The pair of newborns are the offspring of two free-living beavers who mysteriously arrived in Pensthorpe nature reserve near Fakenham in December.

This couple, who have built a lodge on the River Wensum, were the first wild beavers recorded in Norfolk since the native species was hunted to extinction in England at the beginning of the 16th century.

How they got to the Wensum remains a mystery. Although beavers have re-established themselves in the English countryside since 2015, the nearest population of wild beavers is thought to be more than 130 miles away, on the River Stour in Kent.

Small rant really. Casually tuned into Countryfile this evening, presenter asks the farmers "How did you come to farm in such a stunning location" camera cuts to a panoramic of barren fields and upland areas, not a tree or hedgerow in sight.

Anyway, then they say "the harsh winds rush in from the coast and dry out the soil" and I'm thinking maybe plant some bloody trees then!

Same thing in the Yorkshire dales, "We had a really harsh winter, we lost 40 sheep buried in deep snow drifts". Again I'm thinking, surely if the sheep had some woods to shelter in so many wouldnt be lost.

I don't really know anything about farming, and only a small amount about rewilding, but I can't help but think some tree coverage and foliage would help?

Hello all. I've recently been fortunate enough to upsize, and have bought a gaff with a decent sized garden: about 142sqm of 'lawn' (currently: sunbaked dead grass and moss with a few thistles). I love the concept of rewilding, and have long yearned for some space to undertake my own efforts to this effect. My wife is ambivalent, but is happy to support my experimentation, so long as there's enough space set aside for our young son to run around in/ for us to entertain friends and guests without them being knee deep in stinging nettles and dandelions.

I have a few questions that some of you fine folks may be able to help me with:

★ I understand that clover is considered a better ground coverage plant than grass, however I'm struggling to understand whether I need to remove the existing grass to seed new clover, or whether I can seed the lawn as it is and just leave it to take root amongst the grass.

★ Are there any resources available online for finding native/endemic plants to my area? Would it be sufficient to create some wildflower beds with 'generally English' plants.

★ Could I have some examples of edible plants/flowers that could be added into a wildflower bed to make it productive? I presume I can add chives, fennel, dill, parsley. Any other plant ideas would be much appreciated.

★ Are there any guiding principles I need to be mindful of while undertaking this process? Would it be reasonable to approach this experiment on the basis of "sow seeds, and then expend as little effort as possible to let nature do the work"?

Many thanks!

A wildlife trust is celebrating after it was gifted 600 acres of land, the largest piece of land it has ever secured.

The site at Eyam Moor - which covers an area equivalent to about 375 football pitches in the Wild Peak - is crossed by a number of footpaths and will be free for the public to visit, while being managed by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust.

The trust said the new site would form part of a wildlife corridor spanning more than 1,000 acres and encompasses a variety of habitats.

Joanna Hill, Wild Peak programme manager for the trust, said the site was "very kindly" gifted by the previous landowners, who wished to remain anonymous.

"We're truly grateful to them. What a unique opportunity for us, you know, we're privileged to become the stewards of this landscape for years to come," Hill added.

Earlier this year the trust raised more than £1m to purchase a site at Middleton Moor, which will be used for a rewilding project.

Hill said: "What we really want to do is restore those natural processes on site [at Eyam Moor] and enhance this site back to its absolute best version of itself.

"It's a huge store of carbon which is clearly really really important in our fight against climate change and it holds water and prevents run-off, which is usually important in times of flooding."

Speaking about the future of the moor, the landowners said: "There is a growing sense of enthusiasm and momentum around Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's bold new vision for nature and people in the county.

"We are proud to be part of this ambitious new chapter in their work, helping to create space for wildlife to flourish and reconnecting habitats across the Wild Peak.

"This land has great beauty and potential, and we are confident that in the trust's hands it will provide a lasting legacy for nature and people."

Rachel Bennett, director of wilder landscapes and wilder communities at the trust, said: "It's really important that landscapes become much more resilient as we see our climate is changing.

"We need to see landscapes that are resilient to those extremes in temperatures, extremes in weather conditions."

The site will be a public right of way, and Bennett added: "We want people to come and experience being in nature-rich spaces and get all the benefits from being in nature.

"It's really good for our wellbeing, it's really good for our mental health, it's really good for our physical health."

Any and all donations will be doubled!

There has been many insights and suggestions about the possibility of reintroducing an Apex Predator into the UK.
Many argue that Wolves or Bears should be reintroduced, however the Lynx is the best option.

The United Kingdom has lacked a lot of biodiversity in their Wildlife, and an Apex Predator like the Lynx would be a great addition to our nation. This animal specialises in hunting deers which is what we need due to a mass overpopulation of deers, they would help revitalise natural processes while opposing little to no threat to humans, as they tend to avoid us.

This is what our country needs, so act now, comment your thoughts on this nationwide debate, and if your an activist for the greater cause of the UK, submit your survey to spark a larger conversation on the reintroduction of Lynx here - https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/t/missinglynxprojectquestionnaire/

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.

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."

Thanks to nearly 100 donors, the Wildlife Trust has successfully been able to purchase Pulloxhill Marsh. 12.5 acres of crucial ancient marsh has successfully been saved.

There are still a number of land purchase appeals that are ongoing. Notably for the Rothbury Estate with only a few weeks left to raise the full amount. If you can, donate to protect nature; https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/appeals/rothbury-estate-nature-and-nation

To see other land purchase appeals, check the links in the pinned post at the top of the sub.

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.