18-02-2025
This 300-acre former farm has undergone a transformation in response to 'catastrophic' fears: 'We need to take what action we can'
Former farmland on England's eastern coast is being rewilded to welcome a wide array of flora and fauna.
The BBC reported that all 289 acres of Martlesham Wilds Nature Reserve were an organic farm a few years ago. Today, it's owned by Suffolk Wildlife Trust, a charity dedicated to helping nature flourish. The organization purchased the land in 2023, and rewilding efforts are fully underway.
Martlesham Wilds sits beside the Deben Estuary in Suffolk. It's home to many habitats, such as grazing marshes, salt marshes, woodlands, and reedbeds. As the land returns to its natural state, several species have made homes there.
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SWT introduced Herdwick sheep and Belted Galloway cattle to the grazing marsh. These animals will improve the plant diversity and invite more critters. Creatures like wading birds, wildfowl, and woodlarks can thrive surrounded by this diverse flora.
Jessica Ratcliff, the reserve's warden, highlighted the beauty and importance of encouraging biodiversity. She told BBC, "It's such a lovely diversity of habitat, providing the connectivity that's so important when restoring habitats."
Without biodiversity, humans and most other species would not survive. The human population relies heavily on pollinators, small creatures that are responsible for reproducing numerous food crops and flowering plants.
Preserving natural wetlands and grasslands also reduces flooding, protecting homes from water damage.
Pollution, deforestation, expanding agriculture, and other manmade problems threaten biodiversity. However, conservation and rewilding efforts can counteract species decline.
Ratcliff told the BBC that there's a "decline across the board in terms of birds, insects, and mammals," adding that "we are seeing precipitous declines, an average of 70% across insect species."
She explained the ramifications: "This could be catastrophic, so we need to take what action we can and bolster populations to give them safe havens and stop decline becoming extinction."
Luckily, places like Martlesham Wilds only need a little nudge. Michael Strand from SWT explained that they want to intervene as little as possible.
"We're allowing nature to show what it wants to be in whatever place," he said.
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