Ecology initiative to encourage more birds, bats and insects to central London

Wild West End will link parks with green stepping stones to draw wildlife to built-up streets, with beehives, bird and bat boxes being installed

London's West End may not seem the ideal habitat for wildlife, but wrens, thrushes and bats are making it their home.

Robin-like black redstarts, common pipistrelle and the rarer Leisler's bat, pied wagtails, song thrushes and wrens are among those recorded in a recent survey of buildings around Regent Street, Haymarket and Piccadilly Circus.