Transitional, innovative, exciting, restorative, unique, both agriculturally and economically sensical and questionable concurrently and all in all, a little bit mad! The rewilding project at the Knepp Castle Estate in Sussex, spearheaded by estate owner Charlie Burrell and his superb team, is all of these things and more. My visit yesterday, the first time IContinueContinue reading “Visiting the Knepp Estate: A Lesson in Rewilding”
Category Archives: nature
Our Place in Time and the Subtleties of Changing Landscapes
Bordering the north eastern most part of our farm at Walton Hall, Walton-on-the-Naze lies an area of low lying land, owned by the District Council and protected from regular flooding by the natural, rapidly eroding cliff. This small section of eroding cliff face also protects a water treatment works which serves thousands of local people,ContinueContinue reading “Our Place in Time and the Subtleties of Changing Landscapes”
An exploration of two contrasting landscapes: Exmoor and the Essex Marsh
Last Wednesday I visited the National Trust’s Holnicote Estate on the northern edge of Exmoor. From moorland to woodland and fertile farmland to shingle beaches, Holnicote provides a canvas of immense diversity of both landscape and character. As I sat having my lunch overlooking the Bristol Channel I thought about the links this place has had with otherContinueContinue reading “An exploration of two contrasting landscapes: Exmoor and the Essex Marsh”
From the ‘Charter of the Forest’ to the ‘Charter for Trees, Woods and People’
In a previous post I explored the proposed ‘Charter for Trees, Woods and People’ which is being put forward by several dozen conservation organisations, including the Woodland Trust. It is suggested that the new charter should be signed in 2017, to act in conjunction with the 800th anniversary of the signing of the first ‘Charter of theContinueContinue reading “From the ‘Charter of the Forest’ to the ‘Charter for Trees, Woods and People’”
Rewilding: to subsidise or not to subsidise?
I have recently been having a number of conversations with others relating to the need to engage farmers and landowners with the rewilding debate. The rewilding campaign has, perhaps predictably, been led from within the conservation movement itself and has perhaps sidelined and isolated many of those who actually manage the majority of land -ContinueContinue reading “Rewilding: to subsidise or not to subsidise?”
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