National Highways and The Wildlife Trust have joined forces to launch a new £6 million Network for Nature programme that will improve habitats across the South West of England benefitting people, nature and wildlife.

This includes a stretch of the River Were which flows through Smallbrook Meadows nature reserve, which will be restored.

This will allow it to more meander through the floodplain creating space to support birds, mammals and vital insects.

The projects will help create, restore and connect places for wildflowers, trees and wildlife, where the environment has been impacted by activities from previous road building.

Natural solutions such as wetlands and reedbeds will help filter polluted run-off from roads.

Wild areas which have been fragmented by highways will be improved and restored for nature, with one scheme piloting hazel dormouse bridges alongside the M5 in Somerset, reconnecting isolated populations of critically rare dormice and helping them spread into the wider landscape.

At Langford Lakes nature reserve, next to the A36, 11 hectares of wetland habitat will be created and enhanced for birds of conservation concern.

New habitat features will include a sand martin bank, tern rafts, an area of reedbed, wet grassland and muddy wetland margins that will support breeding lapwing, breeding common tern, breeding sand martin.

National Highways, the company responsible for England’s motorways and major A-roads, has awarded nearly £6 million from its Environment and Wellbeing designated fund into the Network for Nature programme.

Overall, twenty-six biodiversity projects will enhance, restore and create more than 1,700 acres (690 hectares) of woodlands, grasslands, peatlands and wetlands across every region of England, with three sitting in the South West of England.

In England, the roadside estate is vast and yet is adjacent to some of our most precious habitats. When situated alongside linear infrastructures, such as motorways, habitats can create crucial corridors for pollinating insects, birds and small mammals, enabling wildlife to move through the wider landscape.

Mark Fox, South West Interim Regional Director for National Highways, said: “We’re committed to significantly improving biodiversity near our road network, and this investment in the South West underlines our commitment to reducing the impact of our roads on the environment and supporting biodiversity.

“At National Highways, our work goes beyond operating, maintaining and improving roads; we’re investing in the environment and communities surrounding our network, helping to unlock the creation and enhancement of habitats, and this is an example of the difference we can make with designated funding.

“We were delighted to partner with The Wildlife Trusts to realise these projects – a glowing example of how this funding can improve biodiversity near our roads.”