Welcome to the latest edition of the Rewilder Weekly. 🦬🌳🐺🌞🌍

Holy crap - 100 editions! Well, if it’s 100 editions then that means nearly a thousand stories of rewilding and nature recovery have been curated, highlighted and shared via the Rewilder Weekly over the course of the past two years.

For the Meet the Rewilders feature of this 100th edition it’s none other than Rebecca Wrigley, CEO and co-founder of Rewilding Britain. In addition, this week you’ll find inspiring and insightful stories from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scotland, 🇳🇦 Namibia, 🇺🇸 the US and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England, 🇳🇴 Norway, 🇮🇸 Iceland and 🇯🇵 Japan.

Wishing you a good week!

Cheers,

👉 If you come across stories you’d like to see featured in a future edition of the Rewilder Weekly, send them to me and I’ll gladly do what I can.

1) Meet the Rewilders: Rebecca Wrigley

Meet the Rewilders is a series that introduces you to people engaged in the rewilding movement across the globe. Today meet Rebecca Wrigley, CEO and co-founder of Rewilding Britain. What a journey, from living and working with a Mayan community in Mexico to leading Rewilding Britain! From the get-go, her efforts have always been on nature and people - specifically on empowering local communities to lead their own nature restoration efforts.

Life often presents us with what I call black holes. Moments when we can either dare to jump into an unknown - or walk around it. In my experience, jumping invariably leads to a richer life. And Rebecca most certainly jumped! She says, “When a group of us met to discuss whether a new organisation was needed, everyone else literally ‘looked at their feet’ when we needed volunteers to act on the decisions we’d made. I happened to be looking up and got drawn into helping to set up Rewilding Britain. I had a young daughter at the time and wasn’t really looking for a leadership role - but I’m now delighted that one came my way!”

👉 Get to know Rebecca

2) World Rewilding Day - Impact Report 2026

World Rewilding Day took place on the 20th of March - it reached millions across the globe with massive online engagement, more than fifty events with over 430 organizations across all continents. The Global Rewilding Alliance coordinated across the world and they’ve taken the time to publish an impact report. Check through it all - it’s bound to make any nature-loving heart all warm and fuzzy!

The rewilding movement is growing massively. Nearly 300 organizations (trigger warning with this link - you’ll come across my mug there 😵‍💫) are already GRA alliance partners and there can be no doubt that there are many thousands more around the globe engaged in nature restoration efforts. I’m entirely with the GRA when they say, “Whatever your background, wherever you are, there is a place for you in this movement. Every one of us can be a positive force for change. Thanks so much for all you are doing to help create a wilder, kinder and more resilient world for generations to come!”

👉 Go here for more

3) Largest peatland restoration project in Scotland

This video is a joy - amazing to see peatland restoration happening at such scale and with such a range of partners coming together. NGOs, landowners and businesses have teamed up to repair a connected area of blanket bog (something that’s rare in the world - and something that Scotland has much of).

Kudos to Rewilding Affric Highlands, peatland restoration consultancy Caledonian Climate, Trees for Life’s Dundreggan estate, the privately owned Hilton Guisachan, and Corrimony Farm. Stephanie Kiel (Head of Rewilding Affric Highlands) says, “This is about restoring a whole ecosystem at a landscape scale, and a shared commitment to tackling the nature and climate emergencies and benefitting local communities.” Overall, Rewilding Affric Highlands aims are huge - the plan is to restore nature across more than 200’000 hectares of the central Highlands.

👉 Go here for more

4) More marine habitat protected from bottom trawling off the Sussex coast

Good news for marine beds - a new law bans bottom trawling and scalloping off the Sussex coast. 101 square miles protected. Sussex Bay calls it a milestone for marine recovery at Beachy Head East. “By focusing restrictions where they are most needed, the approach reduces interactions between fishing activity and vulnerable habitats, helping to meet conservation goals while minimising disruption to local inshore fisheries.”

There’s something that struck me as odd with the linked-to BBC article. Twice it hedges when talking about bottom trawling, writing “Bottom trawling is viewed by many conservationists as damaging and indiscriminate.” and that the bottom trawling “can lead to the destruction of reefs and other marine habitats.” You don’t have to be a marine biologist to understand that, if you drag something across the seafloor that takes along whatever’s there, that what’s left behind is destruction. Also, we’ve all seen Attenborough’s Ocean. Less hedging, BBC!

👉 Go here for more

5) How an old painting brought the change that benefited the rancher, the wolf and nature overall

What a story - the painting in question is by Charles Marion Russell, a man who painted the Wild West in thousands of paintings. The above painting may not be the one that brought about the change, but it is by the same painter and it most certainly fits the story. You see, a rancher in Idaho had been ready to call it quits as wolf attacks on his livestock were costing him thousands of dollars annually … then one of Russell’s paintings showed him a different way, an old way, of ranching - cowboys on the range, with the cattle, day and night.

That was ten years ago, as Suzanne Asha Stone (Head of the International Wildlife Coexistence Network) relates in her article. Back then he changed, he did what they used to do - he moved in with his cattle - and he hasn’t lost a single cow or calf to wolves since that time. Suzanne shares that she and that rancher, Glenn Elzinga, were before Washington State legislators to brief them on what coexistences with wolves looks like in practice - how it’s done - and that it absolutely works. Excellent article about in-herding, the learning curve, the potential for Europe - and the amazing benefits.

👉 Go here for more

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6) Africa’s largest transboundary rewilding project

Once upon a time, one of Africa’s great migrations what that of the springbok - twenty million would move across the region - and such large-scale movement has a tremendous impact on every aspect of fauna and flora. As more and more of Namibia was parceled out and fenced in, more and more of the necessary corridors were blocked … the migration faded, and so did all the animals that, one way or another, benefitted from those migrations.

The Global Rewilding Alliance shares the story of ORKCA (Orange River-Karoo Conservation Area) in southern Namibia. The initiative works with local communities to remove fencing and to create new stewardship models with the hope that, eventually, the vast springbok migrations can once again happen, in a corridor that’ll reach all the way into South Africa, too. As the GRA reports, ORKCA’s ambition is huge - “to rewild 1 million hectares of restored wildness, where nature and people flourish side by side.”

👉 Go here for more

7) Good oyster news from the UK

Oyster reefs are important marine habitats that offer so-called ecosystem services like the filtration of water, storing of carbon, and even the protection of shorelines. According to this article, science estimates that less than 15% of the historic distribution of oyster reefs remain. Restoration efforts are critical for the health and resilience of costal habitats and communities.

Now, as what is called one of the UK’s biggest rewilding projects, more than fifteen million juvenile oysters will be dropped into the North Sea around Orkney in the hopes that these will before long re-create a huge oyster bed. The greater hope is that this project will lead to many more. As Richard Land (marine expert lead for the project) says, “It won’t just benefit fish and the bay, it will benefit sea mammals, seabirds and the whole environment.”

👉 Go here for more

8) And still commercial whale hunting continues

Whales are ecosystem engineers, essential for healthy oceans. In a time when we all need to do our part to help restore nature, there is simply no longer even a hint of justification for commercial whale hunting. Forty years ago, in 1986, a whale hunting moratorium came into effect, but three countries continued. Japan, Norway and Iceland have slaughtered over 45’000 whales since then.

Seems hard to believe, right? Three countries, forty-five thousand whales … and that despite the fact that a) there’s a moratorium, b) there is no economic necessity, because c) most people have no interest in eating whale meat. To perfectly illustrate: In 2022, around 36 tons of whale meat was illegally exported from Norway to Finland to use as dog food. And in Japan, where there’s also barely any interest in whale meat, there’s lobbying to create such that missing interest. In this article, I’m taking a closer look at the Japan’s commercial whale hunting. As with many such topics, it’s emotionally loaded - and here a key reason is WWII.

👉 Go here for more

To conclude this week’s edition, rewilding legend and Trees for Life founder Alan Watson Featherstone shares with us a bit of his iconic photography that often takes a look at nature in a way that’s far closer to what we ordinarily perceive in passing. Alan takes time - as we all should. He explains what we’re looking at here: “These are the female 'flowers' or strobili and the new needles opening out from their buds on a young European larch tree (Larix decidua). After the strobili get pollinated they will grow on to become ripe seed-bearing cones by the autumn.”

To find out more about Alan, his public speaking, writing, photography and more, visit him at alanwatsonfeatherstone.com. And if you feel like reading about my fantastically unique day with him in Glen Affric, go here.

Glad you’re here, reading the Rewilder Weekly. Share the stories, write your own (and let me know about it), engage with others. Let’s continue to reach out, inspire and activate ever more people around the world. The rewilding movement is growing, and with all of us pitching in, it’ll grow a great deal more!

Upgrade to paid - Every little helps 🌞

That’s it for this week’s edition. Eager for more rewilding insights?

• connect with these organizations - sign up for newsletters and support them in any way you can;

• join these events - conferences, online seminars, rewilding days and weeks to immerse yourself and learn from the experts;

• read these books - a selection from Foreman to Macdonald, and from Tree to Daltun, Hetherington and Bowser;

• listen to these podcasts - it’s inevitably inspiring when the likes of James Shooter, Ben Goldsmith and Brooke Mitchell talk to the pros in the field;

• and check out these resources - explore the principles, ways of funding, research publications and personal ways to start rewilding.

And, of course, connect with and follow the many passionately engaged rewilders. Let’s keep growing the movement! 🦬🌳🐺🌞🌍

Leave a comment

Go ahead, do it! 😊 I love comments and you can ask me anything (literally). You can also let me know about projects you come across, article you think I should share - and feel free to throw in tough questions, too - spice of life!

Oh, and please do click the ❤️ (like) button, too. The more ❤️, the more these posts rise in Substack’s algorithm - which means more and more people will discover rewilding, will learn about it, will engage around it, and hopefully will become active rewilders before long. Thanks!

Welcome to the latest edition of the Rewilder Weekly. 🦬🌳🐺🌞🌍

This week with the latest rewilder portrait - featuring rewilder Emir Delic, whose wild heart and main focus lies with the Western Balkans - as well as inspiring and insightful stories from 🇷🇴 Romania, 🇺🇦 Ukraine, 🇩🇰 Denmark, 🇮🇹 Italy, 🇨🇳 China, 🇺🇸 the US and 🇫🇷 France.

Wishing you a good week!

Cheers,

👉 If you come across stories you’d like to see featured in a future edition of the Rewilder Weekly, send them to me and I’ll gladly do what I can.

1) Meet the Rewilders: Emir Delić

Meet the Rewilders is a series that introduces you to people engaged in the rewilding movement across the globe. Today meet Emir Delić, a conservation scientist and practitioner working at the intersection of rewilding, biodiversity conservation, and environmental governance in the Western Balkans and beyond. He supports rewilding initiatives and designs projects that restore ecological processes while also working for people and local communities.

I wish a had an ounce of Emir’s knowledge and experience. With his hope for the future, I so hope he’s right: “In ten years, I hope rewilding in the Western Balkans is no longer seen as a niche idea, but as a credible, science-based approach embedded in policy, land-use planning, and community development. I hope more rivers are free, large carnivores are better understood and more fairly managed, and protected and conserved areas are better connected and governed. Personally, I hope to have helped build institutions, partnerships, and projects that last - and to look back knowing that the landscapes I care about are healthier, wilder, and more resilient than they are today.”

👉 Get to know Emir

2) The comeback of the magnificent eagle owl

Mark Hillsdon is a freelance writer focused on nature. In this article he travels the Danube Delta and visits rewilders both in Romania and in Ukraine, where the restoration of eagle owl populations is underway. It’s an enjoyable read, you’ll feel as if you were exploring those massive wetlands with him. The eagle owl is huge - it can be up to 75cm tall and sail past with a wingspan of up to 180cm! This bird of prey is sorely needed, as it aids in “controlling the spiraling population of rats that threaten the eggs and chicks of ground-nesting birds such as plovers and avocets.”

These large birds were once widespread, but heavy persecution almost wiped them out. Luckily, the eradication program was ended in 1969 and today the hunting of eagle owls is completely prohibited. The reason for the need to reintroduce them in places where they’re no longer present is quite surprising: “Eagle owls lack an adventurous streak and, once they fledge, they don’t disperse, they don’t explore. As a result, nature can’t be relied on to repopulate an area, so human intervention is needed. But reintroductions need to be carefully managed - eagle owls can prey on almost anything … they are super-predators.”

👉 Go here for more

3) How feral horses and cattle are rewilding Europe’s landscapes

The Rewilding Academy’s Arend de Haas writes about the immense ecosystem-engineering value of large grazers. Humans have shaped the lands for a very long time now into large swaths that are cleared and tilled and mono-cultured and degraded. The reintroduction of free-roaming large herbivores helps far more than just the soil to recover. By trampling, grazing, wallowing and seeding, new habitats are created by their very presence. These new habitats enable the return of biodiversity-rich, healthy nature.

Arend explains that successful reintroductions depend on, “understanding not just that these animals eat plants, but how they move across the landscape, where they choose to feed, and how their presence affects vegetation patterns over time. Until recently, these questions were difficult to answer. But a team of ecologists in Denmark has brought new clarity by tracking GPS-collared horses and cattle and combining their movement data with satellite observations of vegetation productivity. The results, published in a recent study, reveal both predictable patterns and surprising behaviors.”

👉 Go here for more

4) “Defensive Rewilding” … wait, what?

I had not heard the time, but it’s been around for a while. We live in strange and truly disheartening times when some are downright eager to destroy whatever clarity and safeguards have existed since WWII. I think it cannot be helped that Europe builds up its own spine and lets go of a dependence that can no longer be relied upon (let alone tolerated). As part of all of this, “Defensive Rewilding” is gaining more and more traction not just in theory, but in practice.

The idea is simple: “Restoring wild forests, peat bogs and wetlands on Europe’s borders would establish defensive barriers that are hard to cross for enemy armored units, at a fraction of the cost of concrete anti-tank ditches while bringing environmental benefits, researchers said.”. Some countries are already doing it, like Poland and Finland. To me this parallels perfectly with the European Green Belt initiative. Maybe an EU-wide “Defensive Rewilding” initiative will supercharge that effort.

👉 Go here for more

5) Bear corridors in Italy prove to be corridors for all

In the Central Apennines, a mountainous range in Italy where Rewilding Appenines is making a huge difference, a great deal of focus is on the Marsican brown bear. Several corridors are supporting the protection and restoration of this species. What I particularly like about this study are the results from one of the lower-altitude corridors where there is traditional human activity (non-intensive agriculture) - such corridors are proven to be rich wildlife habitats.

Rewilding Appenines writes that the central point of the study’s finding clearly shows that “corridors designed for the Marsican bear do not serve the bear alone. They function as high-quality habitat for an entire mammal community. This is what ecologists call the umbrella effect: protecting a species with large spatial requirements creates favorable conditions for species with smaller ones.”

👉 Go here for more

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6) The Przewalski’s horse is thriving in China

There are only 2’000-2’500 Przewalski’s horses in the world. This endangered horse is different from most horses with genetic characteristics that make it a true and ancient wild horse (as opposed to domesticated-gone-feral horses). There are ongoing restoration efforts around the world and the Przewalski’s Horse, is now one of the large grazer ecosystem-engineering heroes reintroduced in many countries.

China started its “Wild Horse Return Program” forty years ago - and now they’re celebration that anniversary by highlighting the success of its breeding programs. They write, “The Przewalski’s horse — the world’s only surviving wild horse species — has completed a historic transition from being on the brink of extinction to there being self-sustaining wild herds in Northwest China. The population of Przewalski’s horses in China has surpassed 900 individuals, accounting for approximately one-third of the global total.”

👉 Go here for more

7) Depaving supports rewilding

This story focuses on one particular project in Portland, Oregon, where the NGO Depave Portland removed the concrete slabs of a parking lot. Instead of a parking lot, the area is turning into a greened space where children can play and where native wildflowers and fruit trees can grow. When you just think about it in global terms, it’s dramatic. According to the article there are about 2 billion parking places in the US alone (now imagine that worldwide) - in all of those places, the soil beneath is trapped, unable to breathe, unable to do what it is meant to do.

When you read the article, you see that Depave Portland - started by two friends that helped each other depave their driveways - is growing and inspiring. There’s no doubt on my mind that such depaving projects support rewilding. When you’re out and about today, look around. Maybe you see a space that really does not need to be paved. And then bring people together to change it! These depaved places are nature isles (ideally even corridors) in and around cities that allow wildlife to travel as it should always be able to do, to foster healthy, genetically rich and biodiversity-rich environments.

👉 Go here for more

8) The history of organized wolf hunting in France - from Charlemagne to today

Wolf hunting in France has been an institutionalized force as far back as the realm of Karl the Great, better known as Charlemagne. In the early 9th century, the great Europe unifier organized the wolf hunters - the luparii - that would in later centuries become known as the Louveterie. Led by the Royal Wolf-Catcher - the first was named by King Philip IV in 1308, this was as prestigious as that sounds. This Royal Wolf-Catcher was responsible directly to the king to whom he took his oath, and his wolf hunters enjoyed a variety of privileges.

In this article I’m roaming across many French centuries, looking at Little Red Riding Hood, the Beast of Gévaudan, the numbers of human deaths, the decline and eradication of the wolf - and its return. And I’m looking into the thorny subject of human-wildlife conflict today - the rational and emotional realities. Finally, I’m suggesting that, instead of wolf-outrage, we could tackle the underlying cause of it all. Many won’t like it, but it would solve so, so much.

👉 Go here for more

To conclude this week’s edition, rewilding legend and Trees for Life founder Alan Watson Featherstone shares with us a bit of his iconic photography that often takes a look at nature in a way that’s far closer to what we ordinarily perceive in passing. Alan takes time - as we all should. What you’re looking at here is the underside of an ear-pick fungus. Another one of nature’s countless marvels.

To find out more about Alan, his public speaking, writing, photography and more, visit him at alanwatsonfeatherstone.com. And if you feel like reading about my fantastically unique day with him in Glen Affric, go here.

Glad you’re here, reading the Rewilder Weekly. Share the stories, write your own (and let me know about it), engage with others. Let’s continue to reach out, inspire and activate ever more people around the world. The rewilding movement is growing, and with all of us pitching in, it’ll grow a great deal more!

Upgrade to paid - Every little helps 🌞

That’s it for this week’s edition. Eager for more rewilding insights?

• connect with these organizations - sign up for newsletters and support them in any way you can;

• join these events - conferences, online seminars, rewilding days and weeks to immerse yourself and learn from the experts;

• read these books - a selection from Foreman to Macdonald, and from Tree to Daltun, Hetherington and Bowser;

• listen to these podcasts - it’s inevitably inspiring when the likes of James Shooter, Ben Goldsmith and Brooke Mitchell talk to the pros in the field;

• and check out these resources - explore the principles, ways of funding, research publications and personal ways to start rewilding.

And, of course, connect with and follow the many passionately engaged rewilders. Let’s keep growing the movement! 🦬🌳🐺🌞🌍

Leave a comment

Go ahead, do it! 😊 I love comments and you can ask me anything (literally). You can also let me know about projects you come across, article you think I should share - and feel free to throw in tough questions, too - spice of life!

Oh, and please do click the ❤️ (like) button, too. The more ❤️, the more these posts rise in Substack’s algorithm - which means more and more people will discover rewilding, will learn about it, will engage around it, and hopefully will become active rewilders before long. Thanks!

Welcome to the latest edition of the Rewilder Weekly. 🦬🌳🐺🌞🌍

This week with the latest rewilder portrait - featuring Argentinian rewilder Rocío Llamas, who helps drive rewilding tourism with Wilder Places - as well as inspiring and insightful stories from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scotland, 🇵🇹 Portugal, 🇩🇰 Denmark, 🇮🇳 India and 🇦🇺 Australia.

Wishing you a good week!

Cheers,

👉 If you come across stories you’d like to see featured in a future edition of the Rewilder Weekly, send them to me and I’ll gladly do what I can.

1) Meet the Rewilders: Rocío Llamas

Meet the Rewilders is a series that introduces you to people engaged in the rewilding movement across the globe. Today meet Argentinian rewilder Rocío Llamas. She is one of the fine people who lead Wilder Places, the new travel marketplace created by Rewilding Europe. Wilder Places is all about rewilding and nature-positive tourism, giving people the opportunity to discover Europe’s rewilding landscapes, local communities, and nature’s magnificent return.

Asked about sources of inspiration, her answer should resonate with all of us. Regardless of our backgrounds, our paths - we can all take action: “Throughout my (still short) career, I’ve met people without university degrees who inspire me more than anyone. People who act from where they are, their local community, their neighborhood, their school. People who don’t make excuses … To me, there are no excuses. You fight for this planet from wherever you stand.”

👉 Get to know Rocío

2) What you're looking at is a wolf ... in Scotland

Now don’t freak out! There’s no illegal reintroduction happening - what IS happening is a fantastic short film by Dan Pringle and Annie McBain. The Crowdfunder campaign was launched just last week - and of the £18'000 goal nearly 13’000 are already in the bag! I’ve joined in, too, of course. Just to be clear, this is NOT a documentary. It is fiction, it is creative storytelling at its best.

I read the script and love how it weaves Scotland and the wolf into a deeply emotional tale of nature lost and found, of life rediscovered and cherished as we step into the wild. Here’s how they describe it: “Inspired by George Monbiot's landmark book Feral, this is a poignant, cinematic exploration of a woman who catches a glimpse of something wild and finds she cannot go back to the life she had before. It is a story about the thin line between belief and obsession, and about a longing most of us feel but rarely name: the hunger to reconnect with the natural world.”

👉 Go here for more - and to support the film, of course!

3) Rewilding Portugal reports on how rewilding boosts local economies

One of the things you get to discover when you travel to rewilding landscapes across Europe (go book yours at Wilder Places!) is that local communities are always at the heart of it. It is always about nature AND people - we are part of nature and rewilding actually boosts local businesses and, by making abandoned landscapes healthier and biodiversity-rich again, makes it more attractive for new families to move in and revitalize villages.

Case in point: One of Rewilding Europe’s rewilding landscapes is Portugal’s Greater Côa Valley. They report that, over the past three years, economic activity linked to rewilding brought over 1’000’000 Euro (across tourism, services and local businesses). Head of Rewilding Europe, Frans Schepers, says, “Wildlife watching and guiding, local services, products, and nature-based businesses all show how different parts of the local economy are engaging with the landscape in new ways. As a result, more people are working with wildlife, local services are supporting rewilding efforts, and new businesses are growing based on what the landscape provides. These shifts are part of how rewilding is becoming embedded in the landscape ecologically and economically.”

👉 Go here for more

4) “Diversity begets resilience, resilience produces abundance”

In his 2025 book ‘Generation Restoration: How to Fix Our Relationship Crisis with Mother Nature’, Tim Christophersen urges for ecological literacy and explains how we can reset our relationship with nature. Filled with stories and studies environmental successes and failures, the book offers clarity on our role as part of nature and, in particular, what we can learn from Indigenous peoples around the world, who understand important and obvious lessons about nature that have escaped other societies.

I’ve only just come across the interview with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler and Tim Christophersen - it’s a good read. Discussing the book, of course, but also simply focusing on our (the human species) relationship with nature, what’s gone wrong, and what we can do to repair that relationship. Because, as he rightly puts it, “Repairing that relationship is not option. Unlike a failing marriage, humanity cannot simply walk away.”

👉 Go here for more

5) In India’s Thar Desert, the tree is part of your family

Nature recovery is a family matter! This story ties in perfectly with the aforementioned book by Tim Christophersen. He talks about relationship with nature - and in India Thar Desert, trees are considered, quite literally, part of the family. In the 2000s a professor was despondent by the apathy he saw around him when it came to a row of wilting neem trees on campus. “Instead of framing his interventions as conservation, he began characterizing them as familial. With students and villagers, Jyani created the first “green family”, linking saplings to households rather than to official programs. The shift was cultural before it was ecological.”

Now, two decades later, more than five million trees have been planted over 4’000 hectares and the concept of “familial forestry” has firmly taken hold. The article relates that, across 18,000 villages in the Thar, “close to two million families are now raising what they call their “green sons and daughters”. The idea is simple: if a tree is adopted as a family member, it will not be abandoned.” Beautiful, right? I like the “cultural before ecological” - it goes jives with “emotion before intellect.” Once it’s family, it is under your care, it is a part of you … exactly as we should always look at nature.

👉 Go here for more

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6) Cranes grow their numbers in the Scotland

They were driven to extinction in the 16th century for the usual reasons, you know, the ole’ habitat loss and hunting stuff we do so well. But after four hundred years, a pair bred again in Scotland - and 2025 marks a new record, with ten breeding pairs and nine chicks. Mind you, the RSPB says that the return is far from secure, there’s the Avian flu, and there’s the ever growing risk of extreme weather conditions that can disrupt the wetlands breeding grounds these birds need.

The RSPB writes that the return of the common crane also happens in England, and there in bigger numbers: “Cranes first recolonized the UK in 1979, when a small number of birds from mainland Europe were spotted in Norfolk. Since then, their numbers have increased with the birds also having a record-breaking year in the rest of the UK with a total of 87 pairs raising 37 chicks.”

👉 Go here for more

7) Micro-predator: The return of Australia’s ampurta

A cautionary curious tale of passive rewilding about a the introduction of invasive species … and dealing with a virus. You see, Small critters have had an increasingly rough time in Australia since domestic cats (that then went feral) were introduced in the late 18th century. The next century made matters even worse, when rabbits and foxes were brought in from Europe for the purpose of recreational hunting. Those three species pushed many others to the brink of extinction.

Now here comes … disease! A rabbit-killing disease had been brought to Australia to test it in 1991, but it got out of quarantine in 1995 and killed many millions of rabbits within a matter of months. Fewer rabbits, led to indirect suppression of cats and foxes and so, the tiny ampurta, highly adaptable to tough conditions, had the chance to make a return from near extinction - from 1995 to today, studies report that they’ve bounced back in many-fold numbers. A good news story for sure … unless, of course, you’re a rabbit.

👉 Go here for more

8) Neither pest nor rat with wings: the omnipresent and oft-maligned feral pigeon

There are many famous squares in many cities around the world - and the one thing they all have in common is what seem to be millions of pigeons. Do you know why? Because their ancient ancestors were rock doves (also known rock pigeons), nesting in a safe and cool place somewhere high up - cliff-like conditions that are perfectly replicated by modern cities. Somewhere around 5’000 years ago, domestication of rock doves began - and all of those countless feral pigeons you see in cities come from domesticated pigeons were bred for a variety of purposes for many ages.

Until we decided times had changed, time to call them rats with wings. Eventually pigeon meat was no longer in demand, same with pigeon guano, same with messenger pigeons. Again, feral pigeons are offspring of domesticated pigeons. These feral pigeons are here, in our cities, because we made them. And they are dependent on the environment and the food sources that cities provide. I would think that the responsibility lies with us - I think we should accept them with all of their beauty, intelligence (and yes, guano, too) - and in my article I also show how that can happen.

👉 Go here for more

To conclude this week’s edition, rewilding legend and Trees for Life founder Alan Watson Featherstone shares with us a bit of his iconic photography that often takes a look at nature in a way that’s far closer to what we ordinarily perceive in passing. Alan takes time - as we all should. Below image: Walking past, you wouldn’t even notice. Just a wasp, just the flower of a willow … but with Alan’s keen eye - what colors, what mesmerizing, almost magical, nature.

To find out more about Alan, his public speaking, writing, photography and more, visit him at alanwatsonfeatherstone.com. And if you feel like reading about my fantastically unique day with him in Glen Affric, go here.

Glad you’re here, reading the Rewilder Weekly. Share the stories, write your own (and let me know about it), engage with others. Let’s continue to reach out, inspire and activate ever more people around the world. The rewilding movement is growing, and with all of us pitching in, it’ll grow a great deal more!

Upgrade to paid - Every little helps 🌞

That’s it for this week’s edition. Eager for more rewilding insights?

• connect with these organizations - sign up for newsletters and support them in any way you can;

• join these events - conferences, online seminars, rewilding days and weeks to immerse yourself and learn from the experts;

• read these books - a selection from Foreman to Macdonald, and from Tree to Daltun, Hetherington and Bowser;

• listen to these podcasts - it’s inevitably inspiring when the likes of James Shooter, Ben Goldsmith and Brooke Mitchell talk to the pros in the field;

• and check out these resources - explore the principles, ways of funding, research publications and personal ways to start rewilding.

And, of course, connect with and follow the many passionately engaged rewilders. Let’s keep growing the movement! 🦬🌳🐺🌞🌍

Leave a comment

Go ahead, do it! 😊 I love comments and you can ask me anything (literally). You can also let me know about projects you come across, article you think I should share - and feel free to throw in tough questions, too - spice of life!

Oh, and please do click the ❤️ (like) button, too. The more ❤️, the more these posts rise in Substack’s algorithm - which means more and more people will discover rewilding, will learn about it, will engage around it, and hopefully will become active rewilders before long. Thanks!

Welcome to the latest edition of the Rewilder Weekly. 🦬🌳🐺🌞🌍

This week with the latest rewilder portrait - featuring the Rewilding Britain’s Policy and Advocacy Lead for Wales, James Hitchcock - as well as inspiring and insightful stories from 🇵🇱 Poland, 🇵🇹 Portugal, 🇷🇴 Romania, 🇬🇧 the UK, 🇺🇸 the US and 🇨🇭Switzerland.

Wishing you a good week!

Cheers,

👉 If you come across stories you’d like to see featured in a future edition of the Rewilder Weekly, send them to me and I’ll gladly do what I can.

1) Meet the Rewilders: James Hitchcock

Meet the Rewilders is a series that introduces you to people engaged in the rewilding movement across the globe. Today meet James Hitchcock, the Wales Rewilding Policy and Advocacy Lead for Rewilding Britain. The timing couldn’t be better as, while various rewilding projects were already happening in Wales, the brand-new Welsh Rewilding Alliance has just been launched. Bravo!

In his portrait, James talks about his journey from protecting a single species to restoring entire landscapes - and with everything he says you sense just how strong his focus on people is. In his words: “Success will come from continuing to move away from “nature is great, nature makes you feel good” to “nature helps solve these problems and provides these opportunities for the challenges we need to meet and the issues that people care about”. Widening the conversation so there’s more voices included and we look more at land policy, community wealth and rural jobs outside of farming is going to be essential.”

👉 Get to know James

2) Protecting both people and bears in Poland

There are thought to be somewhere between 120 and 400 brown bears in Poland. They seem to be doing well and as the population is growing, coexistence efforts are now implemented. A new scheme (funded by the EU) is set up to monitor and respond to bear sightings. When they’re too close to human habitations, they’re caught, fitted with trackers and released.

Part of conflict prevention is about a rapid-reponse team of twenty people that is expected to be at the ready for whatever potentially dangerous situation is reported. But there’s more to this, of course. Bears like an easy meal and rubbish bins are feasts! So bear-proof bins are installed and in years to come the replanting of fruit trees and bushes in the mountains will offer bears plentiful food sources. Another part of any coexistence effort is, of course, education. Whether it is local residents or hikers, learning about bears is key. As Tomasz Zajac of the Tatra National Park says, hikers should stick to trails and avoid leaving waste behind and “if someone comes across a bear, they should slowly retreat but avoid running away, as a bear will be provoked to chase and, reaching speeds of 50 km/h, is the likely winner.” Indeed!

👉 Go here for more

3) What you’re looking at was a mine until recently

Until just ten years ago, the landscape was an industrial wasteland. Before it was abandoned, the mine was used to extract tin, tungsten and sand. Today, I mean just look at the picture, tells one heck of a beautiful story. Rewilding Europe writes: “Today, from the air, the 300-hectare rewilding site reveals a vibrant mosaic of lakes, ponds, ditches, and wetlands, as birds, dragonflies, turtles, otters, and a host of other species return to recolonise newly formed habitats. Around the water bodies, native forest is regenerating, strengthening resilience and further boosting biodiversity.”

With rewilding projects, quite often water needs a helping hand, either by digging ponds, undoing drainage damage, removing dams and freeing rivers. In this case, when the mine no longer operated, water began to collect in the hollows - and so the healing began. Rewilding Portugal - with funding support from Mossy Earth - has been managing the site since 2022 and stepped in with some heavy lifting to help nature recover. What a fantastic difference the efforts have made.

👉 Go here for more

4) What do you do when a bison walks into your village?

Every month, the Carpathia conservation foundation sends out an update. Invariably, their efforts and initiatives and successes are a joy to see. By now 4.5 million trees have been planted; 75’000 hectares are protected for wildlife - zero recreational hunting; 28’000 hectares or forest are under permanent protection; 2’200 students and teachers have been involved in environmental education projects and 353 local people receive fair pay for their involvement with Carpathia activities.

You’re wondering what all of that has to do with a bison walking into the village … well, it’s all part of overall effort. Follow below link and check out page 12 of the report where they write about the work “caused” by two reintroduced bison that have wandered into a village, damaging fences and feeding on hay. The way they go about, handling it together with villages, is exemplary. This is the way a healthy level of respectful coexistence is achieved. Well done!

👉 Go here for more

5) The griffon vulture returns to Romania

Another Carpathia story! This one is about returning vultures to Romania. Until about the middle of the last century, some vultures were still soaring the Romanian skies. There once were griffon, cinereous, bearded and Egyptian vultures - and then they were all gone. With several partners, Carpathia plans on reintroducing all of these vultures to Romania - and the work begins with returning the griffon vulture to the Fagaras Mountains.

A special aviary has been built where the griffon vultures that have arrived from Spain are housed while the acclimatize. They will be gradually released into the wild and will stay near for a while until they really roam wild. These birds are amazing - they can have a wingspan of nearly three meters! Carpathia writes, “Through the vulture reintroduction project in Romania, we aim to restore an important part of the natural balance of the Făgăraș Mountains and to offer a concrete example of collaboration between science, local communities and conservation. This is just one of the efforts we are making to protect the area as a future national park, the highest level of protection that priceless wilderness in the heart of the country can receive.”

👉 Go here for more

6) The first of the ‘Brit Bisons’ are moving north!

I wonder if anyone’s already used that term, I kinda like it - Brit Bison - has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? Here’s the thing, the first three European bison returned to England in 2022 as part of the Wilder Blean Project. They were three females, one from Scotland and two from Ireland - and to everyone’s surprise, a calf was born even before a bull from Germany arrived! Read the whole story here. The herd began to slowly and steadily grow … and now the north of England just received their first five bison from the Wilder Blean gang.

The location is somewhere in Cumbria. Paul Whitfield (head of the Wildwood Trust) explains in the video, the folks up there want to make their own announcement so stay tuned for that. Says Paul: “Inspiring a new project like this is exactly what we hoped for from the start. The Blean bison were always meant to act as a catalyst for change, showing how bison, as ecosystem engineers, can alter woodland structure and support greater biodiversity.” Well, ‘Blean bison’ sounds okay, too, I guess - but there’s country-wide pride in Brit Bison, Paul - feel free to use and trademark it!

👉 Go here for more

Share

7) What is more important: healthy nature … or angling?

Apparently, the answer is angling! A new VOX article, penned by Benji Jones, tells a very uncomfortable story: Millions of nonnative fish are dumped into lakes and rivers across most US states every year - because of recreational fishing needs. This is as fascinating as it is concerning. He writes “recreational fishing is an enormous industry in the US, contributing some $230 billion to the economy each year, according to the American Sportfishing Association, an industry group. Because waters across the country are so degraded, stocking nonnative fish keeps this industry afloat.”

The economy is of course most often a key decision factor. Here, in addition, there’s a problem with the funding model. State conservation is apparently funded in part by selling fishing licenses. No recreational fishing, no fishing licenses sold - simple as that. This is a horribly warped system. The dumping of millions on nonnative fish is obviously a challenge for any ecosystem, with negative impacts unfolding everywhere. These has been done already for a very, very long time and so there’s the actual argument that, heck, the ecosystems are already broken, so why stop now? Anglers are happy, the money keeps flowing, all’s well …

👉 Go here for more

8) Fox hunting must end

In my neck of the woods, Switzerland, around 25’000 foxes are slaughtered in Switzerland annually. In neighboring Austria it’s around 65’000 - and in Germany the number, annually, is around 500’000 foxes. Let those numbers sink in. Hobby hunters shoot them as “small game” target practice - their official claims that they kill foxes because they’re pests/vermin, that they spread disease and that ground-nesting birds need protecting are all scientifically disproven.

Foxes are valuable predators and places where fox-hunting has been outlawed, like Geneva and Luxembourg and Vienna, show that there are no disease outbreaks nor measurable declines in ground-nesting birds. Where there are fewer ground-nesting birds, it is because of loss of habitats due to intensive agriculture. In this article, I’m looking into the history, the claims, the present and a way forward without the misguided and utterly pointless mass slaughter of foxes.

👉 Go here for more

To conclude this week’s edition, rewilding legend and Trees for Life founder Alan Watson Featherstone shares with us a bit of his iconic photography that often takes a look at nature in a way that’s far closer to what we ordinarily perceive in passing. Alan takes time - as we all should. He’s quite right in referring to the below image as nature’s artistry. Beautiful, right? What you see there are tracks of a carrion crow (Corvus corone) crossing the ripples in a sand dune.

To find out more about Alan, his public speaking, writing, photography and more, visit him at alanwatsonfeatherstone.com. And if you feel like reading about my fantastically unique day with him in Glen Affric, go here.

Glad you’re here, reading the Rewilder Weekly. Share the stories, write your own (and let me know about it), engage with others. Let’s continue to reach out, inspire and activate ever more people around the world. The rewilding movement is growing, and with all of us pitching in, it’ll grow a great deal more!

Upgrade to paid - Every little helps 🌞

That’s it for this week’s edition. Eager for more rewilding insights?

• connect with these organizations - sign up for newsletters and support them in any way you can;

• join these events - conferences, online seminars, rewilding days and weeks to immerse yourself and learn from the experts;

• read these books - a selection from Foreman to Macdonald, and from Tree to Daltun, Hetherington and Bowser;

• listen to these podcasts - it’s inevitably inspiring when the likes of James Shooter, Ben Goldsmith and Brooke Mitchell talk to the pros in the field;

• and check out these resources - explore the principles, ways of funding, research publications and personal ways to start rewilding.

And, of course, connect with and follow the many passionately engaged rewilders. Let’s keep growing the movement! 🦬🌳🐺🌞🌍

Leave a comment

Go ahead, do it! 😊 I love comments and you can ask me anything (literally). You can also let me know about projects you come across, article you think I should share - and feel free to throw in tough questions, too - spice of life!

Oh, and please do click the ❤️ (like) button, too. The more ❤️, the more these posts rise in Substack’s algorithm - which means more and more people will discover rewilding, will learn about it, will engage around it, and hopefully will become active rewilders before long. Thanks!

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