What is Re-wilding?
Re-wilding....
There are many perceptions of what re-wilding actually is. The original definition is 'allowing nature to take charge and change a large space to increase biodiversity. This is an amazing thing to see but can take many years to show an impact. We have taken the opportunity to start helping nature by regenerating what nature has around us to boost the re-wilding process. Re-wilding is a great way to join in the current climate action happening across the UK. Whether you re-wild a small section of your back garden to encourage birds, bees and butterflies or you're lucky enough to have acres of land you can leave to nature. Doing a little or a lot is just as important, leaving nature to take its course or giving nature a helping hand are all a step in the right direction to help repair our broken environment.
Our land is full of industrial history as we are the site of the original Medomsley Pit. Evidence of the shaft can still be seen in the middle of a neighbouring field. There is evidence there was a woodman's yard on our main grazing paddocks once the mine had closed, our paddocks were left with coal silt slag heaps that have been levelled and covered with a little soil to then seed. We are hoping our Young Rangers will help us unearth all the facts and find out more over the following years.
There are many perceptions of what re-wilding actually is. The original definition is 'allowing nature to take charge and change a large space to increase biodiversity. This is an amazing thing to see but can take many years to show an impact. We have taken the opportunity to start helping nature by regenerating what nature has around us to boost the re-wilding process. Re-wilding is a great way to join in the current climate action happening across the UK. Whether you re-wild a small section of your back garden to encourage birds, bees and butterflies or you're lucky enough to have acres of land you can leave to nature. Doing a little or a lot is just as important, leaving nature to take its course or giving nature a helping hand are all a step in the right direction to help repair our broken environment.
Our land is full of industrial history as we are the site of the original Medomsley Pit. Evidence of the shaft can still be seen in the middle of a neighbouring field. There is evidence there was a woodman's yard on our main grazing paddocks once the mine had closed, our paddocks were left with coal silt slag heaps that have been levelled and covered with a little soil to then seed. We are hoping our Young Rangers will help us unearth all the facts and find out more over the following years.
Reduce, Recycle, Regenerate, Re-wild
Living within a throw away society led me to think about how we could use our land and animals to reduce our impact on the environment. We now follow the 4 R's and try to refrain from throwing anything away or causing any waste around the centre.
Reduce
We now feed a natural diet so we do not buy processed feeds for our animals. This means there is no waste feed or packaging. We feed our own grown meadow hay so we again have no waste or packaging issues, any spoilt hay is used to mulch and repair our paddocks.
Recycle
We use reconditioned, repaired and reused materials for most of our activities and equipment. This means fence posts that are not strong enough for fences can be used as jumping poles, tyres are used as fencing and stands or planters, in fact, anything that was once broken will now be a great planter :-) something that may have been thrown away by someone can be repaired and reused in our activities and mean we save pennies too.
Regenerate
By planting native saplings and over-seeding our paddocks we are helping to regenerate our paddocks and hedge lines to encourage wildlife to return to the land.
Re-wild
The areas of land that are not to be grazed and left will re-wild themselves, our established hedges will thrive and thicken, our paddocks will grow and self seed with wildflowers, our woodlands will regenerate with self seeded saplings and thrive with wildlife.
Living within a throw away society led me to think about how we could use our land and animals to reduce our impact on the environment. We now follow the 4 R's and try to refrain from throwing anything away or causing any waste around the centre.
Reduce
We now feed a natural diet so we do not buy processed feeds for our animals. This means there is no waste feed or packaging. We feed our own grown meadow hay so we again have no waste or packaging issues, any spoilt hay is used to mulch and repair our paddocks.
Recycle
We use reconditioned, repaired and reused materials for most of our activities and equipment. This means fence posts that are not strong enough for fences can be used as jumping poles, tyres are used as fencing and stands or planters, in fact, anything that was once broken will now be a great planter :-) something that may have been thrown away by someone can be repaired and reused in our activities and mean we save pennies too.
Regenerate
By planting native saplings and over-seeding our paddocks we are helping to regenerate our paddocks and hedge lines to encourage wildlife to return to the land.
Re-wild
The areas of land that are not to be grazed and left will re-wild themselves, our established hedges will thrive and thicken, our paddocks will grow and self seed with wildflowers, our woodlands will regenerate with self seeded saplings and thrive with wildlife.
What have we done so far......
In the beginning.... March 2019 saw us receive our first Woodland Trust Tree pack. We received 402 native saplings to plant as hedging along our fenceline and use to thicken our established hedging.
In November 2019 we received a 2nd Woodland Trust pack of native broadleaf saplings, although our planned woodland has been changed due to landowner changes we now have these saplings growing in our wildflower meadow to support our hedging.
These saplings are now thriving with buds and leaves and we are looking forward to watching them flourish.
In November 2019 we received a 2nd Woodland Trust pack of native broadleaf saplings, although our planned woodland has been changed due to landowner changes we now have these saplings growing in our wildflower meadow to support our hedging.
These saplings are now thriving with buds and leaves and we are looking forward to watching them flourish.
Wildflower Meadow
We were set back with our tree planting when our land owner changed hands and refused to let us continue. As we have a small section of land that we have complete control over we decided to relocate the saplings to this area. They have been moved and are growing lovely hedging in what is now our wildflower meadow. Having the saplings here meant this land was now out of bounds for our herd. This led us to growing a wildflower meadow to support the increase of wildlife by giving cover for them to nest. We have kept a small section of this paddock to establish a Sensory Garden and sitting area for our visitors and will be adding our new 52 remembrance woodland dedications tags to. This area is at the front of our centre so once it begins to grow we will have a beautiful entrance to our rewilding centre.
We were set back with our tree planting when our land owner changed hands and refused to let us continue. As we have a small section of land that we have complete control over we decided to relocate the saplings to this area. They have been moved and are growing lovely hedging in what is now our wildflower meadow. Having the saplings here meant this land was now out of bounds for our herd. This led us to growing a wildflower meadow to support the increase of wildlife by giving cover for them to nest. We have kept a small section of this paddock to establish a Sensory Garden and sitting area for our visitors and will be adding our new 52 remembrance woodland dedications tags to. This area is at the front of our centre so once it begins to grow we will have a beautiful entrance to our rewilding centre.