One of the latest efforts across Wales, and the world at large, to deter the disaster of a climate crisis, Billy Edwards has more on how rewilding’s advocates believe that increasing biodiversity promotes a species-rich landscape and counteracts the ever-increasing rate of extinctions.
In 2019, the State Of Nature Wales Report found that as much as 17% of animal species in this country are at risk of completely disappearing. Rewilding is about reintroducing a habitat for those species, but it’s not entirely about doing nothing to your garden and letting nature take hold.
It mainly involves reinstating, by hand, the natural processes humanity has eroded – be that reintroducing missing species, or turning a stream into a river. To rewild is to become a ‘keystone species’, meaning you are the all-important glue holding together various ecosystems where no single species of plant or animal will dominate another.
The concept has gained considerable traction recently as a measure we can all partake in. David Attenborough and Greta Thunberg, perhaps the Western world’s highest-profile climate activists, are staunch defenders. One notable portrayal of rewilding in recent years is within the Amazon series Clarkson’s Farm: in one episode, Jeremy Clarkson introduces reeds, bulrushes, and trout to a man-made pond, which soon draws otters and herons who’d otherwise be hard-pressed for a home.
However, some farmers have anxiety about the term and stress that it should complement the increasingly struggling tradition of food farming, rather than turning land suitable for this purpose into debris. Before rewilding, it’s advisable to conduct a thorough investigation of your land. An inventory of what your garden already has means you can more easily decipher what would be most suitable to add. Often, it can be as simple as going organic and removing chemicals, fertilisers, and worming tablets from the land. This practice tempts insects back, which then become tasty morsels for your local bird population.
More examples of what you can do in your own garden to rewild are leaving felled trees for the crucial predator of the beetle, planting colourful wildflower seeds to attract bees and mulching instead of digging. You can cut small holes in fence panels for hedgehogs, freeing their movement—so much so that pre-cut ones are an increasingly popular option offered by fence companies.
Numerous projects can be found across Wales, which usually boast volunteers rewilding on a large scale. The Gilfach rewilding project, in Powys’ Marteg Valley, has been one step ahead: since 1987, it’s been a prominent rewilding project. Through tree planting, pond creation, and Welsh mountain sheep, natural regeneration has complemented each season. For generations, it was an operational hill farm, and its 160 hectares are home to over a quarter of the total number of lichens in Wales. In the spring, its oak wood is covered with bluebells, a sign of effective rewilding in woodland areas.
Further afield, The Cambrian Wildwood Project cares for a 350-acre site called Bwlch Corog, near the River Dyfi. It’s not strictly promoted as rewilding, to dissuade fears of land abandonment, yet it maintains peat bog areas and ancient woodlands. In the summer months, it invites a group of all-important Highland cattle, who aid efforts by trampling on and grazing the grass. It even organises youth camps to educate children on bushcraft skills, Welsh bird varieties, and the pleasure of spending time in nature.
If that wasn’t enough, the Pumlumon Project in Ceredigion seeks to preserve the source of the River Severn, reduce the likelihood of flooding, and absorb carbon dioxide, all across an area of land the size of Birmingham. Regardless of the size of your land, rewilding has become an approachable method for all to reconnect with nature and preserve its many benefits, species, and sights in the face of climate adversities.
words BILLY EDWARDS
