The Daily Mail and The Guardian report a wildlife catastrophe is imminent unless urgent action is taken to restore Britain’s natural habitats, campaigners have warned today. Nature group Rewilding Britain said global warming means species’ ‘climate zones’ – areas with ideal temperature, humidity and rainfall for those creatures – are moving north too fast for them to keep up.
Tag Archives: rewilding
How maverick rewilders are trying to turn back the tide of extinction
The Guardian reports a handful of radical nature lovers are secretly breeding endangered species and releasing them into the wild. Many are prepared to break the law and risk the fury of the scientific establishment to save the animals they love.
Golden eagles breeding success at Scottish Highlands estate
The BBC reports golden eagles have bred at a “rewilding” estate in the Scottish Highlands for the first time in 40 years. An eagle pair successfully reared the chick at an artificial eyrie on the 10,000-acre Dundreggan estate.
Missing lynx: how rewilding Britain could restore its natural balance
The Observer reports is bison will soon be roaming our woods again, other long-lost species such as wild cats should follow to increase biodiversity…A small herd is to be released into Blean Woods near Canterbury in Kent, in a lottery-funded project led by the Kent Wildlife Trust and Wildwood Trust.
‘It’s good for the soul’: the mini rewilders restoring UK woodland
The Guardian reports by buying and managing small wooded plots, enthusiasts are bringing biodiversity back to the countryside.
Tamara and Steve Davey cannot help but grin at the suggestion they are “miniature rewilders”. Standing proudly in the weak sunlight on the fringes of Dartmoor national park, the full-time grandmother and taxi company owner delight in their eight-acre woodland. Robins, tits and siskins chortle in the trees. Nightjars are welcome visitors in the summer. Seven bat species have been recorded in their small plot. There’s a badger’s sett somewhere in the hillside scrub. And the couple feel at peace.
Bears should be reintroduced into British countryside one day, says new head of Wildlife Trusts
The Telegraph reports bears should be reintroduced into the British countryside one day, the new head of the Wildlife Trusts has said, as he argues the loss of the species is as significant as if we lost the works of Shakespeare.
Dr Craig Bennett, who was previously the CEO of Friends of The Earth, now starts as the chair of the wildlife charities and has been enlisted to turn the nature reserves into a campaigning force.
Photo by cloudtail the snow leopard uncer creative commons.
The rewilding guide to Britain: how and where our most characterful species are being reintroduced
The Sunday Telegraph reports in late August, unbeknown to most of the capital’s population of eight million, a single white-tailed eagle flew over central London. This magnificent bird of prey was one of six released a week earlier on the Isle of Wight and had taken it upon himself to explore his new manor.
That eagle over London was symbolic of a much wider process taking place all over the country. Whether you use the word Rewilding with a capital R, a small r or indeed no r at all, however you choose to define it – big birds of prey, tiny dormice, or a healthy, flowing river – the desire to ecologically restore our landscape is a response to the critical condition of our natural world. Despite the work of organisations like The Wildlife Trusts, RSPB and National Trust, as well as smaller foundations and private estates such as Knepp in West Sussex and Trees for Life in the Scottish Highlands, our wildlife is in trouble. Nature conservation organisations that traditionally focused on protecting specific sites and national parks have reached the consensus that such work is no longer enough.
‘Rush to rewild’ could put wildflower-rich meadows at risk
The Scotsman reports a “rush to rewild” the UK’s landscapes could put the rich array of wildflowers found in already-rare meadows at risk, plant experts have warned. While rewilding, which aims to return land to a more “natural” state, can provide opportunities for the UK’s wild plants, many will still need grazing or other kinds of disturbance such as ploughing or cultivating to thrive.
Wildflower meadows are some of the UK’s most species-rich habitats, but are found on less than 1 per cent of the country’s land area, wildlife charity Plantlife said ahead of National Meadows Day on Saturday. More than 97 per cent of meadows have been lost since the 1930s and the remaining fragments have poor legal protection, the charity warned.
MPs to debate returning huge swathes of Britain to natural habitat in ‘rewilding’ scheme
The Independent reports MPs will have to debate returning vast swathes of land to wildernesses after a petition calling for mass rewilding gained more than 100,000 signatures.
It calls for the government to “make a bold financial and political commitment to nature’s recovery” to help slow climate breakdown.
Expanding habitats for native plants, trees and animals such as beavers and allowing wildlife to return will help remove from the atmosphere the carbon dioxide that is largely driving up global temperatures, organisers Rewilding Britain, said.
Photo by Pat Gaines under Creative Commons .