To kick off a new series on 'the predators of smaller-scale rewilding' we tell the tale of a day in the life of a red fox in LettsSafari parks.

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As the first rays of sunlight pierce through the morning mist, a red fox emerges from her den beneath a gnarled oak tree. Here in this rewilded corner of southwest England, where nature has been given space to breathe, she represents a vital piece in an intricate ecological puzzle.

The vixen's whiskers twitch as she tests the morning air. The overnight rain has left the ground soft, perfect for detecting the movement of voles and mice beneath the thick grass that now carpets what was once closely-cropped pasture. This abundance of small mammals isn't just a feast for our fox - it's a sign of the park's flourishing biodiversity, where reduced human intervention has allowed natural processes to resume.

Moving silently through a patch of brambles, she passes evidence of last night's work: scattered feathers from a woodpigeon that strayed too far from its roost. Such predation helps maintain the delicate balance of bird populations, preventing any single species from dominating the available resources.

By mid-morning, the fox is busy patrolling her territory's boundaries. She pauses to scent-mark a fallen log, maintaining the invisible borders that help structure the park's predator population. Her presence here creates what ecologists call a "landscape of fear" - prey species modify their behaviour and movement patterns in response to predation risk, preventing overgrazing and allowing vegetation to regenerate naturally.

The afternoon finds our vixen resting in tall grass, ears constantly pivoting to track the sounds around her. A family of black fallow deer passes nearby, their presence a testament to how predator and prey can coexist in these spaces. The fox's hunting pressure helps keep deer alert and mobile, preventing them from overgrazing any single area - a key factor in maintaining the park's mosaic of habitats.

Some fascinating, lesser-known facts about the British red fox that’ll make you see them in a whole new light:

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You see, the hazel dormouse thrives in diverse, well-connected habitats that include deciduous woodlands, dense hedgerows, and scrubland. These areas must feature a variety of native plants that offer year-round food sources. Trees such as hazel , oak, and hawthorn provide nuts and berries, while honeysuckle and bramble offer flowers and fruit as well as nesting materials. Insects, another critical food source for dormice, are abundant in these complex, layered ecosystems.

“If a little Parisian rat can become a movie star then surely a dormouse can show us how to tap into our wilder side.”

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Trees store carbon - but how?

When trees photosynthesise, they absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and convert it into organic matter, such as leaves, branches, and roots. The carbon is stored in the tree's biomass—its trunks, stems, leaves, and roots. Over time, as trees grow, they accumulate more carbon removing it from the atmosphere and storing it for decades, even centuries.

The carbon storage capacity of a tree depends on its species, age, size, and environmental conditions. Large, mature trees store more carbon than smaller, younger trees due to their greater biomass. Recent research has also shown that large, old trees store longer-term carbon and young trees store shorter-term carbon. Also, it seems, older trees teach young trees how to go about storing carbon!

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A big thank you to Jem McCluskey and Louise Kear for the powerful imagery.

Robert Marshall’s colorful work peeks through the rewilded grasses and lawns where butterflies rise in swarms around them as they move on the wind.

Visitors to the gardens find the conceptual and environmental open-air art interspersed among the rewilded park and gardens creates a fresh and unique impression. It spurs learning and debate at every corner.

Wildlife and wild art help create a narrative around the importance of the soil (clay), human structures (architecture and household items) and urban society.

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It's amazing how this unique fusion of creativity, nature and wildlife soothes the soul and spurs action. Maybe there is something to this rare concoction.

Get more LettsSafari updates and wildlife photos from our twitter. And read the latest posts at the LettsSafari + website.

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We thought we would conclude this mini series of narrated video tours through the new woods at Dawlish Park with a look at a couple of its wild inhabitants.

Foxes are well settled into Dawlish Park. The scrub and wild grasses provide cover so they can hunt at dawn and dusk. You often find them shadowing the latest prey.

The small group of wild badger faces love this place. They wander the open prairie in the early evening, heading across the valley to the old woods where they rest at night. They keep creeping bramble and nettle in check. They are a pleasure to film and photograph.

A herd of black fallow have become permanent residents in Dawlish Park. The stags bellowing in the Autumn echo’s through the steep valley in the heart of the new woods. Their presence makes for a powerful safari experience year round.

This 75 acre model LettsSafari park is a haven in the fast expanding city that surrounds it. It's environmental work helping underpin this regions credentials.

In the coming months we will share our approaches for building smaller-scale rewilding parks. From a small 10 acre LettsSafari park right up to a 75 acre park like Dawlish Park. We hope this will inspire you to push your local parks to follow a similar, wilder dimension. After all, England alone has 27,000 of them.

Get more LettsSafari updates and wildlife photos from our twitter. And read the latest posts at the LettsSafari + website.

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Teaming with new deciduous trees including oak, alder, birch, cherry, crab apple, hazel, blackthorn, hawthorn, beech and more. Now 12-15 years old, these young trees are bursting with life and vigour. Their diversity, combined with keeping families of trees together in LettsSafari’s copse combinations, makes for a healthy environment.

After the felling of the farmed pine in this 30 acre oval bowl just two tall trees were left standing. A magnificent Monterey pine and a 50 metre tall birch. From the open spaces created by the felling both produced some magnificent offspring. To accentuate the latter we planted clusters of new silver birch.

75 acres is a wonderful size for a rewilding safari park.

In future posts we will explain how it came about, its design and how to construct small, medium and large model LettsSafari parks. Each of them are tried and tested at our rewilding centre in Exeter City. This should help you better understand the potential of smaller 10 acre model LettsSafari parks, mid-sized 30 acre parks and larger 75 acre parks. They could even provide a future vision for England’s 27,000 municipal parks.

Hundreds of experts and enthusiasts have visited Dawlish Park over the life of the project. From this fast evolving place and their immersed learning dozens of new park-size projects have sprung up. LettsSafari’s Capability Gardens nearby have stimulated hundreds of new wilder garden projects. A circuitous ripple effect - one that LettsSafari plans to expand across the UK.

Over the summer we will dig deeper into Dalwish Park with narrated videos about its specific trees, plants and the amazing wildlife gathered here. Rewilders have a saying “if you build it they will come (meaning wildlife)”. Dawlish Park is living proof. If only there were more places like this.

Get more LettsSafari updates and wildlife photos from our twitter. And read the latest posts at the LettsSafari + website.

Get more LettsSafari updates and wildlife photos from our twitter. And read the latest posts at the LettsSafari + website.

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Philip, could you share with us the origin story of LettsSafari and what inspired you to embark on this unique rewilding journey?

Our adventure into rewilding began quite serendipitously. My wife and I purchased a dilapidated property with three acres of land outside New York City, which had been overrun by deer for years. The land was in a terrible state, essentially a biodiversity desert. Despite its condition, we were fascinated by the idea of rewilding and wondered whether such a concept could work on a smaller scale than traditional projects like those at Yellowstone Park.

What was the initial reaction when you proposed the idea of small-scale rewilding?

We faced scepticism initially.  The experts we consulted were intrigued but uncertain, as no one had really considered rewilding on such a micro scale before. Nonetheless, they shared their insights, which propelled us to experiment on our small patch of land. To our surprise, the transformation over just two years was profound. The land quickly revived, teeming with new life and vigour. It was a place where we developed our first small-scale rewilding schemas.

How did this success impact your approach to rewilding?

It significantly deepened our interest. My background in technology spurred me to think of rewilding as a sort of “ecosystem technology”. We started researching more and speaking to numerous experts to understand how to effectively develop a rewilded ecosystem in miniature. This became a passion project for us, blending technology with ecological restoration. We realised that smaller-scale rewilding done properly is very different to large-scale rewilding. It needed a new, bottom up approach.

Can you tell us about the expansion of LettsSafari and how it has evolved since those early days?

Sure. Fast forward from our initial experiments in 2005 to about 20 years later, we've undertaken multiple rewilding projects on both the east coast of the US and in the UK. On the edge of Exeter City, we revitalised old Capability Brown gardens and a 100-acre parkland, which were in a state of neglect. We segmented this land into different areas and habitats to validate our theory that small-scale rewilding can significantly contribute to biodiversity restoration.

What are the primary objectives of your rewilding efforts?

Our main goals are carbon removal, enhancing plant life, supporting healthy water systems, and encouraging wildlife proliferation. We’ve seen tremendous success in these areas, even in smaller spaces. This has affirmed our belief that smaller-scale efforts can cumulatively have a large impact.

With such tangible success, how is LettsSafari leveraging technology to further its mission?

Our theory is that small-scale rewilding done by millions (versus large-scale rewilding done by a few) was a more likely route to get to the 30% biodiverse space that the UN states we need for a healthy planet.

So, about two and a half years ago, we decided to add a virtual layer to our physical projects. We launched LettsSafari.com to extend our reach and bring smaller-scale rewilding to the masses. The platform is designed to educate and inspire others by sharing our methods and successes. We’re essentially creating a digital ecosystem where knowledge and practical tools for rewilding are readily accessible.

Our aim is to democratise the ability to rewild, providing both the know-how and the technology for people everywhere to participate and innovate in their own spaces. If we can encourage the rewilding of millions of gardens, balconies, public spaces and even commercial spaces, then we stand a better chance of hitting those UN targets.

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Looking ahead, what's your vision for LettsSafari?

Our vision is to scale these efforts globally. By fostering a digital subscription-based economy focused on ecological services, we believe we can engage a larger audience to take part in environmental stewardship. The ultimate goal is to not just enable, but empower and inspire individuals and communities to initiate their own rewilding projects, thus amplifying the impact on a global scale.

So LettsSafari.com becomes the hub for this community based movement to ‘build a better planet’. Providing in-park media, tips, tools, schema’s, technology and community features so anyone can create a mini LettsSafari in any small green space.

It sounds like LettsSafari is truly pioneering in the field of rewilding. Thank you, Philip, for sharing your inspiring journey with us.

Thank you for having me. It’s been a pleasure to share our story and hopefully inspire more people to consider how they can make a difference, no matter the scale of their land.

Get more LettsSafari updates and wildlife photos from our twitter. And read the latest posts at the LettsSafari + website.

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The video above, taken just a few days ago shares a couple of the hidden paths of Exeter’s Capability Brown gardens with small streams running beside. The first path is cut through wild beds packed with insects (and birds). In the middle of December! The power of ‘small’ wild.

In the video below we take a look at a recently rewilded corner of Dawlish Park. Young trees mix with ancient Monterey pines from ancient times. This small section is now teaming with wild biodiversity, bird life and wildlife. The power of ‘medium’ sized wild.

Last we would like to share a powerful short documentary from The Guardian - The Winterkeeper at Yellowstone Park. A veritable modern day Santa in the large scale ‘wild’.

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We hope that in 2024, along with all the work we do to protect and expand LettsSafari parks, we will inspire you to add a little more wild to your backyard, outdoor work or community spaces. Because more than ever it is up to us to make the climate difference.

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Get more LettsSafari updates and wildlife photos from our twitter. And read all the latest posts at the LettsSafari + website.

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As we posted previously, a peahen has graced LettsSafari’s Sunrise Park. But it seems she was not alone. She has given birth to 3 little peachicks! We bumped into her as she sped off with them hot in tow scrambling to keep up [see the video above]. They were filmed, just a few weeks old, running under the cover of her skirt. No prizes for spotting the chicks.

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The above video is the final part of our three part mini-series taking you on a single-shot winter walk through LettsSafari’s Dawlish Park. This magnificent 75 acre park has restored the fallow deer to their natural habitat and attracted an extraordinary collection of birds, butterflies and other insects. Small mammals abound - surrounded by 5,000 new trees and dense, thick scrub to hide in.

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The video above is the first in a three part Wild TV series through the heart of Dawlish Park: ‘The inner track’.

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