The Broughton Sanctuary estate near Skipton is rewilding its sheep-grazed hillsides into woodlands rich with birds and insects.
After three years and 300,000 planted trees, parts of a North Yorkshire estate are now growing into a young woodland that is already becoming a new home for insects, rodents and birds of prey.
Shoots of ash, beech, oak, aspen and willow emerge from the tops of plastic tubes guarding against hungry hares while a kestrel hovers above the brown, thistly scrub next to the emerald green neighbouring fields still occupied by sheep. Prof Driver wants to create wetlands and ponds on the estate and reintroduce beavers into a brook, all of which helps to store water on the hills while creating habitat for more species.
“That’s unheard of,” Prof Driver said. “That shows you how much prey there is that they don’t have to compete with each other.” Most controversial of all is talk of reintroducing apex predators such as lynxes and wolves, which have long been extinct in Britain but remain important for their ecosystems as they would keep other species like deer in check.
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