{"id":537665,"date":"2026-04-18T11:23:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T11:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/537665\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T11:23:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T11:23:08","slug":"a-prickle-of-hedgehogs-and-an-armada-of-newts-wildlife-settles-in-at-londons-new-queen-elizabeth-garden-biodiversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/537665\/","title":{"rendered":"A prickle of hedgehogs and an armada of newts: wildlife settles in at London\u2019s new Queen Elizabeth garden | Biodiversity"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the Queen Elizabeth II garden<\/a> opens in Regent\u2019s Park this month, the first people to visit the Royal Parks\u2019 \u00a35m biodiversity project will quickly discover they are not, in fact, the first visitors.<\/p>\n

That honour belongs to a hairy-footed flower bee, a breeding pair of geese, some dragonfly nymphs, a flock of grey wagtails, a prickle of hedgehogs, an armada of newts, a flutter of spring butterflies and a \u201cvery cheeky\u201d fox.<\/p>\n

The Royal Parks has transformed the former brownfield site \u2013 which was historically used as a horticultural nursery \u2013 into a 8,000 sq metre (two-acre) paradise for flora and fauna, bringing about an estimated 184% increase in biodiverse wildlife habitat.<\/p>\n

Glasshouses, loose gravel and concrete have been replaced by more than 40 new trees, about 2,000 sq metres of wildflower meadow, more than 5,000 sq metres of climate-resilient plants and an extra 100 metres of native mixed hedgerow.<\/p>\n

Different habitats mean visitors walk through a more formally designed landscape towards a wildflower meadow. All photographs by Sarah Lee for the Guardian<\/p>\n

A large ornamental pond of naturally filtered water provides a new aquatic habitat for plants, insects and amphibians, while a former water storage tower \u2013 which offers visitors a panoramic view of the garden \u2013 has swift nesting and bat roosting boxes integrated into its new roof.<\/p>\n

Since the garden was completed in January, a wide range of wildlife has already been spotted using the newly created habitats, including a fox that visits on an almost daily basis, says Matthew Halsall, the manager and landscape architect behind the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very cheeky \u2013 it likes to chew through the guide ropes, which is a little inconvenient \u2013 but it is a very welcome visitor,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

double quotation markWe call it a micro-mosaic of habitats, because there are so many different features within this relatively small gardenMatthew Halsall<\/p>\n

Bees and butterflies are thriving among the 200,000 spring bulbs planted in the garden, and the park\u2019s longstanding resident hedgehogs \u2013 the last breeding population in central London<\/a> \u2013 have been recorded exploring the grounds.<\/p>\n

When Halsall began designing the garden three years ago, he was aware the site had the potential to become a haven for biodiversity in London. \u201cIt\u2019s right in the heart of Regent\u2019s Park, surrounded by many different habitat types, and therefore an important project in terms of wildlife-habitat reclamation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The redesign of the two-acre garden is expected to achieve a 184% net gain in biodiversity<\/p>\n

But as well as increasing biodiversity, Halsall was tasked with creating \u201ca beautiful and evocative\u201d public garden to commemorate the late queen. The result is a space that invites visitors to observe and engage with a wide range of wildlife habitats as they move from an ornate, formally designed landscape towards a meadow planted with wildflowers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe call it a micro-mosaic of habitats, because there are so many different features within this relatively small, two-acre garden,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The 200,000 spring bulbs planted in the garden quickly drew bees and butterflies<\/p>\n

Interconnected channels, or swales, ensure rainwater flows slowly through the garden, reducing the need for irrigation and creating very wet habitats in winter, which then become partially dry in summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s really good because it allows you to introduce plants that are specifically suited to that kind of environment,\u201d Halsall says.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest challenges was ensuring the new garden did not eradicate existing wildlife habitats on the site. A survey found broad-nosed weevils, various species of rare spiders, brown tree ants, little dark bees and mullein moth caterpillars inhabiting the loose gravel around the greenhouses, so Halsall and his team decided to incorporate loose, gravelly surfaces into the design.<\/p>\n

Non-native trees that are notably climate-resilient, such as Mediterranean stone pine, have been planted to protect habitats supported by native species such as Scots pine, which is threatened by global heating in the UK.<\/p>\n

Elms cultivated to resist Dutch elm disease are also being introduced. Halsall says: \u201cElms support tussock moths and white-letter hairstreak butterflies, and they\u2019re an amazing food source for birds.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former water storage tower has boxes for swifts and bats to nest in built into its new roof<\/p>\n

To attract swifts to nest in the water tower, which has been transformed by ironwork decorated with roses, thistles, shamrocks and leeks (the plants of the four nations embroidered on Queen Elizabeth II\u2019s coronation gown), a mounted loudspeaker will emit the sounds of the birds calling. \u201cWe also think the tower has high roosting potential for bats,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Eight different species of bat<\/a> live in London\u2019s eight Royal Parks, including pipistrelle species that are classified as \u2018near threatened\u2019 on Great Britain\u2019s Red List<\/a>. Charlotte Cass, biodiversity manager for the Royal Parks, is trying to encourage the movement of these bats across green spaces in the city to ensure that breeding populations do not become isolated in one location, like the hedgehogs in Regent\u2019s Park.<\/p>\n

A pair of geese are among the early visitors to the garden.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re putting up bat boxes and creating lots of habitats where we think bat roosts are feasible, such as on particular trees in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens<\/a>,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Thanks in part to funding from the People\u2019s Postcode Lottery, the Royal Parks has an eight-strong biodiversity team, consisting of ecologists, research officers and project managers. Volunteer conservation and ecology officers also organise more than 3,000 volunteers to support the parks\u2019 biodiversity projects and conservation work.<\/p>\n

Last year, volunteers helped to plant 900 blackthorn saplings in sunny spots near ash trees in Regent\u2019s Park to create ideal habitats for brown hairstreak butterflies, one of the UK\u2019s rarest butterflies, which feed on the honeydew of aphids on ash trees.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe discovered we had these butterflies in Regent\u2019s Park and they will only lay their eggs on the very edge of the tips of blackthorn tree twigs,\u201d says Cass.<\/p>\n

The garden was designed as an \u2018evocative\u2019 public space to commemorate the late queen<\/p>\n

This year, volunteers have planted 4,500 plugs of climate-resilient sphagnum moss in three 100 sq metre sites across Richmond Park, after a survey showed the keystone species \u2013 which is very rare in London and the south-east \u2013 was disappearing from the 800-year-old grounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got so close to losing it, there was just 0.08 sq metres of it left in the park. All it would have taken was one person disturbing it or a dog digging it up and we would have lost it entirely,\u201d says Cass.<\/p>\n

She is hopeful that efforts to monitor and increase biodiversity across the capital\u2019s 5,000 acres of Royal Parks will help to build more resilient habitats for the wildlife that lives there. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a really unique opportunity, as an enormous green space in an urban setting, and we can play a vital role in protecting London\u2019s biodiversity,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The Queen Elizabeth II garden<\/a> will be open to the public from 27 April 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the Queen Elizabeth II garden opens in Regent\u2019s Park this month, the first people to visit the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":537666,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-537665","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}