Share

Eco Bridges

Our extension of Polhill will see us take on a tiny, old eco-bridge. Eco-bridges are wildlife corridors designed to connect habitats, allowing animals to pass between areas separated by human infrastructure.
Singapore Eco Bridge

Our eco bridge in its own way can mirror some of the effects of the great eco-bridges across the world. One of the best examples might be the 62km long bridge in Singapore which connects two huge nature reserves which were once connected, until being separated by a highway 30 years ago.

Animals like the palm civet and pangolin quickly adapted to using the Eco Bridge instead of crossing the dangerous highway, and have thrived as a result of it.

Closer to home, our little bridge was built in the 1800s to cross the then-new Sevenoaks to London rail route. It has since fallen into disuse and has vegetated over to provide an effective ‘eco-bridge’ between the arable land we will be reverting to grassland and a small area of grassland on the opposite side.

A variety of shrubs have already colonised the bridge, as well as flowers like black knapweed and marjoram providing nectar sources for butterflies flying between grasslands.

Pangolin

We will be managing the vegetation on the bridge to help maintain it as a route which wildlife will be able to use to bridge the gap between the reserve areas. We hope to be able to allow our grazing livestock to use this bridge to walk between the two areas of grassland without the need for road transport!
This will help wildlife move all the way across the whole 40 acres of the new extended Polhill nature reserve and is a crucial part of our plans to help wildlife to thrive here in amongst our roads and railways.

To find out more about our eco-bridge and our plans for Polhill Bank, click here.

Related blog posts