Underhill Wood Nature Reserve.
I had the most brilliant day a couple of weeks ago with Jonathan Thomson at his small rewilding plot, Underhill Wood Nature Reserve. Myself (raptor fanatic) and my two friends, one a butterfly fanatic and the other a gardener made the long drive down to Dorset for a 10 am start and it was worth the early alarm clock (4:30 am ouch!).
I am based on my family's farm, and we have a small patch of about 45 acres, we don’t farm it intensively, some grazing cattle and maybe a cut of silage (bales) for winter forage. We’ve dug a couple of ponds, not put any fertiliser down for over 5 years and left hedgerows instead of flailing them to death like our neighbours. We can do more though. I’ve listened to podcasts, read books and followed the work of the big rewilding projects of Knepp estate, Holkham and Wild Ken Hill but they are all on a humongous scale. I’ve always looked for a bit more low-key, small-scale advice and failed until I stumbled upon Ben Goldsmith’s podcast ‘Rewilding The World’ and in particular the episode with Jonathan.
As soon as I heard it a light bulb went off in my head. Here’s a down-to-earth guy, who seems to be talking sense, but most importantly has done it! He has rewilded a small patch of Britain without the use of livestock on a scale that is relatable to my family's farm. Better still he has written it down into a small book (available here). I visited Jonathan’s website (see foot of blog) and ordered the book straight away. I then noticed he also runs workshops, so I fired off an e-mail.
As soon as I read Jonathan’s reply, I knew this guy was the real deal, you could tell just by reading his response he was knowledgeable but not arrogant it, he wanted to share his ideas and what worked for him at Underhill. A few e-mails later he replied saying he’d be happy to run one more workshop for the year, I jumped at the chance and a few weeks later found myself, my two friends and a few other kindred spirits sitting with Jonathan and Harry (Hedgerow Harry) in the barn at Underhill Wood Nature Reserve.
Copright Jonathan Thomson - Underhill Wood Nature Reserve
The group was fantastic. There’s so much to be said for meeting up with like-minded individuals with a thirst for knowledge; it makes for the most fantastic environment, provided the tuition or subject matter is not divisive or, dare I say, political. We bounced ideas off each other, quizzed Jonathan and Harry and explored Underhill Wood. The stand-out fact that everyone needs to know before rolling their eyes at the word ‘rewilding’ is that it’s not about locking the gate and turning your back on the land, that’s not rewilding. It’s about finding the balance that nature once had in that part of the world, and that might mean digging ponds or wallows, pushing over hedgerows like aurochs might have done in the past, ring barking a few trees to provide standing dead wood where it won’t be considered a H&S risk.
The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, but the crazy thing is that for such a tiny island, it doesn’t need to be. Nature can thrive in the smallest pockets of land given the right conditions and management. A great example is water, which Jonathan echoed as we stood by his fantastic lake. A couple of years ago after we’d renovated the farmhouse we also dug a pond in the garden, it might be one of the best things we have done for nature on the farm, it is a hive of activity in the spring and summer, damselflies, dragonflies, aquatic inverts, frogs and toads spawning, newts under the rockery on the bank, ducks and Moorhens breeding and even a kingfisher visiting in the winter. The pond is only about 8m long by 5m wide, yet it bounces with life.
Then there are hedgerows! I knew hedgerows were important, I’ve been to a farm near me that was in the higher-level stewardship scheme and the hedgerows there were sublime, big, thick laden with fruit in the winter for birds and in the spring and summer alive with life. I didn’t however realise the incredible role they can play in sequestering carbon from the atmosphere.
We had a fantastic talk from Harry who has been involved at Underhill from the age of 14 and completed his undergrad thesis on the benefits of the conservation hedge laying at the reserve. I feel I’ve probably just massively undersold Harry’s wealth of knowledge and achievements but fear not he now offers his rewilding know-how as a freelance ecologist with his new venture Wild Patch. Check it out here.
Copright Jonathan Thomson - Underhill Wood Nature Reserve
I could rattle on about the things we discussed during this trip but to be honest, the best thing you can do is experience it for yourself. If you have even the smallest interest in land management, the environment and nature then check out Jonathan’s work at Underhill Wood Nature Reserve. Listen to his podcast episode with Ben Goldsmith, but the manual, digest his website and maybe even book yourself onto his next workshop, I promise you, you will not regret it.
Copright Jonathan Thomson - Underhill Wood Nature Reserve
