r/RewildingUK

>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.

The UK is entering its fifth heatwave of 2026 and, among other things, it's making Himalayan Balsam suffer.

In this episode we give Balsam the one-two punch and meet Alex and Silvia from. Yorkshire Wildlife Trust to learn more about their rust fungus trial - a natural solution to the spread of Himalayan Balsam.

I am prepared to be told off for this one. But I am keen to be educated...

We are rewilding our front and back gardens, mostly going good.

However, there is a well establshed horse chestnut that suffers terribly from leaf miner. It always drops its conkers and leaves early and frankly looks dreadful from June onwards.

I have seen pheramone traps and want peoples opinion on the use of them.

Positives:

+ The leaf miner has only been in the UK 20 years, so controlling it might not be a bad thing?

+ If I usedit and it controls the miner successfully then I can leave the leaf litter. on the ground to encourage other nartvie species that use leaf litter to hibernate, eat, etc...

Negatives:

- I do not know if it traps other beneficial insects

- I do not know if leaf miner is beneficial overall

- It is still an intervention and may not work

So what do we think, helpful or harmful?

>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."

The site is registered as an SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) and already has an abundance of wildlife.

The purchase price is £30,000.

If you can help, click the link to donate.

Other land purchase appeals are pinned to the top of the subreddit.

>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.

>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

>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.