Elk could return to UK after 3,000 years
Elk could be reintroduced to Britain for the first time in 3,000 years.
After securing funding from Rewilding Britain, a conservation group is hoping elk will follow in the footsteps of beavers, bison and white-tailed eagles in making a celebrated return to the British countryside.
The reintroduction of woodland foragers and wetlands grazers such as elk is seen as 'absolutely crucial' by Wilder Landscapes and Derbyshire Wildlife Trust to help repair ecosystems.
Their grazing and trampling could begin within three years inside fenced beaver enclosures at two nature reserves – Wellington Wetlands near Derby and Idle Valley near Retford.
The success of which could then open the door to their introduction in the wild.
Rachel Bennett, the deputy director of the trust, said: 'This exciting project could demonstrate how this crucial ecosystem engineer can thrive in floodplain landscapes, shaping diverse habitats that benefit communities and support biodiversity recovery.
'It may also serve as a catalyst for engaging people in the long-term benefits of returning elk to the wild.'
Elk a 'keystone species'
Elk, which is the same species as moose in North America, were wiped out in Britain around 3,000 years ago as a result of overhunting and the draining of the wetlands they inhabited.
Elk are one of three deer species that are native to the UK, alongside red and roe deer.
In plans boosted by funding this week, several other projects have benefited from up to £15,000 from Rewilding Britain to help support innovative rewilding efforts.
Rebecca Wrigley, chief executive of Rewilding Britain, said: 'Keystone species like elk, bison and beaver play a vital role in bringing nature back to life.
'They help repair ecosystems and shape wild places in ways that benefit wildlife, people and the climate. Successfully reintroducing missing species like these is absolutely crucial.
'It's a complex process involving multiple stages of research and development, feasibility studies, impact assessments, and community consultations.
'By taking the time and effort to get it right, we can create a more hopeful future for everyone.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
40 minutes ago
- BBC News
Trump deploys National Guard after clashes in LA
Manage consent settings on AMP pages These settings apply to AMP pages only. You may be asked to set these preferences again when you visit non-AMP BBC pages. The lightweight mobile page you have visited has been built using Google AMP technology. Strictly necessary data collection To make our web pages work, we store some limited information on your device without your consent. Read more about the essential information we store on your device to make our web pages work. We use local storage to store your consent preferences on your device. Optional data collection When you consent to data collection on AMP pages you are consenting to allow us to display personalised ads that are relevant to you when you are outside of the UK. Read more about how we personalise ads in the BBC and our advertising partners. You can choose not to receive personalised ads by clicking 'Reject data collection and continue' below. Please note that you will still see advertising, but it will not be personalised to you. You can change these settings by clicking 'Ad Choices / Do not sell my info' in the footer at any time.
The Guardian
14 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘A wonderful mystery to be solved': Search begins in Dorset for ‘the Mother of all tanks'
At the height of the second world war, while British authorities were calling on citizens to donate metal to be recycled into weapons and warships, attention at the army base of Bovington Camp in Dorset turned to a collection of historic vehicles dating from the first war – among them a legendary tank that had been nicknamed 'Mother'. Mother was the prototype for the world's first battlefield tank, the Mark 1, which had been developed by Britain in 1915-6 to break the deadlock of the trenches. The vehicles were a huge technological leap forward that caused a sensation when rolled out on the battlefields ('astonishing our soldiers no less than they frightened the enemy', as the Manchester Guardian put it) and helped tip the scales in favour of the allies' eventual victory. Mother was a unique and hugely important piece of military and technological history. But with people across Britain donating their railings, saucepans and even keys for the war effort, there was no room for sentiment. Mother was surrendered to the scrappers to be melted down and recycled. Or was she? For decades, rumours persisted at Bovington Camp that to save it from being scrapped, 'the Mother of all tanks' had instead been secretly buried somewhere in the military base. Now, an army officer is planning an archaeological survey to search for the mythical tank after finding a historical letter that suggests the rumours are true. Staff Sgt Anthony Sherritt, a tank commander with the Royal Armoured Corps, came across the mystery of what happened to Mother several years ago when listening to a podcast; intrigued by the rumours, he began scouring military records in his free time for evidence of what really happened. He traced the source of the rumours to a former foreman at the British army's Tank Museum, which is based at Bovington Camp, who would frequently tell visitors that his father had been part of the team that hid the prototype. But still, there was no proof. Then, last summer, Sherritt came across a letter written by an officer called Lt Col NM Dillon about the wartime activities of a friend who had been based at Bovington, Maj Bill Brannon. One day, wrote Dillon, Brannon had 'found the scrap metal staff beginning to demolish some of the old tanks'. After waiting for the scrappers to stop at midday for lunch, 'Bill organised a towing tank and pulled four of the oldest tanks and buried them in the driving area. These four included Mother.' It was a eureka moment for Sherrett, who called a small group of fellow enthusiasts, buzzing with the news. 'I was super-excited, calling everyone – [saying] 'Look, I found this,'' he says. 'And they couldn't believe it.' Burying a tank in your lunch break may seem no small feat, but the expansive driver training area would have been full of enormous pre-dug holes, says Sherritt, to allow trainees to practice driving the vehicles in rough terrain. But even if Mother was buried, the next challenge is finding her. Bovington Camp stretches to 404 hectares (1,000 acres), and even the section Sherrett has identified as the wartime training area, not in the same spot as today, is enormous. 'It's a kilometre squared, and that's a huge piece of land,' Sherrett says. Now a patch of restricted heathland, it's not as if he can just wander around with a metal detector. 'It was used for driver training for 100 years so it's covered in metal. Back in the day, they probably didn't really care about any environmental issues and were just littering everywhere' – potentially including unexploded ammunition. Undeterred, Sherrett has spent a year petitioning defence authorities to be allowed survey the area; with that permission secured, he is crowdfunding to commission archaeologists to start the search later this autumn. Lidar (light detection and ranging) scans have already identified five spots that hint at a large object buried underground. According to Chris Price, the director of the Tank Museum, finding Mother 'would be a mic drop moment in the tank world. Jaws hitting the floors everywhere. 'There's every possibility that it won't be found – but it would be a wonderful thing to find, a wonderful mystery to be solved and given to everyone around the world.' 'It would be insane,' agrees Sherrett. 'Because it's not just a tank. It's everything else that she [led] to, the machine that broke the stalemate in world war one. There were no [battlefield] tanks before her. 'I joke with the Tank Museum all the time, saying 'You'll have to make space to put her in there,' because currently, all they have for her is a drawing.'
BBC News
17 hours ago
- BBC News
Thousands of trees to be planted in Devon
Up to 3,000 trees are to be planted on the outskirts of Exeter, according to East Devon District Council. Broadclyst and Poltimore have been chosen for the project, with a funding boost from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Volunteers have already planted the first 150 trees, forming a new hedgerow at Clyst Meadows Country Park, near Broadclyst project team is now looking for more land in Broadclyst and Poltimore to complete the planting. Once complete, a total of up to one hectare (2.5 acres) of native trees and 600 metres (1,970 ft) of new hedgerow will be planted. Councillor Paula Fernley said: "More trees mean more biodiversity, more shade and shelter, and better resilience to climate change. It's also brilliant for wellbeing." The trees are to be grown locally by volunteers at the Saving Devon's Treescapes Broadclyst Tree Nursery using seeds collected from the Devon's Treescapes is a four-year project led by Devon Wildlife Trust and supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. It aims to plant and nurture 250,000 trees outside traditional woodland settings across Devon by Rogers, project manager at Saving Devon's Treescapes, added: "Even if we don't always notice it, most of us have seen the impact of ash dieback – from isolated trees to whole woodlands losing their canopy. "But we now have new trees growing in their place, thanks to local volunteers who have nurtured saplings from Broadclyst seed."
