Celebrating World Wildlife Day

At eastbrooke homes, creating great places to live means supporting nature alongside new communities. At One Horton Heath, carefully planned green spaces and habitat enhancements are helping wildlife thrive as the development grows.

Recent ecological monitoring has revealed encouraging results across the site, with several important conservation successes recorded over the past year.

Otter discovery highlights healthy habitats

An otter has recently been recorded near Quobleigh Weir in Quobleigh Woods, marking an exciting wildlife milestone for the area. While otters are known to inhabit wet woodland environments, sightings are rare, making this a particularly positive sign for the health of the local habitat.

This is believed to be the first confirmed record within Quobleigh Woods, highlighting the strength of the natural environment being protected and enhanced at One Horton Heath.

Supporting bat populations across the development

Supporting bats has been a key part of the site’s ecological strategy, with monitoring continuing to show positive results.

The Chalcroft Bat House, also known as Pond Cottage, is performing extremely well. Surveys in 2025 confirmed a brown long eared bat maternity colony, with at least 17 bats recorded including five pups, while 25 bats were observed emerging during summer monitoring.

Several bat features across the site are already in use, including internal and external roosting spaces and a double hollow bat box supporting species such as soprano pipistrelle and Natterer’s bats. A nearby tree roost containing three brown long eared bats has also been identified.

Across One Horton Heath, brown long eared, Natterer’s, Soprano Pipistrelle and Common Pipistrelle bats have all been recorded roosting, with additional species regularly foraging throughout the wider landscape.

Barn owls continue call Horton Heath home

Barn owl box two supported a successful breeding season in 2025, with three chicks recorded in June. To ensure suitable nesting opportunities continue, four existing owl boxes will be replaced before March as part of ongoing habitat management.

Creating habitats for a range of species

Swift nesting provision is currently under review to ensure boxes are installed in the most suitable locations, helping maximise success for this declining species.

Great crested newts were recorded last spring in ponds at Quobleigh Rising, where purpose built hibernacula provide safe shelter. Further surveys will take place between March and June this year to continue monitoring the population.

Reptile populations onsite remain small, with no records of adders. However, reptiles from another location will be carefully translocated to Quobleigh Rising this summer, supporting biodiversity while contributing to the long term management of the habitat.