Two years have passed since we acquired Wild Woodbury, the 170-hectare site near Bere Regis. And in two years the transformation of the landscape and uplift in biodiversity has been incredible to witness. The goal of this ambitious project was to build an exemplar for sustainable land use to tackle the climate and ecological crises and engage the local community.
In the first year of the project, we allowed the land to naturally regenerate, and we saw an immediate increase in biodiversity and abundance with the site list reaching 1300 species. The second year of the project was a lot more ‘hands on’ as we set to re-naturalise the headwaters of the River Sherford, a site-wide project known as Stage-0 river restoration.
Stage-0 in the river restoration process is simply water flowing across the landscape; water that is not diverted or constrained into channels and ditches, but can freely flow into the low ground, finding natural pathways and re-establishing historic routes through fields. Much of the site is fed by three springs and should naturally be very wet, encompassing several fields and wet woodland, but the ditches have made this not so. We started by strategically filling in ditches to let the water flow out into the fields, before supplementing this work by blocking up field drains and creating leaky dams throughout the remaining ditch systems.
The effect of the restoration was both immediate and extraordinary to witness. A once dry and cracked landscape now a heterogeneous mixture of large flows, ephemeral pools, and delta-like areas. And wildlife was quick to take advantage of these new wetland habitats across the site. Just a few weeks after the restoration had finished, Wild Woodbury played host to 90 lapwing, 20 golden plover, and 30 common snipe, all feeding in the newly wetted areas. Amphibians such as common frogs, toad, palmate newt have increased in numbers, as have dragonflies and damselflies. Grass snake numbers are also up, likely attracted by the wetter areas now on site.
Summer surveys reveal that Wild Woodbury now boasts a site list of over 1600 species, an increase of 300 from the previous year. New species to the site include the grey partridge, and greenfinch – both on the Red List for birds of conservation concern. The upward trend in ground nesting bird numbers continues from year one, with skylark now at around 50 pairs compared to 18 in 2022, tree pipit increasing from one to seven pairs, and nightjar holding new territories.
Perhaps the most exciting discovery of this year’s summer surveys was the nightingale, another visitor on the Red List for birds of conservation concern. Though not confirmed to be breeding on site, its presence at Wild Woodbury as it migrates southwards is extremely encouraging. Hopefully, they will return next spring to breed!
Restoring a landscape and making space for nature on this scale takes time, but an extremely encouraging second year proves what is possible when natural processes are restored.
