Rewilding Britain

I saw today that Rewilding Britain is starting to become visible, and is looking for a first Director.

This is a new charity being established in the UK, to give nature the chance to reclaim at least part of the country.

I've heard chatterings about this for a couple of years and I am both excited and delighted to see this initiative finally getting off the ground.  The vision brochure that accompanies the job advert is inspiring.  It paints a picture of a Britain where we might one day see a wilder side to life all over the country.

So often I feel that the country around us has been beaten into submission by years (and generations and centuries) of over exploitation.  It's time to think a bit harder about this over exploitation and to do something about it.

I'd love one day to be able to walk through a restored forest with just the glimmer of a hope that the rustle in the undergrowth nearby might be a wildcat or lynx.

I'd love one day to walk along a natural river bank with the hope that the ripple in the water might be an otter or beaver stalking it's patch, and to know that the bird song in the spring isn't that of a species tottering on the edge of extinction, but is part of a thriving local natural ecosystem.

I'd love one day soon to stop having to explain to people what rewilding is, simply because it's now part of everyday life in every part of the country.  This month I'm taking part in the Wildlife Trust initiative to encourage us all to do something wild everyday in June.  I'm one of ten thousand people who've said they want to go wild in June - next year I'd like to see 100,000 getting involved.

The reality is that it's going to be an uphill struggle to get rewilding into the mainstream, there are going to be many vested interests talking the initiative down.  And the results won't be instant either. We might well see some changes in the short term, but most of us won't see the bigger changes, but we will at least have the comfort that we gave the changes a chance to happen.

I hope you're going to support the project, I certainly am.

The vision brochure I mentioned is on the Friends of the Earth website - read it, share it.  I'm sure we're going to be seeing and hearing a lot more about this project in the next few years.