From scorpions to peacocks: the species thriving in London’s hidden microclimates | London

London is the only place in the UK where you can find scorpions, snakes, turtles, seals, peacocks, hawks all in one city; Not the London zoo. Step outside and you’ll be greeted by a patchwork of writhing, buzzing, bubbling urban microclimates.

Sam Davenport, director of nature recovery at the London Wildlife Trust, emphasizes that the huge diversity of habitats you find in UK cities creates a surprising “mosaic” of wildlife.

“If you think about going into the countryside, where there’s arable land, it’s really homogeneous. But if you walk a mile either way through a city, you get allotments, gardens, railway lines and some ancient woodland.”

Animals also thrive in cities because winters are milder in cities than in rural areas. “It is not uncommon to see queen bumblebees in cities foraging at Christmas,” Davenport said. “When it’s cold, the city gets warmer. We have a microclimate that invertebrates can benefit from.”

Beyond bees, species such as otters and herons also benefit from waterways that are less likely to freeze, keeping food supplies more stable during the winter months.

Many species adapt their behavior to urban life by changing where and how they hunt, the habitats they use, or the way they move through the landscape. “Cities show that nature is really good at adapting and finding a niche,” Davenport said.

Here are some of the species that found a way to thrive in the big smoke:

Black

Apparently the “London Underground mosquito” (Culex pipiens f. mole) is not appropriately named. The insects became famous during the Second World War for eating Londoners seeking shelter from bombings in tube tunnels. However, contrary to popular belief, they did not evolve underground. Their origins date back to the Middle East several thousand years ago, but since then they have happily adapted to the mild climate of the capital’s transport network.

Mosquitoes aren’t the only migrants finding homes in Britain’s urban forests. More than 10,000 yellow-tailed scorpions (Tetratrichobothrius flavicaudis) It is believed to have lived in wall crevices at Sheerness Dockyard in Kent and formed a second colony on the docks in east London. They arrived in the UK in the 1800s, nestled in shipments of Italian masonry.

Meanwhile, Regent’s Park provides excellent woodland conditions for the UK’s main Aesculapian snake population (Zamenis longissimus). One of Europe’s largest snake species, these olive-coloured snakes are thought to be escapees from a former research facility, surviving in the wild by hunting rodents and birds.

waterways

In 1957 the Natural History Museum declared the Thames biologically dead. Since then, improvements in sewage systems and industrial waste disposal have transformed the river into a livable ecosystem. The wildlife now found on the River Thames and its network of waterways is a stunning environmental success story.

Once endangered otters can be seen playing in the water near Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Below the Thames Estuary, hundreds of harbor seals sometimes wander inland to hunt for fish returning to cleaner urban rivers.

London’s waterways have also attracted unexpected residents. Among them, devil shrimp (Dikerogammarus hemobaphies), kind of worrying Aggressive omnivores and short-nosed seahorses in the Black Sea (hippocampus hippocampus)It is thought to have drifted into the Gulf Stream; perhaps a more hopeful sign of the River Thames’ biological recovery.

Two aquatic creatures compete for the strangest origin story on the River Thames. The first is red-eared turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans)It was imported to the UK from Mississippi and Mexico during the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle craze of the 1980s. Purchased as pets and then abandoned, they have since thrived in urban ponds and canals. It is possible that some of the terrapins seen today were pets from the 1980s; just significantly older.

Then there is the European eel (anguilla anguilla) has one of the strangest life cycles of any animal. After spawning in the Sargasso Sea near the Bahamas, the eels drift across Atlantic currents into rivers such as the Thames; here they can live for decades before making the long journey back to the Bahamas to die.

Sky

peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) They are the fastest animals in the world and thrive in central London. Some of the city’s approximately 40 breeding pairs roost in the Barbican’s tower blocks, where residents say they watch adults giving their young flying lessons.

The hawks that soar over the Barbican often spend the day across the river at the Tate Modern. Although they do not usually hunt at night, they have adapted to city life and hunt nocturnal migratory birds attracted by the glare of street lights.

Bats also live comfortably with humans. They are often found along canals, in disused industrial buildings, in people’s homes and even flying down Regent Street. Wildlife experts believe they navigated the city like commuters, using linear railroad sets as guides.

Other birds are a legacy of Britain’s aristocratic past. For example, peacocks are known to strut around the Kyoto Garden in Holland Park, wild descendants of birds once kept by the gentry.

Meanwhile, the ancestors of the pelicans living in St James’s Park were discovered in 1664 by the Russian ambassador to King Henry II. It was a gift presented to Charles.