I feel very much part of this landscape. It's been passed to me to look after
from other people who have made their mark. And it's my turn to look after it
and enhance it and share it with others. I always describe Slindon like a book
that you just can't put down, you want to turn the next page, what's coming next.
We're standing in what would have been the great Northwood, and a hundred years ago
this area was pretty much clear felled. Twenty years later at the time of the Second World War
it was ploughed up to provide food for the nation.
Since 2013 the farm has come back to the Ranger team to manage,
and we're restoring that area back to Northwood.
It's been really exciting. it's a chance for our generation
to pay back this land and the local wildlife and nature
for that great sacrifice and restore that woodland back again.
This particular part of the farm is considered quite poor for agricultural production.
It required a lot of inputs to make it viable. So a lot of fertilisers, a lot of pesticides and things like that
which obviously has some disadvantages to our wildlife.
And so it was an area that we felt confident that we could take out of farming,
and that it was the right thing to do. So it's 75 hectares in total
which is about 100 football pitches if you can imagine that.
We were very clear from the start that we wanted to have native trees.
We looked at the surrounding woodlands to see what were in there too.
Another consideration was about climate change and having a resilient woodland,
so hornbeam in particular we feel will do quite well if the planet warms up, when the planet warms up.
So that's one species that's been introduced into this area
that you won't find in the surrounding woodland. In some places we've planted up
all those trees to kind of give it a bit of a kickstart and get people involved in the process.
And in other places we are letting it do it by itself.
We're letting the seed come from those surrounding trees be blown in, or heavier seeds like acorns
being planted by jays or squirrels. And then when they don't come back to them,
they emerge into trees which is really exciting
and gives it that variation in height, in variety of trees.
So it's really interesting actually. The area's that are naturally regenerating,
particularly the area behind me, it's got on a lot quicker, a lot stronger
than the areas that we've planted. They're coming on okay, they've survived.
They're looking good, they're going to be an exciting bit of woodland.
But it's interesting that those areas that we've just left to do their own thing
is almost doing better. It's bigger, its stronger, it's taller and you can start to
pick out in particularly in the naturally regenerating areas
that those natural processes taking place.
What surprised us as much was the speed in which the wildlife came.
We had farmland birds here before. We know from surveys,
but now we're getting a greater variety of birds.
One exciting thing we've had over this winter and the last winter is snipe appearing in different fields.
Flocks of birds that we didn't have before, flocks of starlings
that we haven't seen for a long time. And one of the most exciting things for me
was we started seeing barn owls quartering at half past four in the afternoon
in the late autumn/winter. We never would have seen barn owls here before
because there wasn't the habitat in which for them to hunt.
Plants that we wouldn't expect to come up. 20 bee orchids appeared this last summer.
It was absolutely fantastic. And then pyramidal orchids and common spotted orchids.
Early purple orchids just appearing. Green-winged orchids as well .
Every season brings a whole new look and a whole new feel,
a new species that we hadn't recorded before or hasn't been recorded for decades.
That's great to be on the front line of being those first people to discover that again.
And sharing it as well. Getting people of up to 150 at a time
to come and plant trees was fantastic. We had days where we invited people, families
to come in and plant. We laid on extra activities for the children.
And the children were more interested in planting trees than den building,
than doing nature trails. And that's absolutely fantastic.
They do care. The next generation are ready. They do want to do these things.
It gives us real hope I think.
So I've got a favourite spot that sits on a crest of a hill
and you can look down, and in front of you you've got the area that's naturally regenerating
and then just around from there you've got the area that we planted.
And that's where I like to come of an evening. And my favourite thing
is to make myself some dinner, wrap it up to keep it warm,
and come out and sit and just absorb that and watch the sun go down
and the low light in those areas. And that's pretty good, that's pretty good.
Most of the area of the project is open access too so you can explore every corner
and see the differences and what's going on there.
Or perhaps find a quiet corner to sit down and contemplate, and listen to what's around you.
I feel if people understand it and they love it they'll look after it.
And that's what we should be a part of too.