'Nature is slowly healing': How rewilding is bringing Britain's extinct species back from the dead

While climate pressures mount, the fight for our environment is gathering pace around the UK and beyond. The people behind Knepp Estate, a 3,500-acre rewilding project just a few miles from Gatwick Airport, are changing the fates of endangered species – and getting the conservationists of tomorrow involved too.

Knepp, arguably one of Britain’s most successful rewilding projects, began its transformation at the turn of the millennium when its owner conceded that the land wasn’t suitable for modern farming. Dairy cattle and machinery were sold, grazing animals were introduced – fallow deer, piglets, longhorns, Exmoor ponies – to keep the emerging shrub in check. This first step created an ever-changing tapestry of habitats as grazing animals transferred seeds and nutrients across the landscape.

Soon, turtle doves – one of the UK’s fastest declining bird species – were recorded at Knepp for the first time. Then came ravens, then tens of thousands of painted lady butterflies drawn to the area by creeping thistle, then 13 of the UK’s 17 bat species. White storks bred successfully on the land, a first for Britain since 1416. Hundreds of critically endangered species have found a home there since, helped along by Knepp’s river restoration work.

Its nature recovery corridor project will see a 100-mile-long pathway created for wildlife to travel easily through environments. The estate is helping build futures for green-minded youngsters in more than one way, offering work placements and training courses for 16- to 25-year-olds.

Half the battle is “to wait and see what turns up of its own accord,” according to the brains behind Knepp estate’s success. In Kent, the Wilder Blean project takes a similar approach with one added extra: bison. The way they graze, eat bark, fell trees and dust bathe is believed to be of particular help to the emerging habitats around them.

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That’s why in 2022 the animals were transported from Scotland, Ireland and Germany to create a herd in West Blean and Thornden Woods as part of a UK-first experiment establishing if bison really are the “ecosystem engineers” they’re thought to be. Kent Wildlife Trust and Wildwood Trust monitor the bisons’ impact on the ancient woodland, hopeful that letting nature take charge will prove more successful than human management of biodiversity, and compare it to the effect of longhorn cattle elsewhere in the wood.

Experts are hesitant to claim victory too soon, with the project set to run until 2050. But the signs are promising. Since monitoring began, a beetle species previously declared extinct – Lagria stripes – has been recorded on site. Dormice, viviparous lizards and slow worms have increased in number. And bison is a vulnerable species itself, meaning the birth of two calves so far has proven a great win for conservationists.

“There has been renewed energy in the woods,” said Donavan Wright, a bison ranger for Wildwood Trust. “My first impression is that the bisons’ presence is having a cascading effect through the ecosystem and nature is slowly healing.”

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Some rewilding efforts are vital to the communities around them. In Arran, the Community of Arran Seabed Trust (COAST) is fighting for the restoration of its once abundant sea floor.

By 1995, local marine environments were damaged and fish stocks depleted by unsustainable fishing practices. The community, once commercially reliant on the waters, felt the effects – its international sea-angling festival was cancelled after 1994, when catches were down by 96%.

But COAST’s activism saw Scotland’s first No Take Zone established in Lamlash Bay in 2008 – the first initiative of its kind in Scotland – and then the South Arran Marine Protected Area put into law in 2016. The latter allows controlled, sustainable fishing, and the group kept close watch to see if wildlife could bounce back.

It did. King scallop numbers increased by 850%, and dramatic rises were recorded in species of commercial value like lobsters. The seabed itself is recovering too, promising new habitats for more wildlife.

Elsewhere, historic happy accidents are helping rejuvenate modern sea life. After an outbreak of a tissue-eating disease broke out along coral reefs around Florida and the Caribbean, experts were stumped. The disease wasn’t just a concern for marine life, but for those who rely on their local seas for income. But something familiar is proving an unlikely solution: antibiotics.

Coordinated by the TC Reef Fund, divers are smearing antibiotic paste onto affected coral and, while it isn’t always a cure, it allows coral colonies to live long enough to reproduce. These are the same antibiotics handed out by GPs, so scientists are now working to prevent antibiotic resistance on our seabeds.

Hannah Westwater is a freelance journalist.

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