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

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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. He paints a beautiful picture, and sets out a way which would allow the UK to restore its natural heritage as well as provide jobs for many. RSPB and others are slowly moving in this direction, and this book helps to push them along. Bold in vision and clear in purpose, Benedict MacDonald shows how we can transform and return the UK’s wilderness to its full glory, without sacrificing people or their own livelihoods, but rather by enriching rural economies and transitioning away from dying and decaying industries. It’s remarkable to read that despite what our eyes see, the vast majority of British national parks are dead, deserts devoid of any substantial birdlife, left in the hands of forestry or deer keeping that have no benefit to birds and natural wildlife. MacDonald shows how with a few reädjustments, large areas of the UK’s former grouse lands, Welsh hills, and the Somerset levels can be transformed into wonderful wilderness preserves, the envy of Europe and America. He boldly plots out even the return of Dalmatian pelicans by 2060!

He also talks about the Welsh countryside being able to be used for eco-tourism, not taking into account the decades of under investment in the road networks, public transport infrastructure and hospitals that can bearly deal with locals let alone tens of thousands of tourists a year. 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. 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 MacdonaldSurely the most dismaying message of Rebirding is that the British are gardening their islands to death. Everythingfrom landscapes to individual endangered species are being managed and monitored according to human-set targets. But nature is dynamic: populations and habitats need to grow, mature and change if biodiversity is to thrive. If only the British would keep their hands off it and let nature take its own course, Macdonald contends, it would stand a chance. Bison, cattle, wild boar and their predators maintained European diversity over millennia. Photograph: David McNew/Getty Images First documenting and diagnosing the decline of our wild birds, Ben then offers an ambitious and alternative vision for how we can create new economies for our towns and countryside with nature at their heart. The winner for the much-loved Wainwright Prize for UK Nature Writing has been announced at a virtual awards ceremony on September 8 th. Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty chronicles the turning of the then 15-year-old’s world and breaks the mould of modern nature writing. As the youngest ever winner of a major literary prize, Dara’s book is an extraordinary portrayal of his intense connection to the natural world alongside his perspective as an autistic teenager juggling exams, friendships and a life of campaigning. Mike Parker’s beautiful On the Red Hill was awarded highly commended in the category. 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.

The honest answer is no. You have only to spend one evening at Ham Wall in Somerset, with thousands of people of all ages gathering to watch the starling murmurations, to glimpse the economic potential of nature if fully realised in our country. Elsewhere community groups such as the Totley Swift Group in Sheffield have erected nearly 100 nesting boxes in recent years, nearly a quarter of which have been used by the birds to nest. Ideally any nesting spot for swifts needs to be north-facing, sheltered, and at least five metres off the ground (the higher the better for the fledglings’ first vertiginous flight).As larger rewilding projects get underway, and free-roaming animals return to our countryside at alandscape-level, Iam sure that in my lifetime we’ll see the triumphant return of the Butcher Bird aswell. And which of the current reintroductions or recolonisations gets you most excited? 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. 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?

A lot of what we are seeing in the Dean is what scientists would term extinction-debt. Even as you watch certain populations, they are already doomed to extinction by default of aseries of events that have happened in thepast. 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. There is an inherent risk with conservation that we become part of aclosed conversation. Outside of that conversation, nature continues to vanish. He then goes on to speak about the potential for rewilding the scottish highlands and how nature starved and manufactured even our national parks have become. Really makes a strong and convincing case for letting weeds grow and nature literally rewild itself. How much money the hunting industry currently makes and how much more it could make if it rewilded, culled deer on a large scale, let the forest regenerate and brought a host of supporting species. It’s called Rebirding and it is written by wildlife television field director, conservation writer and lifelong birder Ben MacDonald.One tragic example of the danger of this technique is the death of Candace Newmarker, a 10-year-old girl who passed away during a rebirthing therapy session that lasted for over an hour. Well articulated look at the British landscape and its failure to support functioning ecosystems. This book focuses on birds, but large herbivores and beavers and the like are needed as the ecosystem architects that will allow Britains bird life to flourish. Let’s be the first generation since we colonised Britain to leave our children better off for wildlife,” Macdonald exhorts. All rational argument seems to be on his side. Charlotte said: “Rebirding is an immensely readable book on complex and contentious issues. As you’d expect, it considers the needs of birds, but also the future of rural communities in an interesting and engaging way. While not everyone will agree with Benedict Macdonald’s conclusions, they’ll enjoy arguing with him as they read!”

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.This is the best book on nature, conservation and rewilding I read in 2019 – perhaps one of the best I’ve ever read. I finished reading it with a real sense of hope for the future. It presents the best argument yet for rewilding before it’s too late, and shows us exactly how to do it. ‘The richer the world around us – the scruffier, messier, the more full of life – the more that life will reward us in return.’ 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. 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.