Cairngorms Connect is a partnership group that covers over 600 squ km, in the Highlands of Scotland. It includes Cairngorms National park. It aims to restore native woodland and watersheds.
On Mount Cairngorm itself, 12 million trees have naturally regenerated in the last ten years, during the project.
I spent some weeks last month up in the Cairngorms with Northwoods and Cairngorms Connect folks. There is almost zero ancient forest left - just a few trees. All has been logged out. But it was amazing to see the explosion of bird life now and the native reburgeoning forests. Ospreys nesting, hen harriers, golden eagles, so many hares everywhere, warblers, dung beetles, and more varied lichens than I have ever seen in my life.
I have posted these pictures before, but will add a few here.
Fresh, green silver birch and rowan everywhere, in place of plantations.
I’m at Wild Ken Hill wilding area at the moment, in North Norfolk. The land is 4000 acres - slightly larger than Knepp in Sussex. The guide said that Wild Ken can be seen as a parallel to where Knepp was 20 years ago, although the habitat mix is entirely different. WK goes down to salt marsh and sea and abuts an RSPB bird reserve. There are many reserves and nature preserve dotted along this section of the coast, with The Wash to the north.
Here the soil is acid; 1000 acres is poor, Sandy soil, marginal and no good for farming. This is ideal for long term land reserved for diverse wild plants. As nutrients are low, docks, nettles, silver birch etc won’t move in and take over.
500 more acres are marsh and tidal zones held as a nature reserve. 1000 acres are good farming land. This is husbanded for wild life regeneration, with wide field margins, no insecticides used, wild flowers everywhere. Sheep are bought in to clear fields. Ploughing is never used, allowing soil structures to be preserved.
Breeding Beavers are doing well. Pigs, deer, horses and pigs graze and browse in the wild areas to keep the land open.
The fields were ablaze with ragwort, poppies and mixed wild flowers.
We walked through clouds of butterflies: ringlets, meadow brown, silver washed fritillary, small tortoise shell. There were gangs of long tailed tits, also yellow hammers, kestrels, kites, sparrow hawk. On the land are also marsh harriers and night jar doing well.
- - Wild Ken run regular workshops and tours around the land and an in depth day in regenerative farming.
It’s worth doing a tour as public footpaths don’t cross the estate, as they do at Knepp. I would have loved to spend a few days bimbling around the land. Wild Ken host a nature festival in September @Jellyfire maybe it’s worth coming up for that.
I think there is some method in her madness to be honest. I've been through a similar process here, but over a much linger timescale. Ive had massive amounts of creeping buttercup, hedge woundwort and various other thugs that have dominated large parts of our wild area. In the main Ive left them to it, and there does seem to have been a similar balance reached now where nothing in particular is dominating, and more and more species seem to pop up each year.
This has been my experience as well. The whole process is quite fascinating when you're just observing how it changes (not trying to manage it), plant diversity builds and the wildlife also begins to diversify. Ours is about 12 years on now, so still early days, and we're beginning to see the shift towards woodland from what was an open pasture field.
The area close to the 'pond' definitely has the greatest diversity so far but it's all increasing year on year.
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I have exploring the coastal path between Heacham and Snettersham - taking in the riparian, tidal and marshy areas at the back of Wild Ken - where it merges with RSPB reserves. I felt like a ‘real’ bird watcher in my mac in the rain. Lol.
Part of the path is the old railway line that ran between the two villages. It seems to have been carefully nurtured to be wildflower rich. There was a wonderful mix - very diverse, lots I didn’t recognise. “Clouds of butterflies”. 😊 Many meadow browns, tortoise shell, peacocks, large white and some unid’d tiny orange ones. Miles of wild flowers. Phacelia, Teasel, Self heal, any number of umbels, Wild mallow, Ragwort, Yarrows, Mullein various wild chicory and much more.
Red kites about ten metres over my head. An oak tree full of long tailed tits. But the high light of all, was hearing turtle doves in sallow scrub. The purring was thrilling. They are so rare. They are across Wild Ken and around Heacham. I felt honoured. 💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽
[Apols for weird typing. I’m on a tiny phone screen.]
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Fresh, green silver birch and rowan everywhere, in place of plantations.
Wild Ken run regular workshops and tours around the land and an in depth day in regenerative farming.
beavers ring trees to bring these poplar down. This acts like pollarding and the trees resprout.
fields of poppies
silver washed fritillary
tortoise shells - so many everywhere
map of the estate. Marsh and coast to the west.
The area close to the 'pond' definitely has the greatest diversity so far but it's all increasing year on year.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-61869167