Quarry Hangers, a Site of Special Scientific Interest near Caterham in Surrey is to become one of the first locations to test Space4Nature’s trailblazing combination of satellite Earth observation, Artificial Intelligence and citizen science – and to benefit from immediate habitat restoration work under the scheme. Adjacent to Surrey County Council’s Park Ham site, and within the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the site is ideally placed to test and fine-tune S4N’s methods for precision mapping and linking similar habitats to increase bio-abundance and species mobility within Surrey.

Owned and managed by Surrey Wildlife Trust, the 29 hectare chalk downland site combines woodland and scrub with several types of grassland habitats, including intensively grazed pasture, rougher pasture, as well as more pristine species-rich habitat that is managed to maintain a wide diversity of plant and animal species.  In some areas as many as 40 different wildflowers and grasses have been identified within a square metre, including common bird’s-foot-trefoil, wild marjoram, common and chalk milkworts, wild thyme, salad burnet, wild basil and wild strawberry, dwarf thistle, weld, small scabious and field scabious. Orchids on the site include the bee and man orchids. 

These plants provide habitats for a rich diversity of invertebrate species. These including the round-mouthed snail, the common plume and black-striped longhorn moths and the green dock beetle. A nationally rare spider – a smaller relative of the common house spider Tegenaria picta - was discovered here in 2007. Butterflies such as the common blue, green-veined white, marbled white, painted lady and small skipper can all be seen, and Quarry Hangers also supports a number of declining bird species.  It is an excellent place to view soaring raptors with red kites, kestrels and buzzards frequently seen overhead.  The absence of large farming machinery on the site means that ground-nesting skylarks can find safe nesting sites hidden among the site’s longer grass, and the birds’ distinctive song is a frequently heard heart-warming soundtrack throughout the spring and summer.

The Space4Nature team will use new very high-resolution satellite imagery of the site (although taken from space, the images will deliver detail as if from under 30cm away) to analyse and map this diversity of habitats, and will also test the instruction of artificial intelligence software to predict similar habitats across the site.  As necessary and over time, the software will be adjusted so that it becomes increasingly effective at pinpointing which areas of land are a priority for restoration and protection for re-connecting wildlife habitats on a landscape scale as the Space4Nature extends its reach across the county.

Thanks to Space4Nature funding, Quarry Hangers is also benefiting from urgent habitat improvements, undertaken by the Wildlife Trust and Buglife. Due in part to constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, conservation activity on the site has fallen behind in recent years. Now Buglife’s Louis Harrington-Edmans will be carrying out essential scrub clearance as part of Space4Nature. This will open-up sensitive grassland habitat,  currently at risk of being swamped and deprived of light by encroaching vigorous scrubby vegetation such as hawthorn.  Allowing sunlight to penetrate to ground level will allow wildflowers to bloom and the warmed pollinating insects to take to the wing. This continues the essential work done by the Trust and our hardworking volunteers to return Quarry Hangers to its optimal condition.

The improvements at Quarry Hangers will also strengthen Buglife’s nationwide network of insect superhighways or ‘B-Lines’, helping pollinating insects move around and feed safely across the UK.

Space4Nature conservation officer Louis Harrington Edmans says:

“Space4Nature is a complex project with huge ambitions for conservation in Surrey and potentially much more widely.  But it’s equally important that we focus on improving habitats right from the outset.  Quarry Hangers is a great place both to get the technology right so we can deliver on the big picture, while making some urgent changes that will help protect this ancient chalk grassland – among the most biodiverse habitats in all of Europe. The ongoing work to improve the site not only supports many rare and exciting plants and insects, but due to Quarry Hangers optimal location will fill a valuable void by connecting Buglife’s B-Lines and the wider North Downs.”

Space4Nature is funded by the People’s Postcode Lottery’s Dream Fund and delivered by the University of Surrey, Surrey Wildlife Trust, Buglife and the Painshill Park Trust.  Stay tuned for further updates as more activity gets underway in the weeks and months ahead.