Owls, kingfishers and butterflies could soon be swooping over the Thames
London is set to welcome back swathes of wildlife in a major restoration of animal habitats across the city.
The capital’s woodlands, wetlands, grasslands and other protected wildlife sites are home to the likes of butterflies, water voles, tawny owls, swifts and skylarks.
Many of these creatures have been pushed out by the city’s expansion and toxic pollution.
Now, local authorities are planning to bring them back through more than 20 rewilding projects to help their populations flourish.
Londoners can be expect to see more birds, insects and rodents in their green spaces.
It’s hoped animals who have been driven from the city completely can also return one day.
Rehabilitating woodlands, wetlands, grasslands will also benefit humans too.
These spaces provide protection from floods and heatwaves, and support populations of wild fauna, flora and fungi.
Amazon is pumping £2.8 million into Sadiq Khan’s Rewild London Fund, with some of the funds going towards planting more than 450,000 trees across Britain.
The donation is part of Amazon’s £17.5 million pledge for UK and Europe projects, through its Right Now Climate Fund.
The UK has seen success with these kinds of projects in recent months, with wild bison returning to an ancient Kent woodland for the first time in thousands of years.
Conservationists and rewilding experts hailed the £1.12 million scheme as ‘biodiversity-boosting magic’.
The animals were pictured a month later, getting on ‘amazingly well’.
Bison ranger Tom Gibbs told Metro.co.uk: ‘The bison are doing amazingly well. They are finding their own food with ease; we have seen them eating birch, oak, sweet chestnut, brambles, bracken and even a little bit of heather.
‘They have even begun to debark the conifer trees, which is fantastic as a key focus of the project is the bison controlling the non-native trees within the woodland.’
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