Suffolk wetlands restored to improve biodiversity and climate resilience - Network Rail

As the world celebrates Earth Day, a former Suffolk wetland at Cattawade has been restored back to its original state in the first project of its kind in the East of England, to increase biodiversity and improve climate resilience along the railway.

The almost seven hectare site was drained nearly 180 years ago to protect the railway embankment of the London to Norwich line, and in the process destroyed a wetland habitat and the ecosystem that was important for native birds.

The wetland restoration carried out by QTS on behalf of Network Rail, utilised 'nature-based' solutions including placing almost 4000 tonnes of granite and other erosion-resistant rocks along the embankment to create a protective ‘rock armour’ wall. Channels were dug across the site to enable water to flow across the area, and a series of two-metre ‘mounds’ were created just above the waterline so wetland birds will be able to nest and lay their eggs.

Network Rail will be following on from this success by working to increase biodiversity at 14 other sites across the East of England. It marks the next stage of the region’s environment strategy, which aims to replenish biodiversity across its land holdings where possible, potentially creating more than 116 hectares of new ‘biodiverse' sites by 2035 as part of our wider Greener Railway Strategy.

According to the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) 75 per cent of the UK’s wetlands have been lost in the last 300 years and the Office for National Statistics states that wetland birds decreased by 15% in the UK between 1975 and 2019. So the project is a local solution to a national problem.