper into how the environmental project intends to accomplish its goals, we will tell you why it was even necessary to have this kind of an initiative. To put it simply, the Great Manchester Wetlands have been severely neglected over the years, and some parts were even purposefully destroyed.
Historically, wetlands in the United Kingdom have been drained and destroyed or otherwise allowed to deteriorate. As a result, it was not only the water that has been lost in the process but also valuable plant and animal species. So much so that some species had even become locally extinct.
This is mainly because of loss of habitat. The loss of habitat is one of the leading causes for species extinction globally. Take for example the tiger; the reason why the population of tigers in India and Nepal has been decreasing is because their habitats have been destroyed (97% loss of tiger habitat) due to overpopulation and deforestation.
Reviving the Wetlands
Hence why it’s really important to first recreate the natural habitat of the lost species of Greater Manchester before they can be reintroduced to the wetlands. There are environmental projects that are specifically tasked with restoring the wetlands before the Great Manchester Wetlands Species Reintroduction Project could fill it with wildlife.
One such project is Carbon Landscape, which restores the natural wilderness across the English countryside. More specifically, Carbon Landscape specialises in restoring mosslands and wetlands as they lower our carbon footprint and they even prevent floods. Carbon Landscape is the main organisation behind restoring the Manchester wetlands.
Currently, this project is being helped by the Lancashire Wildlife Trust and it receives funding from the National Lottery Heritage Foundation. So far over 3 million were allocated towards restoration of the Great Manchester Wetlands, which includes initiatives like educating the public and restoring the wetlands to their natural state.
Reintroducing Species to the Wetlands
The Great Manchester Wetlands Species Reintroduction Project means to do exactly what its name suggests and bring back animal and plant species to the wetlands. Some of their goals include reintroducing species that have been gone from the area for more than a century, which is quite the ambitious project.
One such type of animal is the large heath butterfly or the Manchester argus, which disappeared from the wetlands more than a hundred years ago. The butterfly could only live in the wetlands and thus it died out in the area ever since the Industrial Revolution started.
Thanks to conservational efforts with the help of the Chester Zoo, the Manchester argus was successfully bred and recently the new butterflies were reintroduced to the area. Similarly, the Chester Zoo now hopes to hatch bog bush crickets (the incubation period is quite long and complicated) in order to reintroduce them to the wetlands in 2023.
The last animal that the project means to bring back to the Great Manchester Wetlands (for now) is the white-faced darter, a very rare dragonfly which can only be found in a few locations in the UK. In order to do this, however, the habitat must first be better suited for it. Currently, partners of Great Manchester Wetlands are working hard to improve the release sites for it.
Apart from rare fauna, the Great Manchester Wetlands Species Reintroduction Project means to restore rare flora as well. So far, they have managed to plant over 160,000 specimens and they plan to add another 180,000 in the coming years.
In terms of rare plant species, they mean to reintroduce plants such as the carnivorous great sundew, oblong-leaved sundew, lesser bladderwort, and white-beaked sedge and bog asphodel. Without their hard work, some of these species might have gone extinct, so we wish them good luck with their revival plans.