Common Farm Appeal
A huge thank you to everyone who has donated, we are so grateful for your support.
We are thrilled to officially announce that we have now completed on the purchase of Common Farm! This is only possible thanks to the overwhelming contributions from the generous supporters.
We have a once-in-a-generation chance to buy 83 acres of farmland that lies on the outskirts of Nether Heage near Belper, very close to our Wyver Lane and Crich Chase Meadows nature reserves. It’s a huge opportunity to create a new nature reserve that will provide new territory for wildlife, and will in turn help native plants and animals to thrive across Derbyshire!
Can you donate to support the purchase of Common Farm, and rewilding at other sites across Derbyshire?
Once Common Farm is safely in our care, our expert teams will take action to help nature thrive. For example, we’ll fill drainage ditches to help re-wet the land, creating pools and bogs that will support the return of birds such as curlew and lapwing. New scrub and grassland will provide habitats for barn owls and skylarks, and for plants such as harebell and ragged robin. Within just a year it will already be filling up with new sights, sounds and scents of nature returning,
Donate today to create more space for nature
How we'll take Common farm 'Back to the wild'
1. Make every field count - The site is large enough to establish many different types of habitat – open grassland, shady woodland and wetland areas. That means fresh territory and new food sources!
2. Fill the ditches - Drainage ditches flush precious rainwater from the site. By blocking or filling them in, pools and bogs will help re-wet the dry pastures.
3. Hydrate and wait - The wetter the land becomes, the more trees, vegetation and wildlife will develop. We could soon see the endangered willow tit here, and rare plants such as the marsh orchid.
4. Bring in the grazers - As the site develops, we may bring in low numbers of cattle or ponies. Their manure enriches depleted soil, and their grazing prevents trees from becoming dominant – helping create a variety of habitats.
5. See and hear the buzz - With our Wyver Lane and Crich Chase Meadows reserves so close by, these 83 acres will soon be teeming with insects, birds and mammals seeking new food sources and new territory. Fingers crossed we’ll soon be spotting skylark, swift, curlew and lapwing.
What are some of the species we hope to see return to Common Farm?
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Common spotted orchid - This delightful summer flower can tolerate dry conditions, but cannot thrive where the ground is overgrazed by sheep
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Brown hare - The agile brown hare favours grasses and hedgerows. It grazes on vegetation and the bark of young trees and bushes.
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Meadow pipit - The decline in meadow pipit numbers makes it a Red List species. The rough grassland areas we are planning at Common Farm will be ideal habitats
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Snipe - Snipe thrive in marshy areas with patchy cover to hide from predators. By re-wetting fields at Common Farm, we can encourage snipe to return.
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Ragged robin - With its delicate pink flowers, ragged-robin attracts bees and butterflies to sip its nectar. Common Farm will have the boggy areas it prefers
What we have done with rewilding already
Rewilding that spans a whole landscape is crucial. That is why we are investing in large-scale projects across Derbyshire that are bringing nature back.
These include Wild Peak, which is rewilding the Peak District National Park, our Derwent Living Forest programme which will reconnect woodlands from the National Forest in the south of the county to the Northern Forest set to be created just north of Derbyshire.
Our work on a wilder Trent just south of Derby has seen new wetland creation and the return of beavers to Derbyshire.
Allestree Park has become the largest urban rewilding programme in the UK and we are already seeing the effects of rewilding at our newest reserve in Whittington.
Why this fund is so vital
Often, when we think of nature it is ‘over there’, on a nature reserve, in parks or the countryside. But in fact, the places right around us are just as important. Our parks, our roadsides, residential streets, and business operations. All of these have great potential to be vital homes for nature. Many already are.
Our vision for a Wilder Derbyshire is for nature to be in recovery across the county connecting existing wildlife rich spaces and growing more so that nature and residents will thrive alongside each other.
Nature is vital to our wellbeing. Being able to access nature-rich spaces on our doorstep gives all of us a lift, increasing mental resilience, and leading to better health. Children do better with wildlife around them. We all do.
Nature-rich places; wetlands, woodlands, moors and meadows; hold flood waters, and act as green lungs, cleaning the air we breathe, drawing down carbon. We will not survive without them.
30by30
Our wider vision is to ensure at least 30% of Derbyshire’s land and water is connected and protected for nature’s recovery by 2030. Making more space for nature to become abundant once again will give our struggling wildlife the chance to recover.
