Rebirding: Winner of the Wainwright Prize for Writing on Global Conservation: Restoring Britain's Wildlife

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One of the most important arguments he mounts is that the large mammals he calls “landscape architects” must be returned to Britain – bison, wild boar and the predators that influence their density and distribution are what maintained European diversity over millennia. There is one place in Britain where this great experiment is being run – Knepp Estate in West Sussex, 3,500 acres where primitive breeds of cattle, pigs and ponies have been left to roam. Let’s be the first generation since we colonised Britain to leave our children better off for wildlife Benedict Macdonald The author creates a fantastic vision for the restoration of nature and wildlife to Britain, much of which is certainly achievable. However, he does position himself as the authority on the subject, suggesting that it is nature conservation charities who are the ones that need to bare the brunt of the responsibility, despite previously pointing out that it is big industry that has created the problems.

The Knepp Estate tends to dominate the conversation, but it is not the only rewilding project in the UK. Faced with the devastating loss of biodiversity, a diverse assortment of landowners and individuals are increasingly taking matters into their own hands. The concept of rewilding has been around for three decades, but only became popularised in the UK in 2013, when George Monbiot published his groundbreaking book, Feral. The Knepp Estate, in West Sussex, has been quietly devoted to rewilding since 2001 – the project was thrust into the limelight in 2018 upon the publication of Wilding, Isabella Tree’s account of the farm’s transformation. Landowners across the UK are leaving a lasting legacy for future generations by investing in the restoration of our degraded countryside. History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people but the appalling silence and indifference of the good. Our generation will have to repent not only for the words and actions of the children of darkness but also for the fears and apathy of the children of light.

Rebirthing sessions can take several forms, depending on your age and your treatment goals. Sessions are usually led by trained instructors. They work with you one-on-one or two-on-one, coaching your breathwork and leading you through the technique.

Rebirding: rewilding Britain and its birds by Benedict Macdonald will soon be published by Pelagic Publishing. James Rebanks uses the analogy of stones turning over one by one,” says Macdonald. “In other words, you only need a few enlightened farmers with good community connections and, suddenly, like on the Outer Hebrides, you can begin to see entire landscapes farming in a way that is once again sympathetic with the natural world.” Julia comments: “ The Diary of a Young Naturalist is a significant nature book – made all the more so because it is Dara McAnulty’s first, completed before his 16th birthday. Our Wainwright Prize winner this year is nuanced, passionate and caring. It’s a wonderful diary that fits around Dara’s personal endeavours and family experiences, but ultimately, shaped by the nature that surrounds us all. The judges were almost breathless from reading it and would like to call for it to be immediately listed on the national curriculum. Such is the book’s power to move and the urgency of the situation we face.”

When Ifirst started visiting the Forest of Dean, Ialways thought of it as paradise. The dense walls of spruce and larch seemed forbidding but enchanting and the cathedral oak trees, with very little underneath, seemed impressive.

The targets are already there – imagine 100,000 hectares of new wetlands when you think what Ham Wall and Lakenheath have achieved, 140,000 hectares of peatland restored, 250,000 hectares of woodland and other habitat around our towns and cities. They’re already on the table – the recommendations of the Natural Capital Committee, rarely mentioned by conservationists. Here Ben tells us how documenting nature around the world has shaped his views on conservation in the UK, how we might reclaim the value of ​ ‘scruffiness’ — and what role pelicans might play in arevitalised future for our wetlands. Can you remember what first sparked your fascination with nature? Over the last few years, the notion of rewilding has risen to prominence. One doesn’t need to go further than social media to see this concept on a micro-level: the angst at a recently trimmed roadside margin or roundabout, the frustration of anti-birding netting on hedges and so on.Such reactions are, in their own way, an expression of the wish to reconnect with nature and let wildlife simply do its own thing. Why is the RSPB repeatedly described (by Mark) as an NGO (non-governmental organisation)? Surely it’s better described as a wildlife/ conservation charity? While I have to admit to occasionally skim-reading some nature books as they can turn into endless lists of unconnected stories, Ben has a structure that works, that builds an argument, that takes you from imagining the past to imagining our future.I want to be able to create a platform where these disparate projects and these inspired people can all come together and talk things over, share their ideas, and share what works,” he says. Poland’s Biebrza Marshes can teach us so much about rewilding. You have your natural processes, the rivers shaping the land, the elk – but those elk also wander through villages and I’ve watched them being ​ ‘shooed’ by old ladies. You also have amazing sympathetic farmlands. Silent Spring is as relevant today as it was when American environmentalist Rachel Carson first published her seminal work 60 years ago. Every chapter is a reminder that we aren’t above nature, or able to control it. When we harm biodiversity, we ultimately harm ourselves. As Carson wrote, “in nature nothing exists alone”.

Yet, Ben is right that we can do more to scope and articulate a vision for how our rural economies can evolve to work for people and for nature. While we have done work to account for the value of our nature reserves and also to assess the contribution of nature conservation to local employment, I think Ben is right that we can and must do more to fulfil the potential of these economies of nature. Rebirding takes the long view of Britain’s wildlife decline, from the early taming of our landscape and its long-lost elephants and rhinos, to fenland drainage, the removal of cornerstone species such as wild cattle, horses, beavers and boar – and forward in time to the intensification of our modern landscapes and the collapse of invertebrate populations.The book charts a history of the British landscape, starting with what it was like before humans arrived – a very natural Britain. Ben’s take on the time since then – the Anthropocene – is subtitled ‘The killing of the countryside’. Decade by decade he works through the changes we have wrought: the loss of strip-farming and margins during the 1760s; the growth of hedges in the 1790s; the draining of the fens during the 1800s; the loss of scrubland controlled by large herbivores; the hunting of big birds across open landscapes as people and sheep took over; and the demise of seabird abundance, portrayed by the extinction of the Great Auk. It is truly mind blowing that 16% of the UKs land is given out to grouse and deer parks adding virtually nothing to the economy, used by virtually no one and destroying wildlife. 88% of Wales is grazed by sheep. An industry almost completely held up by government subsidies. The more I learn about animal agriculture the more insane it seems that anyone can actually argue that it can continue in its current form. Drugs fed to cattle come out in their dung destroying beetle populations and causing extinction of insectivore birds. Aim for a baby who is not full, but not actively hungry. About an hour after a feeding is usually a good goal. Since then, I’ve been fortunate to travel around the world, as anaturalist and film-maker, and see many more incredible species and ecosystems – many of them now sadly on the brink of destruction. You write about the decline of birds close to where you live, in the Forest of Dean. Can you summarise what’s happened there? This is the story of how Britain became a factory,’ Benedict Macdonald writes in this remarkable work of horror and hope.