EIGHT WAYS TO REWILD YOUR FARM

Rewilding seems to be the latest hot topic. Of course, it isn’t. Rewilding has been around for decades but with the spiralling troubles our world is facing, luckily there’s an increasing number people like me - and you if you’re reading this - that want to do our part for the planet.

I was lucky enough to inherit 40 acres of wild farmland. It had been used for pasture and haymaking for the past twenty years, giving plenty of time for wildlife to move in and a certain amount of rewilding to take place. However, there are things we can all do to encourage flora and fauna to move into our green spaces. Rewilding isn’t always a case of simply stepping back and letting nature reclaim everything. If you have thousands of acres, then it doesn’t matter if a few hundred turn to scrub. But in smaller patches we have to do a little more work. I like to call it ‘managed rewilding’ where we let nature do it’s things but provide a helping hand to create as many potential habitats if possible.

If you want to rewild your farm, garden or green space, then here are EIGHT ways to do so.

CLEAN UP - BUT NOT TOO MUCH

Leaving dead wood provides habitat - such as a place for these wrinkled peach fungi to grow.

Rewilding is about nature reclaiming the land so your first though might be to step back and let it do it’s thing. But most places have, sadly, been littered by us humans. So the first thing to do is to remove litter, discarded chemicals (such as cans of weedkiller) and anything that could become a potential hazard to future wildlife; coils of barbwire in the undergrowth which could snag larger mammals, for example.

Leave everything natural in place; rotting logs, swathes of brambles and mounds of decaying leaves create fantastic habitats. Old sheds, sheets of old corrugated tin and rusty gate posts are worth leaving too. They will actually offer shelter for animals which, if you removed, you’d have to wait years for shrubs and trees to provide similar habitat. Sheds can become homes for birds of prey, whilst sheets of tin offer places for lizards and snakes to hide out.

STOP DIGGING

The only digging that occurs in nature is that from the likes of rotting wild boar or burrowing animals throwing out soil. Put the spade to one side. Stop ploughing. Start using no till or methods which keep disturbance to a minimum to protect the soil structure.

All life begins at the bottom of the food chain. We need the bacteria and microorganisms in the soil to feed everything else. There’s a reason why people are becoming increasingly concerned about topsoil and the limited number of harvestable crop years left.

On a small scale, the no-dig method works extremely well; my entire market garden is built around this principle and I haven’t disturbed the soil in years. This means the soil structure recovers, wildlife moves in AND your plants/veggies and flowers grow better. On a larger scale, instead of ploughing, consider harrowing or turning to agroforestry.

THROW OUT THE CHEMICALS

If you’re rebuilding an eco system, then chemicals are a huge no-no. I won’t lie - it can be difficult at first if you’re used to throwing weedkiller down or using non-organic slug pellets. Native plants WILL invade and those slimy molluscs will worm their way in and start munching on your greens. But it’s important to stick with it, use natural ways to stop pests and as the system rebuilds, predators will move in and start eating all those nasties.

PLANT TREES

Whether you want to build a new little piece of woodland or have a go at some agroforestry, plants some trees asap. Ideally, these should be a mix of native trees and farm crops; you could plant a grove of nut or fruit trees, for example and then some oaks, birch or ash. Rewilding will see lots of native trees, especially oaks, naturally beginning to sprout but to give things a little head-start, pop in some larger saplings.

By planting trees and managing hedgerows you can create habitat and food!

CUT HEDGES

Go with me on this one - hedgerows are a fantastic habitat for wildlife but in some cases, they do need a little management. Avoid giving your hedges a grade-1 haircut; they should be allow to grow, flower and fruit. However, if a hedgerow goes completely wild as mine have, you end up with all the growth up top and out the sides with a very bare and naked middle. This can be an issue for smaller birds who like to make their nests in dense thickets. I have many predatory species of birds around - crows, magpies and jackdaws - that will raid bird nests. By cutting your hedges a little and encouraging them to thicken up, you’ll increase nesting habitats whilst keeping native flower and berry production.

RESTORE OR ADD WATERHOLES

Ponds bring in nature such as frogs

If you haven’t got any ponds on your farm, it’s extremely to put some water sources in. Consider clearing any natural ponds you have - clearing the edges of deciduous trees to prevent autumn leaf fall into the water and making it thick with decomposition. Though wildlife do prefer some scrub by the edges of waterholes, it’s worthwhile making space in the canopy to allow sunlight through.

Alternatively, put a new pond or waterhole in.

GRASS MANAGEMENT

Grass management on a farm is crucial, and I prefer to leave mine as long as possible and rotationally graze sheep on it. Long grass can flower, providing pollen for insects and habitat for all manner of creatures, from ground nesting birds to grass snakes. Overgrazing kills wildflowers as the sheep will eat everything off. However, by moving sheep regularly, grass is snipped down, the earth opened up to the native seed bed and the meadow diversity will increase.

Leaving long grass allows habitat for creatures like this gorgeous wasp spider.

INTRODUCE NESTBOXES

I find putting nestboxes up really exciting. Nature will always find a way - or a nesting site in this scenario - but there’s no reason not to help things along. This is particularly important if you have no large trees or sheds on site; putting up nesting boxes for birds of prey, for example, may be the only place they can breed until your habitat has rewilded itself.

In addition, adding bat boxes and other small bird boxes is a chance to more easily monitor the wildlife on site.