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>Derek Gow is a farmer, conservationist, author and leading rewilding advocate who has become one of the UK's most vocal champions of large-scale species reintroductions. In this special Q&A, he tackles some of your most challenging and provocative questions.

>In the main episode, Derek explained why he breeds native British species and argued that rewilding is a vital tool in addressing the biodiversity and climate crises.

>In this follow-up discussion, listeners ask whether turning farmland into wildlife habitat can ever be financially sustainable and how he responds to critics who believe conservation is a luxury. He also explains how investing in nature can deliver long-term benefits for communities, the economy and the environment.

>Wildlife is "returning at pace" to an estate near Skipton, according to the team behind an ambitious rewilding project.

>Across two-and-a-half thousand acres at Broughton Sanctuary, trees have been planted, rare species introduced and wetlands restored.

>The estate's Nature Recovery team, which launched the scheme in 2021, said it had planted more than 340,000 trees, all species native to the area, which had in turn attracted insects.

>The group's Sarah Kinloch said: "When insects come you get small birds. Small mammals live in the long grass and so then you get birds of prey. So it just kick-starts everything."

>For the first time in living memory, all five species of British owl are making Broughton their home, the conservationist said.

>Also returning to the landscape are sparrowhawks, red kites, kestrels, peregrine falcons and hen harriers.

>Kinloch said volunteers were compiling a list of all the different species in the area, which currently stands at about 1,750.

>For more than 900 years the Broughton Hall Estate has been under the stewardship of the Tempest family.

>Kinloch said: "They have seen the estate evolve through various different forms and more recently through this intensive agriculture which has created a billiard table green layer of grass and not much else.

>"So we wanted to bring some biodiversity back."

>Adrian Lee, one of the estate's wildlife wardens, said: "I started in 2007. The changes I've seen, especially since we started rewilding, have been nothing short of remarkable.

>"The sheer amount of wildlife we have got back or never had before - like different types of birds of prey, mammals and I'd say foxes, badgers, hares... we are seeing a lot more than we ever have before."

>Beavers are among the species making the estate their home. Their work building dams has slowed the flow of water through the woods.

>Lee said this had encouraged little egret, heron and dragonflies.

>"When they first came I thought the beavers were quite dull," he admitted.

>"But when you look at what they've done, in such a short space of time, they are remarkable.

>"They're kind of growing on me a little bit."

>Lee also checks on the Iron-Age pigs, a rare cross between a Tamworth and European wild boar.

>They arrived at Broughton in August 2024 and are already making their mark.

>As they search and dig through the soil, they break up the ground creating bare patches for wildflowers and awaken dormant seeds.

>"They can turn over a field inside six weeks and it will look like you've had a tractor and rotavated it," Lee said.

>Five years after the rewilding project began, Kinloch said there remained plenty of work to do.

>"We have got a deep sense of disconnection from nature as a human race," she said.

>"So we want to try and bring that into a bit more balance, because without a healthy planet we can't survive ourselves as a species."

>A tree planting scheme has received £8.7m of government funding to expand the project as organisers celebrate planting more than two million trees.

>The Forest for Cornwall scheme started in 2019 in a bid to help the county respond to climate change.

>Cornwall Council said the money should help the authority reach its target of 8,000 hectares (19,768 acres) of "new tree canopy by 2035".

>The project has included tree planting in communities, farms, schools and streets across Cornwall. Bosses said the scheme was designed to help England reach the target of 16.5% canopy and woodland cover by 2050.

>Loic Rich, Cornwall's cabinet member for environment and climate change, said the Forest for Cornwall "enhances our local landscape, towns and villages, bringing the beauty and benefits of trees to our doorsteps to improve our health and happiness, providing much-needed shade during this prolonged period of heat".

>He said it helped farmers increase farm resilience and helped wildlife "by providing homes for birds, mammals and insects, helping keep our rivers and streams clean and cool, reducing run-off, and improving the health of our soils".

>He added increased tree cover helped "reduce flooding in coastal towns and building resilience to a changing climate".

>The latest grant from Defra's Trees Programme comes after hundreds of trees were destroyed in January when Storm Goretti brought gusts of up to 100mph (160km/h).

>It brought down mature trees at St Michael's Mount near Penzance and Trewithen in Truro.

>Ben Thomas, from Treveddoe Farm near Cardinham, has planted 2,500 trees.

>He said: "Without the knowledge, contacts and funding it would have been hard to find the time to get the project started.

>"In the end we have ended up with a brilliant agroforestry, external network on the farm which is already delivering."

>A shallow depression in a field might look like little more than a patch of wet ground. But beneath the soil, some of these forgotten hollows contain ecosystems that have been dormant for decades, or even centuries. In eastern England, one farming couple discovered that simply uncovering these buried ponds could trigger an astonishing return of wildlife, demonstrating that restoring nature sometimes means reviving what was already there.

>According to the RSPB Chelmsford & Central Newsletter, Joe and Emma Gray restored 11 "zombie" ponds on their 450-hectare regenerative farm near Braintree in Essex after they became overgrown or filled with sediment. Their success encouraged neighbouring farmers to restore about 80 more ponds within a five-kilometre radius through the Essex Lost Ponds Project, creating a growing network of wildlife habitats.

>Bringing forgotten ponds back to life

>Many of Britain's farm ponds disappeared during the 20th century as agriculture became increasingly mechanised. Horses no longer needed watering ponds; fields were enlarged to accommodate machinery; hedgerows were removed; and countless small wetlands were filled to create larger areas for cultivation. Some ponds vanished completely beneath layers of soil and became known as "ghost ponds". Others survived as shallow depressions hidden beneath dense vegetation or accumulated sediment. Conservationists often refer to these partially buried wetlands as "zombie ponds" because they can be brought back to life with relatively modest restoration work.

>The Greys recognised the value of these overlooked wetlands during a coppicing session in the woodland on their property. Once sunlight reached the long-forgotten depression, water returned, followed by wildlife. Inspired by these findings, the project expanded beyond the Gray family's farm. According to the Essex Wildlife Trust, volunteers involved in the Essex Lost Ponds Project have mapped more than 17,200 historic ponds across the county. Working with local Farm Clusters, the project has also helped create or restore around 80 ponds, reconnecting fragmented freshwater habitats across the Essex countryside. It brought together the Essex Wildlife Trust, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the Farming Wildlife & Advisory Group to help neighbouring landowners identify forgotten ponds using historic maps, aerial photographs and field surveys.

>Nature remembers what people forget

>According to Biological Conservation, many buried ponds retain a viable "propagule bank" of dormant seeds and spores beneath their sediments. Even after decades or more than a century underground, these long-dormant propagules can germinate once the pond is excavated and water returns, allowing native aquatic plant communities to re-establish far more quickly than scientists once believed.

>This natural memory explains why newly restored ponds can rapidly develop rich communities without extensive replanting. Aquatic insects arrive by flight, amphibians colonise from nearby wetlands, and birds begin using the restored water bodies for feeding and breeding. For farmers, restoring old ponds can also make practical sense. Most occupy unproductive corners of fields or poorly drained areas that contribute relatively little to crop yields. Reviving these sites often has little effect on food production while creating stepping stones that help wildlife move across intensively farmed landscapes.

>Small wetlands with a big ecological role

>Although ponds occupy only tiny areas of farmland, their ecological importance is disproportionately large. Biological Conservation also notes that ponds support exceptionally high levels of freshwater biodiversity, providing habitat for amphibians, aquatic plants, insects, birds and mammals. Networks of small ponds are particularly valuable because they improve habitat connectivity, allowing species to disperse between wetlands and making populations more resilient to environmental change.

>The Essex Lost Ponds Project has also changed attitudes among farmers. Rather than viewing conservation as competing with agriculture, many participants now see pond restoration as an efficient way to improve biodiversity without sacrificing productive farmland. Funding support and technical guidance have further encouraged landowners to restore forgotten wetlands that might otherwise have remained buried indefinitely.

>The revival of such “zombie” ponds shows that ecological restoration does not always require creating brand new environments. At times, seeds and spores lie hidden under the soil until conditions allow them to re-emerge. The restoration of 11 abandoned ponds was enough for one farming couple to convince dozens of neighbouring owners to contribute to the restoration of their shared landscape.

>A former dairy farm is to be transformed into a "new climate resilient" wetlands and nature reserve by a wildlife charity.

>Ebdon Farm near Wick St Lawrence, North Somerset, has been bought by the Avon Wildlife Trust after it was awarded a £5m grant by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

>The trust said transforming the "nature depleted" 44-acre farm into a haven for wildlife will be the "largest initiative [it's] ever undertaken".

>Shelly Easton, from the trust, said: "We need to take decisive action and show that there is hope for a nature-positive future for wildlife, farming and people. Ebdon Farm is that beacon of hope."

>The farm, which sits around 2km (1.24 miles) from the coast, was originally bought by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation charity. The trust was given just two years to raise the funds to buy it from them.

>Work will begin in the autumn to create new wetland areas that will support bats, newts, kingfishers and internationally important populations of wading birds and waterfowl.

>Easton, head of nature's recovery at the trust, said they "can't wait to begin and let nature take the lead".

>"There's a huge opportunity and a huge pressure to make this a reality," she said.

>Leah McNally, the trust's CEO, said the "ideally placed farm" will be a "beacon for nature's recovery and climate adaptation".

>"We need to take transformative steps to boost nature's recovery and support local farmers in this climate-vulnerable area.

>"After a construction phase we will open Ebdon Farm Nature Reserve, enabling more people to access the multiple benefits that we know nature brings and allowing us to explore climate impacts at a local level," she added.

>Your report (Half of England officially in ‘exceptionally serious’ drought, 29 July) makes me think that perhaps it’s time to admit what horticulturists have whispered for years: the native‑plants‑only doctrine has had its day. We can keep insisting that every garden, park and verge must resemble a 1790s botanical inventory, or we can face the obvious – the climate those plants evolved for no longer exists.

>We are trying to keep a pre‑industrial flora alive in a post‑industrial climate. Oak saplings are crisping, beech woods are browning, and “rewilded” meadows are going from hopeful to tinderbox in a single heatwave. Meanwhile, drought‑tolerant non‑natives – Mediterranean shrubs, prairie perennials, desert grasses – sit ready to do the job: hold soil, feed pollinators, stay green, stay alive.

>This isn’t heresy, it’s adaptation. If the choice is plant non‑natives or watch landscapes die, then the path is obvious. Clinging to botanical nationalism while ecosystems collapse is not conservation; it’s sentimentality. England’s climate has changed. Our planting palette must change with it.

>Richard Eltringham Leicester

>Fire is natural in some ecosystems, but almost all British “wildfires” are started by people. Whether they become catastrophic increasingly depends on the landscapes they burn through. That’s why wildfire policy can’t only focus on preventing ignitions – it must go hand in hand with rebuilding landscapes that resist fire.

>Rewilding is often presented as a wildfire problem; when you stop grazing, cutting or burning, vegetation accumulates and there is more fuel for fires.

>But this is not the full story. Carefully planned rewilding that focuses on restoring functioning ecosystems can make landscapes wetter, patchier and more fire resistant.

>Fire-prone landscapes often look ‘natural’

>The purple, treeless moors found across Britain’s uplands can look timeless and wild. In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë described “the purple moors” as “a wilderness of heath”. Yet these moors have been shaped by clearance, drainage, grazing, pollution and burning.

>Peat records from Keighley Moor in West Yorkshire, not far from Brontë country, reveal a longer story. For most of the past 1,000 years, this landscape would have been much wetter, with abundant peat-forming Sphagnum moss, rather than today’s extensive heather-dominated vegetation created through rotational burning.

>Seeing today’s moors as timeless and natural obscures how changes made relatively recently – the past 150 years or so – has made the uplands increasingly fire prone. Data shows that nearly 80% of England’s peatlands are dry and degraded, while just 1% are dominated by water-retaining species such as Sphagnum mosses. Dry heather, for instance, can act as a fuse, carrying fire across the surface and, if peat soils are exceptionally dry, into the carbon-rich peat below.

>How to rebuild nature’s fire defences

>Rewilding is not land abandonment; it requires carefully considered action to restore natural processes and functions. We must learn from the complex habitat mosaics that once characterised Britain’s uplands, while preparing them for a climate with no historical equivalent.

>The task is to manage short-term transition risks while allowing ecosystems to reorganise into functional, climate-resilient states. Here are a few suggestions:

>1. Bring back the bog

>This starts by making fire-prone landscapes much wetter. Blocking drains, covering bare peat and restoring Sphagnum keeps water in the ground and reduces deep peat combustion. After a wildfire in Scotland in 2019, analysis showed degraded peat burned most severely, while vegetation in restored, wetter peatlands was far more resilient.

>Research across Canada and northern Europe shows that rewetting and moss restoration can reduce the risk of deep, carbon-rich peat catching fire. But, choosing the right species for the right places under future climates is critical, and we’ll have to accept that fire-resilient uplands may look very different from those we know today.

>2. Restore wet riverscapes and ponds

>Upland headwaters and valleys have been drained and straightened, speeding water out of these landscapes. Emerging science suggests that re-meandering streams, reconnecting floodplains and recovering wetlands can act as firebreaks. During dry weather, wetter and more varied river corridors could interrupt continuous fuels and provide refuges for wildlife.

>In the North York Moors, six beaver dams increased water storage and dry-weather flows. Beaver-dammed rivers also burned less severely during three North American megafires. Ponds could also add another layer of defence, as open water can reduce the spread of fires , while accessible ponds provide water for wetting firebreaks and suppressing spot fires.

>3. Bring back missing giants

>Cattle, horses, deer and bison create patchier vegetation by grazing, browsing and trampling in different ways. Instead of continuous areas of flammable vegetation, they produce a landscape with natural breaks that slow the spread of fire.

>But the diverse communities of large herbivores that once shaped Britain’s uplands have been replaced by managed livestock – mostly sheep – often at high densities. This creates even-aged vegetation that can become dense and fire-prone when the animals aren’t grazing.

>In Portugal’s Côa Valley, semi-wild horse grazing has become a rewilding strategy to counter the impacts of land abandonment. This is consistent with a wider systematic review which found that herbivores reduce fuel effectively when grazers and browsers complement one another.

>4. Recover broadleaf woodland

>Evidence from more than 26,000 wildfires in Spain shows broadleaf woodland had the lowest ignition risk, while pine and shrublands were among the most fire-prone habitats. Even under extreme fire weather modelling, broadleaf woodland reduced fire intensity fivefold.

>Yet Britain has lost the vast majority of its native woodlands. Today, only 14% of the UK is wooded, and about half of that is coniferous woodland – mostly in managed plantations.

>The ecologist Oliver Rackham wrote that “English native woods burn like wet asbestos” – that is, hardly at all. It’s time these woods were restored to the parts of the British uplands they once covered.

>5. Rewild with people

>Our research shows rewilding must include support from communities learning to coexist with more unpredictable landscapes. In the short term, prevention, intensified monitoring, early detection and professional response must manage the risks of transition. Better warnings, rapid reporting and early detection can make visitors and residents part of the defence.

>Britain won’t prevent every wildfire, but it can do something about the sorts of landscapes those fires burn through. Climate-smart rewilding should be treated as national resilience infrastructure: restoring bogs, rivers, woodlands and wild animals, so fires are less likely to become landscape-scale disasters.

>Millions of pounds are being invested to tackle biodiversity loss and restore natural habitats across Scotland.

>A total of 44 priority projects will share £9.2 million from the Scottish Government’s Nature Restoration Fund, managed by NatureScot.

>The funding will support long-term efforts to halt nature loss, restore woodlands, rivers and other habitats, while helping to build climate resilience and create greener landscapes.

>Climate Action Secretary Gillian Martin said the projects would play a key role in helping Scotland meet its target of halting biodiversity loss by 2030.

>Among the largest awards is more than £1.5 million for the Scottish Wildlife Trust to continue its Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels programme for a further two years.

>Although Scotland is home to most of the UK's remaining red squirrels, the species has experienced significant declines. The programme aims to secure the animals' long-term future.

>Appin Community Development Trust has secured just over £1 million for its Appin Rainforest Regeneration Project.

>The initiative will train local workers to remove invasive plants, including rhododendron and Japanese knotweed, while working with landowners to reduce deer grazing and support the recovery of Scotland's remaining temperate rainforest.

>In the Cairngorms, Cairngorms Connect has been awarded £115,000 to restore the River Tromie by reconnecting it with its historic floodplain.

>The work is expected to create new habitats for Atlantic salmon, trout and invertebrates, including the Northern stiletto silver fly and five-spot ladybird, while also reducing flooding and riverbank erosion.

>Gillian Martin, Climate Action Secretary, said:"The Nature Restoration Fund has delivered unprecedented funding for a huge range of projects that are currently and will continue to help with our goal of halting biodiversity loss by 2030.

>"As more projects are supported by the Fund, we learn more from the successes of each round – helping us respond to threats to our natural environment and support projects that are making a real difference across Scotland.

>"I congratulate all of the successful applicants and look forward to seeing the progress and improvements they make to our landscapes, waterways and wildlife."

>Professor Colin Galbraith, chair of NatureScot, said:"We are at a moment in time where we risk losing some of our most precious wildlife and wild places for good.

>"We cannot let this happen.

>"Our daily lives rely on a healthy, functioning natural world, and we all have a part to play in supporting that.

>"The Nature Restoration Fund is helping us put Scotland’s land, rivers, seas and all the species that live in them back on the road to recovery.

>"The Fund is a critical lifeline for Scotland’s nature, and everyone involved in carrying out this vital work should be proud of their contribution towards a greener and healthier future for us all."

>Aerial images of the river Otter catchment in Devon, where beavers have been living under a licensed trial scheme since 2015 and known to have been there before then, show how their activities have created wetlands with lush vegetation, even as the landscape around has become parched.

>Drought was officially declared in Devon, as in many areas of England, on Wednesday, and parts of the county have not experienced a day with rain for 50 days.

>Dr Alan Puttock, from the University of Exeter, said modern landscapes tended to be extensively drained, so water ran off quickly when it rained, raising the risk of flooding and leaving “not much water” in the landscape in dry periods.

>With the beaver wetlands, there is “the benefit of holding water, maintaining wetlands within the environment, and the benefit that has both for biodiversity – these are habitat refuges now for a whole range of species – but also for us as people.”

>The wetland ponds hold 1,000 cubic metres of water each, reducing peak flows by 30% and keeping it in leaky dams which release water slowly, maintaining rivers and increasing drought resilience, he said.

>Conservationists say Glen Affric in the Highlands has its first wild-born beavers since the animals died out in Scotland more than 400 years ago.

>Findhorn-based charity Trees for Life said there were at least two babies, called kits, known to have been born at Loch Beinn a Mheadhoin following the release of seven beavers in October and a family of four in February.

>Beavers were first reintroduced to Scotland in 2009, but there have been a number of illegal releases of the animals.

>Trees for Life has been working on a rewilding project with Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS), which manages the 43,500-acre reserve in the glen.

>Previously, wild-born beavers were spotted in the Cairngorms following licensed releases of adult animals.

>Glen Affric, near Cannich, is a large area of woodland, lochs, hills and mountains.

>Trees for Life said the Glen Affric kits were likely to have been born in May or June, before first emerging from their lodge over the past few weeks.

>The charity's beaver management officer, Tobias Leask, said: "These beaver kits symbolise a wildlife success story four centuries in the making, and how nature can recover when we give it a chance.

>"Seeing them for the first time is something I'll never forget. It was one of those rare moments when you realise you're witnessing history."

>The 11 released beavers had been relocated under licence by NatureScot from farmland in Tayside.

>Dr Roisin Campbell-Palmer, head of restoration at the Beaver Trust, said the arrival of the kits suggested the animals had settled well into their new surroundings.

>She added: "Every reintroduction requires careful planning and close monitoring after release, so it is hugely rewarding to see the animals adapting so successfully.

>"This achievement reflects the commitment and collaboration of everyone involved and provides further evidence that well-managed translocations can support the responsible restoration of beavers across Scotland in line with the Scottish government's National Beaver Strategy."

>Just one year after work completing a river restoration project in south-west England, researchers say the restored landscape has reduced flood peaks downstream, improved water quality and created new habitats for many species.

>The project took place on the National Trust's Holnicote Estate in Somerset, where a 1.2-kilometre section of the River Aller was restored using a method called Stage 0 river restoration. The approach reconnects a river with its natural floodplain instead of keeping it confined to a straight, deep channel.

>Instead of flowing through a single managed channel, the river now spreads naturally across wetlands, ponds and multiple smaller channels.

>The restoration has created around seven hectares of wetlands, covering an area larger than ten football pitches.

>The project was tested almost immediately after completion because England experienced its wettest 18-month period on record. According to researchers, the restored landscape handled the heavy rainfall well by storing more water on the site and slowing the amount flowing downstream.

>Restoring natural flow

>For many years, rivers across the UK were straightened, deepened and separated from their floodplains to improve drainage and support farming or development.

>While this helped move water away quickly, it also reduced wetlands and increased flood risks further downstream.

>Wetlands are among the most important habitats. They store water during heavy rain, release it slowly during dry periods, trap carbon and provide homes for many plants and animals. However, more than 90 per cent of the UK's wetland habitats have disappeared over the past century, while more than 10 per cent of freshwater and wetland species are now threatened with extinction.

>The Holnicote project aimed to reverse some of these changes by allowing the river to behave more naturally again. National Trust Project Manager Ben Eardley said in the offician statement trying a new restoration technique was not without challenges.

>"Trying any new technique is of course challenging but we need to be bold in order to tackle the climate and nature crisis." He also said the difficult weather after restoration became an unexpected test of the project.

>"We had just the worst winter you can imagine post restoration in terms of the number of storms and sheer volume of rain. But despite it being record breaking conditions with high flowing water levels, the site responded really well, increasing the ability to store water within the site and lessening downstream storm flows, demonstrating the value of the restoration in providing resilience to hydrological extremes."

>Water and habitat changes

>To understand how the restored landscape was performing, researchers from the Universities of Exeter, Nottingham, Loughborough and Umea University in Sweden monitored groundwater, river channels, water quality and habitats.

>One major finding was that groundwater levels increased sharply across the site. In some places, water levels rose by more than one metre. Dr Richard Mason from Umea University explained that this allows the floodplain to work like a sponge.

>"Ground water levels rose dramatically across the site, in some places by over a metre. This allows the site to act as a large sponge or filter in the river catchment, helping to store winter flood water, reducing flood risk downstream and releasing cleaner water more slowly in the drier months to help alleviate drought conditions."

>As water now moves through vegetation, ponds and several channels instead of rushing through one straight channel, it also leaves behind more mud and sediment.

>Dr Mason said this natural filtering process helps improve water quality downstream.

>"The twists and turns and numerous flow paths that are now present in the floodplain as the water wends its way over the site through thick vegetation, act as a filter to capture sediment eroded from upstream."

>He added that the restoration also created different water conditions needed by fish and other aquatic animals. "Put simply, the system has moved from a very tidy area with little for wildlife to a messy complex jumble of waterscapes and diverse habitats that is full to the brim with a huge variety of plants and animals," he said.

>Flood peaks fell, water cleared

>Researchers from the University of Exeter used drones and sensors placed in the river to study how water moved through the restored landscape. Dr Alan Puttock and Professor Richard Brazier said the restoration reduced the speed at which floodwater travelled downstream.

>According to their monitoring, downstream flood peaks were on average 38 per cent lower after restoration. During storms, more water stayed within the floodplain instead of flowing rapidly downstream.

>The researchers also found that rainfall took longer to produce flood flows, giving the landscape more time to absorb water.

>They said the findings showed that allowing rivers to reconnect with floodplains could become an important nature-based approach for reducing flood risk.

>"These results mean that for the first time in the UK, we have seen the potential of allowing rivers to reset themselves to function naturally."

>The monitoring also found that average water turbidity, which measures how cloudy the water is because of suspended particles, dropped by 41% after the restoration. This suggests that more sediment is now being trapped in the wetlands instead of being washed further downstream.

>Wetland habitat expands

>Scientists also recorded a major increase in aquatic habitats. The total area of aquatic habitat increased from 0.18 hectares to 3.42 hectares, representing a 1,780 per cent rise.

>The restored landscape now includes slow-flowing wetlands, ponds, gravel beds and faster-flowing river sections. These different habitats support a wider range of wildlife and make the ecosystem more resilient.

>Dr Mason said even researchers were surprised by how quickly the site changed. "The speed with which the site developed into a diverse patchwork of habitats has been a real surprise."

>He added, "What amazes me is the amount of wetland habitat created; the river has transformed from a pipe into a sponge."

>According to Dr Mason, fish now have access to more space for feeding, shelter and movement, while young fish can use connected wetland habitats that have become rare across the UK.

>Wildlife returns

>National Trust ranger Jack Siviter said wildlife responded quickly after the restoration. "The site has gone bananas in terms of the amount of wildlife and lush vegetation growth that we've seen."

>Large wetland plants such as Greater Tussock sedge have begun growing across the area. Thousands of wildflowers, including wild carrot, are also providing food for pollinating insects.

>The site now supports many water-dependent species including water voles, eels, trout, lamprey, grass snakes and waterfowl.

>Birds including swallows, swifts and sand martins have been feeding across the wetlands, while birds of prey such as red kites, buzzards, kestrels and sparrowhawks have also been using the area.

>Siviter said insect numbers have increased so much that large groups of swallows sometimes gather to feed.

>"One of the coolest species we've seen is a green sandpiper which is a great indicator species for healthy, lowland wetland habitat," Siviter said.

>One species researchers are watching closely is the water vole. Before restoration, only limited signs of water voles were found along the edges of the site. New surveys by Derek Gow Consultancy have now found a dense population in the central wetland, with animals spreading across the restored habitat.

>In July 2026, the National Trust said a rare black-crowned night heron was spotted at the Holnicote Estate. The bird, considered a scarce visitor to the UK, was seen on estate cameras over three consecutive days, The Guardian reported.

>Dragonflies are "all over the place" at a Sussex wetland centre, where celebrations are under way for the insects, staff have said.

>WWT Arundel is hosting its Dragonfly Festival until 31 August, with activities including boat safaris, pond dipping and wildlife walks.

>About 20 species of dragonflies are regularly spotted at the reserve in West Sussex during warmer months and reserve manager Suzi Lanaway said: "At the moment, in this hot weather, they are all over the place and really beautiful to see."

>She said about 47 species of dragonfly and damselfly breed across the UK.

>Lizzy Pearce, who is based at the centre, said the festival was "a fantastic way to celebrate these incredible insects while inspiring more people to explore our wetlands".

>The trust said dragonflies were among the most beautiful species to be found in wetland habitats, describing them as "agile aerial hunters with shimmering wings and remarkable life cycles that begin underwater before transforming into masters of the air".

>The festival shines a light on their "vital role" in healthy wetland ecosystems and the importance of protecting habitats, it added.

>A rare black-crowned night heron has been spotted on an estate in the south-west of England where an innovative river “reset” is transforming the area into an oasis for birdlife.

>The heron was caught on camera in a jungly corner of the Holnicote Estate, where conservation experts have been restoring the landscape by allowing a river to return to its natural course.

>As well as the heron, charismatic birds including white-tailed eagles, white storks and cranes have been seen at the National Trust estate.

>Ben Eardley, restore nature project manager for Somerset coast and countryside, said it had been incredible to see the heron. “It’s rare to see this wetland species in the UK and so exciting that we observed one on our estate cameras on three consecutive days,” he said.

>Eardley believes that more birds were congregating because so much of southern England is dry, while parts of Holnicote remain wet and lush.

>“Everywhere else is parched, so we’re seeing lots of wildlife utilise it and lots of interesting bird species arrive. It’s proving a real refuge.”

>As well as birds, the estate is providing a home or hunting grounds for water voles, otters, pine martens and grass snakes.

>The black-crowned night heron typically grows up to 66cm (26in), roughly half the length of the grey heron, which is commonly seen in the UK.

>It has grey plumage, yellow legs and a black “cap” from which trail long white plume feathers. As its name implies, it is mainly active at night.

>The bird is widespread across Africa, Asia, the Americas and mainland Europe. According to the British Trust for Ornithology, the first confirmed night heron breeding in the UK was recorded in Somerset in 2017 but it is categorised as a scarce visitor.

>Holnicote’s night heron was spotted close to a camera set up to provide a livestream of an area where beavers have been introduced to play a part in the landscape restoration.

>Eardley said there were trout, sticklebacks, eels and European bullhead fish in the water there. “When we set up the camera, we weren’t sure how popular it would be but people have really got into it. The night heron appeared front centre.”

>Over the past 500 years, England has lost approximately 90% of its wetlands. Work is being done through organisations and partnerships to restore, enhance, increase and connect the lost habitats.

>For centuries the River Aller at Holnicote had been carefully controlled by landowners and farmers, largely confined to a narrow channel.

>Inspired by schemes in the wilds of Oregon in north-west US, a stretch of the river was liberated, allowing the water to spill out and find its own way, creating smaller streams, more pools and boggy areas, better for flora and fauna, with the slower water flow making flooding less likely.

>Eardley said it had led to a surge in creatures including reptiles, amphibians and insects – which in turn attracted predators.

>While the night heron and white-tailed eagles – which have been re-introduced on the Isle of Wight after being driven to extinction in the UK – have been seen close to the beavers’ home, the cranes and storks have frequented the wider estate. “The birds are very visible indicator of an ecosystem getting more diverse.”

>Forget the worm, this early bird was after the seed - and a very special one at that.

>It meant an 04:00 BST alarm and, for some of the other 20 or so volunteers I joined at Calshot Beach near Southampton, even earlier.

>A particularly low tide in the Solent meant the sea would reveal a crop on which conservationists are pinning their hopes to rebuild a depleted coastline.

>Seagrass seeds.

>Just like trees and plants, seagrass has a superpower - it can absorb massive amounts of carbon dioxide.

>The same area of seagrass can absorb 35 times the amount a tropical rain forest can.

>It locks in carbon and releases oxygen back in to the environment.

>Seagrass also creates structure and habitat for thousands of species.

>The UK has lost more than 90% of its seagrass meadows over the last century.

>Disease, disturbance and pollution have meant vast swathes of once vibrant green seabed have been left bare.

>After a briefing in a nearby car park, we troop down to the water's edge clutching white plastic buckets to begin the hunt.

>Leading the morning's fingertip search was seagrass supremo Tim Ferrero, from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust.

>"Seagrasses are the only marine flowering plants," he explains as we slowly work our way through the seagrass meadow.

>"They do everything that a plant does on land. They flower, they pollenate, they set seed, all underwater basically.

>"So, what we're doing is, we're collecting seed from an existing seagrass meadow so that we can then plant that seed somewhere else to recreate seagrass meadows."

>For the experienced seagrass seed collectors, buckets soon begin to fill with the tips of stems.

>For those new to the low tide trawl, they are few and far between to begin with.

>Finding the right part of the plant, with seeds at the right stage for picking, takes a little while to get your eye in.

>The pod-like leaf called a spathe is slightly rounder and paler than the darker, flatter blades of seagrass.

>The seeds, when ready to pick, sit neatly in a row, slightly raised from the surface.

>"Sometimes, it's just about feeling around and you can kind of feel these short stems that feel like they've got a pack of Tic Tacs in them," says volunteer Sophie Whitemoor.

>Crouching alongside is fellow volunteer James Harper.

>"I'm still building on my personal technique," he says. "It's just a case of looking for the most round stems, really."

>The group are incredibly upbeat, considering the time of their early morning search.

>"It's just a passion for me, really," says Jackie Mellan. "Any opportunity I can come out and help with restoration projects then I do."

>For the next hour or so, the volunteers sift through the seagrass as it lays flat on the shore.

>But it is a race against the clock and a turning tide means the small army of people gathering the harvest eventually beats a retreat to the shore.

>The buckets are gathered back in the car park and the crop is carefully placed in a barrel of cool seawater to be taken for processing.

>The seagrass seeds are taken to the University of Portsmouth's Institute of Marine Sciences at Eastney.

>Placed in large blue tanks of seawater, the spathes begin a process which will release the seed from the stem.

>"We call it rotting out," says Fererro, now wearing a white laboratory coat as he adds handfuls of seagrass to the Calshot tank. "It takes about between eight to 12 weeks to complete."

>The decayed plant turns black and is caught in a sieve, allowing the seeds to fall to the bottom of the catching tub.

>Once separated, the seed goes into storage in high-salinity water tanks for the winter, kept at a chilly 1-3C (34-37F).

>Come the spring, volunteers will again be setting their alarms, this time to sow their precious crop.

>Steve the beaver, infamous for escaping his enclosure in his quest to find love, has welcomed his first kit with mate Doris.

>After repeatedly breaking out from Wallington, in Northumberland, the male beaver was named after The Great Escape star Steve McQueen and last year he finally achieved his ambition after being rehomed to an enclosure on a farm in Wales.

>The team at Cefn Garthenor have confirmed Steve and Doris have welcomed their first kit, which they believe was born around late May, with the team saying they were "so excited" by the news.

>Alistair Hughes, from Cefn Garthenor farm, said: "Doris seems to be keeping Steve way too busy for him to have time or energy for an escape."

>Steve the beaver was released into a 24-hectare (59-acre) enclosure at Wallington in July 2023 as part of a family of four Eurasian beavers.

>Storms during their first year saw the enclosure fencing damaged, which is how Steve made his bids for freedom.

>Rangers said it became clear his repeated escape attempts might have been driven by his instinct to find a mate and after being recaptured for a third time in December 2024, they decided it was time to find him a suitable new home.

>After being relocated to Wales, he was matched with Doris.

>Hughes said: "It was a blind date, so we're glad it all worked out."

>While the sex of the kit is not yet known, Hughes said the team was looking at Welsh gender-neutral names to poll people on.

>The National Trust Wallington estate has also confirmed the arrival of at least two new beavers in 2026, marking the third consecutive year of successful breeding.

>The new kits are Steve's siblings.

>Ranger Emily Johnson said: "A third successful breeding season at Wallington is a great sign that the beavers are healthy and happy."

>Johnson added each kit would stay with its mother for about two years before moving on to try and find their own territory.

>A charity has bought a 96-hectare upland area of Gallt-y-bere in the hope of reconnecting two landscapes that are home to rare habitats and wildlife.

>RSPB announced the purchase of the "vital missing link" located by the banks of the River Tywi in Carmarthenshire.

>The area falls between two separated parts of the bird conservation charity's Gwenffrwd-Dinas nature reserve in the Elenydd, it said.

>The move will allow conservationists to reconnect the fragmented landscape for the first time in 60 years, allowing wildlife to move across the different areas and build stronger, more diverse and sustainable ecosystems.

>The landscape is home to internationally important habitats, including rare Atlantic oak woodlands - also known as Celtic rainforests - ffridd [upland fringe], ancient woodland and peat bogs.

>RSPB Cymru said improving connections between these habitats across the reserve will deliver significant benefits for its stronghold of pied flycatchers - a summer migrant bird that thrives in oak woodland - as well as a range of other wildlife, including endangered hen harriers, cuckoos, wood warbler, pine martens and whinchats.

>The Gallt-y-bere purchase was made possible by a philanthropic loan as well as "generous support" from thousands of people responding to its fundraising appeal, it added.

>Jonathan Cryer, site manager at RSPB Gwenffrwd-Dinas, called Gallt-y-bere a "truly magical place".

>"I'm thrilled that we're in a position to expand and improve its rare habitats and wildlife.

>"Securing this site is a brilliant opportunity for us to strengthen ancient woodland, restore upland habitats and create the conditions needed for rare wildlife to flourish in the future."

>The reserve is now large enough to support breeding hen harriers, with the "red-listed" bird seen occasionally in the area but not recently attempting to breed, the charity said.

>It has been active at Gwenffrwd-Dinas for more than a century, first by supporting the Kite Committee in their efforts to protect red kites, and later by acquiring land to protect vulnerable habitats and wildlife.

>With Gallt-y-bere now protected, RSPB Cymru said it was taking another important step towards creating a more resilient future for Wales' wildlife.

>Surveys over the summer, funded by Natural Resources Wales, will help identify the full range of habitats and species present across the newly acquired land and inform future management.

>Existing wildlife-rich grasslands may be expanded and enhanced, providing greater resilience for important plants and wildlife, including species such as whorled caraway and wood bitter-vetch, the RSPB said.

>The charity added that it would also create opportunities to work closely with local farming tenants to demonstrate how nature recovery and sustainable farming can successfully work hand in hand across the wider landscape.

>In the future, RSPB Cymru said it planned to work with local communities and partners to restore and protect the newly connected landscape, ensuring it supports wildlife for generations to come.

>Burrell’s project in Lincolnshire was his pioneering attempt, and one of the largest and most dramatic examples of reversing conventional land management in the country. Abandoning farming in a county known as the bread basket of Britain was almost provocative. It was hard to imagine restoring nature in a landscape so devoid of life. But that is what Burrell set about doing. And so, for the past four years, I have followed what has unfolded in and around Boothby Wildland, to see whether it really could deliver on Burrell’s ambition and his unusual blend of idealism and business-minded realism. And over that time, some answers have hoved into view.

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