Four Canterbury groups win wildlife grants — including the district’s first funding for adder habitat

Housemartins, swallows, adders and a bee with notably furry feet. Not your average council agenda item — but Canterbury City Council’s latest round of biodiversity grants has a habit of throwing up surprises. Four organisations across the district share £9,264 in the third round of the scheme, set up in 2024 to help community groups protect and improve local wildlife habitats.

This round comes with a first. It’s the first time the grants have funded work to protect the adder — the UK’s only venomous snake. Cllr Mel Dawkins, Cabinet Member for Biodiversity and the Environment, flagged that milestone, and also pointed to the hairy-footed flower bee as the kind of less familiar species the scheme is designed to champion. The bee will benefit from new shelters at Cherry Orchard Nature Reserve — which, on reflection, is exactly the sort of sentence you never expect to write on deadline.

The four grant awards are:

• Canterbury Swifts Group — £1,564 to create housemartin hotspots
• Kingston Parish Council — £5,500 to manage adder habitat on the Kingston railway embankment
• Cherry Orchard Nature Reserve — £1,500 to build shelters for housemartins, swallows and the hairy-footed flower bee
• 1st Herne Bay Scout Group — £700 to create a forest school environment

Two organisations that missed out on grants won’t be left empty-handed. Canterbury City Council has allocated section 106 money — the funds developers pay as a condition of planning agreements — to keep two projects alive: the Kentish Stour Countryside Partnership’s riverbank restoration work in the Franciscan Gardens, and Herne Bay in Bloom’s plans for coastal garden areas at Neptune car park and William Street.

Since launching in 2024, the programme has backed nearly 20 schemes. Tree planting, pond restoration, bug hotels, butterfly meadows. The council will monitor all funded projects over the coming months.