50,000 animals are moved to make way for container port

ONE of the biggest wildlife relocation projects ever attempted is under way in the Thames Gateway.

More than 50,000 animals are being collected and rehomed to make way for a £1.5 billion container port in Thurrock.

Twenty-five ecologists are collecting creatures including water voles, great crested newts, adders, grass snakes and lizards.

Catching the reptiles has involved laying more than 23,000 mats, under which they like to shelter, across 78 hectares. The mats are turned over twice a day by ecologists. Fencing has also been erected to direct reptiles into buckets buried in the ground.

The project is part of £50 million being spent on safeguarding the environment.

Marcus Pearson, environmental manager at London Gateway, said: "We take any environmental impacts of the project very seriously, which is why we have made such a large investment."

The creatures will be moved to both existing and entirely new habitats. Twenty-four ponds are being dug on 53 hectares of land for great crested newts. There will also be new mudflats for wading birds and monitoring of marine life in the Thames.