A major rewilding project on the Sussex coast is demonstrating something that applies just as much to a suburban garden, balcony or community green space as it does to a 100-mile stretch of coastline. Sussex Bay brings together hundreds of communities and organisations working towards a healthier marine ecosystem between Selsey Bill and Camber Sands.
What is the Sussex Bay rewilding project?
Sussex Bay is a collaborative nature recovery initiative aiming to improve approximately 100 miles of marine environment along the Sussex coastline. The waters are home to species including dolphins, porpoises, seahorses, rays, seals and kelp. Rather than concentrating on one species or habitat, the project takes a much broader approach. It considers how kelp forests, oyster reefs, saltmarshes, rivers, coastal habitats and inland landscapes interact with one another, and how the people living alongside them can become part of their recovery.
The project has already supported initiatives including oyster restoration, citizen-science research, marine wildlife monitoring and work to improve understanding of the local marine environment. But perhaps the most important idea behind Sussex Bay is connectivity.
A healthy kelp forest, for example, is more resilient if surrounding habitats are healthy too. Saltmarsh can help filter pollution. Oyster reefs can improve water quality. Rivers connect inland landscapes with the sea. Strengthening one part of the system can therefore help another. The same principle applies much closer to home.
Your garden isn’t an island
It is tempting to think of rewilding a garden as creating one particularly wildlife-friendly space.
Plant some wildflowers - Put up a bird box - Build a small pond - Leave part of the lawn unmown.
All of these are useful but their impact becomes much greater when we start thinking about how wildlife moves between spaces. Your garden might connect a nearby park with another garden:
A hedge might provide a route for hedgehogs.
A row of flowering plants could become one small feeding station in a much larger network used by bees and butterflies.
A tree could provide shelter between two larger areas of habitat.
Even a balcony covered with nectar-rich plants can become a small stepping stone for pollinating insects moving through a city.
The goal isn’t necessarily to create a complete ecosystem in your own garden.
It is to make your patch part of a bigger one.
Five ways to create a wildlife stepping stone at home
1. Plant for movement as well as appearance
Think about where wildlife might enter and leave your garden. Planting along fences, walls and boundaries can create continuous vegetation rather than isolated flower beds. Climbers, shrubs, native flowers and grasses can create useful cover and feeding opportunities. If several neighbouring gardens do something similar, the result can become a genuine wildlife corridor.
2. Make your boundaries permeable
Solid fences can be surprisingly difficult for wildlife. Hedgehogs in particular need to travel significant distances while searching for food and mates. Creating a small opening at ground level between neighbouring gardens can help transform several individual gardens into one much larger habitat network. Better still, coordinate with neighbours so several gardens become connected.
3. Create several layers of habitat
Natural habitats rarely consist of plants at one height. Try combining:
ground-covering plants
wildflowers and grasses
shrubs
climbers
trees where space allows
Different species use different parts of this structure. A layered garden therefore offers more opportunities for feeding, nesting, shelter and movement.
4. Add water
One of the most effective things you can do for wildlife is provide water. It doesn’t have to be a large pond. A small container pond can support insects and other wildlife, while birds and mammals may use it for drinking. Make sure wildlife has an easy way in and out, using stones, gravel or gently sloping edges. Avoid introducing fish into wildlife ponds because they can eat aquatic insects and larvae.
5. Talk to your neighbours
This may be the most important lesson from Sussex Bay. Nature recovery becomes easier when people collaborate. Imagine ten neighbouring gardens each creating a small patch of pollinator-friendly planting, or several households making fence openings for hedgehogs, or a street deciding to plant native flowers around tree pits.
Individually, each action is small. Together, they create habitat.
Think beyond the garden
Urban rewilding can extend far beyond private gardens. Small areas around:
apartment blocks
schools
offices
community centres
churchyards
car parks
roadside verges
...can all become useful wildlife habitat.
Even spaces that appear insignificant to us may be valuable stepping stones for wildlife moving across increasingly fragmented landscapes.
How LettsSafari helps
LettsSafari was created around exactly this principle: many people taking practical action can collectively create meaningful space for nature. Through LettsSafari, members can support rewilding projects while also learning how to encourage wildlife closer to home. It turns rewilding from something that can feel distant or enormous into something people can participate in. You might start with a window box. Someone else might rewild part of their lawn. Another person might create a pond. Elsewhere, larger areas of land can be allowed to recover.
Connect enough of those actions and something important starts to happen: nature gets more room to move, and more room to return.