Somerset farm reports rise in birds, bats and butterflies after adopting natural methods
Three years of rewilding on a former dairy farm in east Somerset have seen the number of recorded bird species increase by 40 per cent, from 67 to 94, according to a new state of nature report produced by the charity Heal Rewilding. The report, covering its first site near Frome, mirrors the national picture tracked by environmental groups but offers a rare glimpse of how quickly wildlife can return when conventional agriculture stops.
Surveys at the 190-hectare (460-acre) farm reveal that butterfly species have more than doubled, rising from 11 to 24, and a humane trapping survey found five small mammal species present, compared with just three at a nearby organic dairy farm. The site is now home to at least 15 bat species — a notable figure given that Somerset is one of the richest counties in the UK for bats, with 16 of the nation’s 17 breeding species recorded there. Among the 60 species of breeding bird now confirmed are the endangered bullfinch and the tree pipit, another bird under threat. Tree pipit populations have declined dramatically since the 1970s, leading to their Red List status in the UK, while bullfinch numbers remain around 40 per cent lower than in the 1960s despite a modest recovery since 2000.
How rewilding works at Heal Somerset
The approach at Heal Somerset is fundamentally different from traditional conservation. Rather than targeting a particular rare species, rewilding uses natural processes to manage the land and lets nature set the agenda. “To some extent you hold your nerve and trust nature,” said Jan Stannard, chief executive and co-founder of Heal Rewilding, which acquired the site in December 2022 through donations and philanthropic lending. “If you give wildlife an undisturbed safe place, a sanctuary, you have this sense that something good is going to come out of it. It’s an absolute joy to see wildlife resurging.”
The charity, founded in March 2020, aims to acquire a 500-acre site in every English county, with a long-term goal of rewilding 25,000 acres by 2050. Heal Somerset, its first site, was a former dairy farm described as “ecologically depleted” before work began. The rewilding process there involves several key interventions. Streams have been returned to a more natural flow, assisted by the arrival of free-roaming beavers — wild beavers have been spreading across east Somerset’s rivers since first being reported in the county in the early 2000s, and are considered ‘ecosystem engineers’ that create wetlands and improve river quality. Dead wood has been left in place to support biodiversity, and natural growth is encouraged through scrub and tree regeneration.
Two Tamworth pigs have been introduced, and further large herbivores such as cattle and ponies are planned in small numbers. These animals act as ‘ecosystem engineers’, living freely among a mix of glades, meadows, scrub and trees rather than in dense woodland. The aim is to create a mosaic of habitats — grassland, scrub, woodland and wetlands — with the natural regeneration of trees and improved soil health expected to capture carbon. Funding has also been secured to fence off 24 hectares of woodland to manage the impact of deer on regenerating vegetation.
The acquisition of Heal Somerset cost £5.25 million, financed through a blend of concessional loans, commercial loans, public donations, and a land sponsorship scheme that allows individuals to sponsor a 3m x 3m patch of land for £20. The charity has received a £100,000 grant from the UK Government’s Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund to assess natural capital income potential, and other grants from charitable foundations support management and surveying. Loans are intended to be repaid through donations, land sponsorship, and revenues from ecotourism, events, corporate hospitality, and natural capital revenues such as biodiversity credits. The site opened to the public free of charge in summer 2023, with eight kilometres of mown paths and camping available, with profits reinvested into rewilding.
Volunteer involvement and community partnerships
The project is supported by more than 250 volunteers who participate in surveying, removing barbed wire fencing and other rewilding tasks. Heal Rewilding has partnerships with 15 underserved groups who help manage the site, including people living with dementia, people with additional needs and people experiencing financial difficulties. Youth groups and schools are also involved. Stannard said visitors — many of whom come for camping or day visits — are being transported back to a childhood experience of abundance that is increasingly rare in the farmed countryside. “They are hearing grasshoppers and crickets in the day and birds such as linnet or greenfinch, which are much less common now,” she said.
Dan Hill, a 25-year-old rewilding ranger who joined Heal Somerset three years ago, recalled arriving to find a “monoculture of rye grass swaying in the wind” and thinking it was desolate. Now, he said, “seeing what nature wants to do – it’s very hopeful. And it’s not just about nature – when you get people coming to the site and they say: ‘I just want to keep coming back, I’ve never seen a site like this before,’ it really puts a smile on your face.”
Heal Rewilding said its report was partly inspired by the lack of substantive content on rewilding within the UK-wide State of Nature report for 2023. Stannard noted that despite the extraordinary growth of the rewilding movement in Britain, with hundreds of projects reporting remarkable ecological changes, stories alone are not enough. “If rewilding is to be fully recognised within national nature recovery strategies, we need robust, long-term data that demonstrates impact,” she said. Heal Rewilding is now focusing on developing Heal Somerset as a blueprint before searching for a second site, planned for the north of England.
