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Celebrating World Rewilding Day 2023

Today we are celebrating World Rewilding Day! In this blog we will be sharing all things rewilding, what it means to us and the work we are starting with the Wild Peak Programme.

Today is World Rewilding Day and we're celebrating what it means to us! Our living landscape was once a carpet of borderless green, but today many nature reserves and wild spaces are isolated – leaving wildlife unable to escape threats such as predators and food shortages. Our mission is to bridge those green gaps through natural rewilding, forming a network of safe havens across Derbyshire, restoring nature’s freedom to find new territory, and helping all our wildlife to flourish.

Our Thornhill Carrs Reserve is a perfect example of rewilding. This 30 hectare area of former farmland is a unique site, rare within The Peak District National Park for its low intervention, nature-led management. It is currently home to a fantastic array of wild wood land, scrub, beautiful wild flower meadows.

Keep reading to find out more about rewilding and click the link below to discover the projects we are working on: 

Discover our projects

What is rewilding?

Rewilding is all about restoring ecosystems so that nature can take care of itself. Reintroducing lost natural processes over time allows our habitats and landscapes to become more resilient - allowing a wider variety of niches, supporting more species, and possibly becoming self-sustaining in the long-term, slowly needing less and less human interventions as more natural management takes precedence.

Wild Peak, Oak District, Thornhill

(C) Sam Rose

Debunking the myths!

There are many myths associated with rewilding and so we asked our Rewilding Projects Officer, Ruth, to debunk some of those rewilding myths!

Myth 1: Rewilding is just shutting the gate and letting the scrub takeover

This is not true! Yes, scrub is usually heavily controlled in a labour intensive process, over the years this has led in the decline of scrub habitats and the loss of species like turtledoves, nightingales and whitethroats. But, rewilding is all about letting the right habitat exist in the right place, so often rewilding will include the introduction of big hairy cows which don't mind eating the scrub and creating a clearer environment for wildflower meadows, or woodland clearings. This mimics a natural landscape made up of different, unique habitats.

Myth 2: Rewilding leads to the release of dangerous wild animals

Rewilding is rebalancing our natural ecosystems and sometimes that means reintroducing lost species, but only when we have the wild space to properly support them! We have laws protecting us from dangerous animals, but there are many species such as beavers or pine martens that are missing from the Peaks and could act as ‘ecosystem engineers’ in their natural niches, creating healthier habitats without human intervention. Big predators do have a natural role in the environment but the Peak District does not have the space to sustain them safely just yet, so humans will continue filling in their role for now.

Myth 3: Rewilding is only suitable for nature reserves

Rewilding is just the restoration of natural processes. This can be an act as small as planting native wildflowers in your window-box to create a feed-stop for wild bees. It can also be a huge project like the bog restoration in the uplands and tree-planting down into the valleys which would hold water and prevent flooding. We are starting to recognise more natural processes as we rewild our nature reserves, but we hope that as we share our learning other land-mangers will be encouraged to do so too.

Myth 4: The Peak District is a man-made landscape, we’ve lost our native wildlife and we can never recreate it

We have bountiful reservoirs of wildlife right across the Peak District, our nature reserves hold rare species and habitats that we can’t wait to see spill out into the surrounding landscapes! Yes, the Peak District is currently a nature-depleted landscape and we see continuing declines in species and habitats, but with the uptake of rewilding across the region, we are beginning to see nature guide its own recovery.

George

George and his pigs (c) DWT

Cavendish Golf Course

Cavendish Golf Course (c) Kayleigh Wright

Holybank Quarry Tintwistle

Holybank Quarry (c) Kayleigh Wright

St Andrews School

(c) Claire Thompson

The Wild Peak is an ambitious rewilding initiative based in the Peak District that is working in close partnership with landowners, local communities and project leaders to inspire and implement a landscape-scale, nature-led approach to nature’s recovery, using nature based solutions and rewilding principles wherever possible.

As well as creating a network of wild spaces, the initiative is developing a network of people and communities to facilitate, support and celebrate nature’s recovery across the region. People and communities are at the heart of the Wild Peak programme and we are already witnessing the power that local people and grassroots initiatives have in establishing rewilding gains in the Wild Peak area. Whether you are a landowner, a business, a community group or just an interested individual, you can get involved! 

You can follow the stories of those who have been getting involved in the Wild Peak programme over on our blog page! The latest blog is all about George and his rewilding plans on his piece of land in Edale. 

George's Story

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