Under new management

Coed Tregib, Llandeilo Carmarthenshire, Wales

Coed Tregib is a regeneration project of a forest area that was completely cleared of trees during the First World War. The long-term goal is to create a large, undisturbed woodland with mature trees, lots of standing and fallen deadwood, and a good selection of ground plants. Deer will be encouraged into the forest, but the numbers will be managed to stop them from eating everything.

Coed Tregib is home to loads of wildlife including wrens, dormice, and butterflies, as well as over one hundred species of plant. The site is freely open to the public, so they have the chance to see nature at work. This raises awareness of the project – the Woodland Trust hope it’ll get more people interested in conserving woodland.

Unfortunately, the success of Coed Tregib is also one of the things threatening it. Even if they follow the Countryside Code, the thousands of visitors damage the ground just by walking about – this harms plant life and can disrupt the animals living there. Of course, not every visitor is respectful: there have been issues with visitors not cleaning up after their dogs go to the toilet.

Daws Hall Centre for Environmental Education, Essex-Suffolk border

Daws Hall is a private nature reserve opened in the late 1980s. The 25 acre site is home to wide variety of wildlife – including many minibeasts, bats, rare russian red breasted geese and even some otters –, and focuses on teaching school children about different habitats such as forests, meadows and rivers. The site also has restricted number of public openings throughout the year.

By restricting the footfall over the site, the typical damage done by wear and tear of visitors on larger sites is reduced. However, by allowing fewer people to visit the site the reserve is also limiting how effectively they can spread the word about the fantastic work they do.

Glenfeshie Estate, Cairngorms, Scotland

The 45,000 acre Scottish estate was bought by a billionaire. He’s culled hundreds of deer to encourage the woodland to regrow – some of the Glenfeshie culls were especially controversial because of how they did it.

The owner has plenty of money to invest and a 200-year plan that means the process won’t be rushed. The environment is also rich with other flora and fauna now – in many parts of Scotland, the deer overwhelm the ecosystem because they eat so much.

On the other hand, the estate is privately owned so there’s not a lot that can be done if people disagree with the owner’s approach. The culling of deer upset lots of the neighbouring estates as they rely on the deer hunting industry. It also upset people campaigning for animal rights.

Knepp Castle, West Sussex

The land at Knepp was a failing farm – the soil couldn’t handle modern intensive farming. The project involved stopping growing crops, selling farm machinery, and letting weeds and trees to grow, ‘rewilding’ the land. They’ve also reintroduced free-roaming grazing animals like wild pigs, cows, horses, and deer, because without animals the scrub would soon become woodland.

There isn’t one ‘goal’ for the project. They say that their approach offers solutions to problems like soil restoration, flood mitigation, and water and air purification. They’ve also seen lots of rare species of wildlife return to the area.

On the other hand, the farm doesn’t produce a lot of food now. It does sell meat from the free-grazing animals that live there, though. 

The RSPB’s curlews in the Brecks project

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is supporting the population of stone-curlews, a ground nesting bird that comes to Norfolk in the summer. Changes in farming (such as pressure to use the entire farm for crops) means wildlife can struggle as they don’t have enough food from insects or have space to nest.

The RSPB are working across the region, supporting farmers to create and maintain habitats on their farms to support the stone-curlew population. Rather than make the habitats themselves, the RSPB rely on local farmers to take part in the scheme – the RSPB offer the expertise and advice the farmers need.

One benefit of this approach is that (if it succeeds) it’ll lead to a wider spread of stone-curlews, rather than creating a dense population in a smaller area. It’s also possible that it’ll be more sustainable as farmers may continue their new habits even after the project (and even pass them on to others) – the RSPB say that a ‘substantial number of farmers’ are ‘interested in wildlife on their farms’.

However, these sorts of schemes rely on lots of different people and volunteers spread across an area. The RSPB can’t monitor it as closely as projects they do on their own.