By Martha
Henriques
21
January 2019
Urban
rewilding projects are tempting nature back into our cities, from creating city
butterfly meadows to building unlikely homes for deadly birds of prey.
The
middle of London’s hectic West End doesn’t seem like the likeliest location for
one of the UK’s rarest birds. There are only an estimated
20-40 breeding pairs of black redstarts in the country. But in
recent years, without being artificially introduced into the area, this rare
bird has started to make a home in this crowded part of Central London.
The black
redstart isn’t the only unexpected species of wildlife to start living in
conspicuously urban landscapes. Moths, butterflies, woodpeckers and even
serotine bats, more commonly found in rural pastures, have also been on the
rise in this part of London.
It’s a
trend growing in strength worldwide. While in New York, peregrine falcons –
once nearly extinct in the US, can now regularly be seen diving at breakneck
speeds from skyscrapers across the city.
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