There is still plenty of discussion about what rewilding means. Like many words that describe how people interact with nature (e.g. agriculture and conservation), rewilding doesn’t have a single method of implementation. This framework attempts to provide a pragmatic description of what rewilding is and isn’t, based on rewilding in Britain. It is essentially exploring what rewilding projects have in common while allowing each project to be unique to the place, nature and people involved. It would be great to hear what you think. Photo: Glenfeshie. Note: This framework is adapted from Sandom, C ..read more

By Betsy Gorman  The BLUE campaign all started in Chipping Sodbury in 2017 with the idea that a community can band together and connect people with wildlife friendly green spaces. We worked under the principle that setting aside even a small amount of land to go wild will  create some habitat for different species, and it actually worked! Many people in Chipping Sodbury embraced the wild. It was fantastic because so many people could get involved. Even a windowsill or 2m X 2m patch was creating an additive effect in the village to the point where, when more people joined in, the ..read more

A wild GardenDownload By Betsy Gorman an exploration of how to make your green space just that little bit wild. Follow the journey of a garden as it goes from a mown lawn to a space where animals and plants can thrive ..read more

By Daniel Maude (Dan is a MRes student at the University of Sussex and produced this outstanding report as part of his research. It gives a really nice overview of what natural disturbance is and why it is important. Restoring natural disturbance regimes is a key goal in rewilding which is why we wanted to share it here. You can follow Dan on Twitter here: @DanMaude_90 ) Ongoing anthropogenic ecosystem changes have caused a substantial reduction in global biodiversity. With it comes the insidious loss of ecological processes, including the often-underappreciated effects of natural disturbance ..read more

We hope that rewilding is going to become a fantastic career opportunity sooner rather than later. And what a career it could be! A great opportunity to connect with nature and people. Do you want such a career? If so, the list below details some of the knowledge, skills, experience, and qualities we think are going to be really beneficial to any rewilder. It’s a pretty long list, but not exhaustive. We don’t think any one person needs it all, but these are all things worth looking into if you’re interested. We’ve added a few links for places to find more information, but we’d love to add more ..read more

Talk by Chris Sandom for the U3A society ..read more

By Veronica Wignall All over the country, road verges have started to undergo a transformation. This is thanks in part to Plantlife UK and other conservation charities who have raised awareness of what researchers have been shouting about for decades: that verges make up a huge total area that could be home to a rich diversity of wildflowers, providing food for insects and birds and creating a network of habitat for the smallest to largest of our wildlife. Road verges have typically been managed in a way that fails to promote any kind of wildlife. Similar to our urban greenspaces, it seemed as ..read more

by Tom Dando It’s hard to steer clear of coronavirus and the bombardment of news, information and sobering statistics at home and abroad. However, more and more throughout this time, I’ve found myself tuning into the sounds and sights of the urban nature that lives around me, in a way that I can’t remember doing before. The first springs of new life Nature is something I’ve always made a point to go out and look for, this species or that habitat, a place to go and immerse myself. In these lockdown times, I’ve found myself grounded to my garden and (very luckily) my allotment. I’m lucky to be a ..read more

By Tom Dando I didn’t want to write another piece on nature’s decline, or another grand piece on rewilding, instead and in my opinion just as importantly, I thought I would discuss the need to explore our relationship with nature and the inclusion of a social vision for our landscape. While undeniably rewilding is at its core an ecological aspiration, the mechanisms needed to fully implement the vision of cores, corridors and carnivores (keystones) or whatever vision of ‘wilding’ you may have, are undoubtedly social. Indeed, it is social factors that will ultimately decide the fate of rewildin ..read more

By Veronica Wignall Since the coronavirus pandemic struck the UK in early 2020, many of us have come to value our local greenspace more than ever before. For people living in a city or town, local parks in particular have been a refuge, a place to exercise, breathe and decompress from the pressures of lockdown. Even before the pandemic however, research has shown time and again that access to urban parks improves both mental and physical health. These effects have been shown to be greater than purely those resulting from physical exercise, meaning green areas give us something extra to the ben ..read more