Rewilding Purbeck: Restoring One of Britain's Idyllic Landscapes
Nestled on the Dorset coast in southern England, The Purbeck Heaths are undergoing a remarkable transformation through a collaborative rewilding project.
In Purbeck gone are the days of independently managed segregated landscapes. Instead of a system of numerous small and unconnected land owned and handled by separate entities, a pioneering approach of rewilding is taking centre stage. The British Isle of Purbeck is working to allow nature to reclaim its rightful place through the collaborative work of numerous wildlife groups and charities. We decided to take a look at the approach taken by Purbeck’s rewilding project, and how it has altered one of Britain’s long-cherished natural spaces.
Purbeck is close to our hearts at LettsSafari - just an hour from some of our parks. Indeed, it was one of the places that inspired our founder to imagine his first safari garden built in 2006 outside New York. When he was young, working in London, he rented a run down converted hay-barn (mostly a shack) in the fields above the Square & Compass pub in Worth Matravers. A place he could escape to at weekends and a place where time stood still. He even put in a bid at an auction sale for a small cottage with a hidden, wild garden just below the pub. Suffice to say his offer was not accepted.
Purbeck's Rich Tapestry
Purbeck boasts a diverse mosaic of habitats. From the windswept coastal cliffs to the rolling heathlands and fertile valleys, it's a haven for a remarkable range of wildlife. However, centuries of human activity - grazing, agriculture, and forestry - had taken a toll. Species populations dwindled, and natural processes were disrupted.
In recent years Purbeck has begun a project of larger-scale rewilding efforts that are a collaborative masterpiece. The Wild Purbeck partnership, a consortium of conservation organisations, landowners, and government bodies, is spearheading a journey of rewilding change. Here are some key aspects of their work:
Grazing the Landscape: Fencing has been removed, allowing herds of free-roaming cattle, ponies, and pigs to graze across vast areas. This mimics the historical role of large herbivores in keeping vegetation diverse and preventing scrub encroachment.
Heathland Haven: Not only is the native heathland being allowed to regenerate- creating a vital habitat for rare butterflies, reptiles, and birds like the Dartford warbler, but the restoration of some essential plant life is also taking place. Purbeck is now home to two species of Fungi that can only be found here - they have disappeared from other parts of the United Kingdom.
Restoring Wetlands: River habitats are being entirely reformed. In doing so work at Purbeck has reconnected fragmented habitats, improved water quality, and fosters the return of wetland birds and insects. In particular, Purbeck now holds the rarest dragonfly, the southern damselfly, rare reptiles, amphibians, and 12 species of bats!
Ospreys Take Flight: A thrilling chapter in Purbeck's rewilding story is the reintroduction of majestic ospreys. These fish-eating birds had vanished from the area centuries ago. With the creation of suitable nesting sites and abundant prey in restored rivers, ospreys are once again soaring over Purbeck's skies.
The Rewards of Rewilding
The results of Purbeck's rewilding efforts are already becoming apparent:
Booming Biodiversity: Studies have revealed that Purbeck has seen a revitalisation in its wildlife populations. Much like we have experienced at LettsSafari’s parks, butterfly numbers have soared, and rare birds, including essential birds of prey that had been declining in past years, are now thriving in the restored heathland.
A More Resilient Landscape: Rewilding has provided Purbeck with a much more robust ecosystem, better equipped to withstand new environmental pressures like increased flooding and drought periods due to the effects of climate change. Diverse habitats and natural grazing patterns have led to increasingly healthier soil. And the adoption of key water habitats such as marshes and wetlands have meant Purbeck experiences better water management nowadays.
The Process at Purbeck
Unlike many rewilding projects, which are often sole endeavours on privately owned property, Purbeck has taken a unique approach combining the skills of numerous charities and rewilding groups to take a communal approach to rewild a space. Run by the Wild Purbeck consortium, the groups working here include “Natural England, RSPB, Forestry England, The Rempstone Estate Trust, Dorset Wildlife Trust, and Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust”.
It now spans more than 8,000 acres across 11 diverse habitat spaces and projects. It is a fascinating and alternative approach to rewilding that reflects some of the difficulties of rewilding Britain that we at LettsSafari have striven to solve. While Purbeck’s approach is certainly successful and effective, it is also unfortunately less replicable.
We definitely need spaces like the modern Purbeck heaths and the rewilding going on there, but LettsSafari and our mission to spread smaller-scale rewilding could make an even bigger difference, enabling people to work together, but also independently, to help rewild the 30 million gardens in the UK, the 27,000 public parks and the countless acres that are held in smallholdings or freeholds, all the way from the small country landowner, down to even those of our readers who can only rewild a window-box.
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