This is one of the few rare pockets of wilderness left in the UK:
a wetland in Cornwall where beavers, reintroduced in 2017,
managed to reshape an intact ecosystem.
Elsewhere in England at West Blean woods,
these European bison are waiting for their release in 2022.
Their mission is to function as ecosystem engineers
and hence allow other species to thrive.
Recently, the support to reintroduce wolves to the Scottish Highlands rose
in order to reverse decades of environmental damage.
On an island so overpopulated by humans,
is it possible that a huge rewilding movement
could restore lost ecosystems?
In the past, the UK was full of wilderness
and home to brown bears, lynx and wolves,
all of which are now extinct in the country.
Meanwhile, around 70% of the UK's land area is used for agriculture,
which has decimated large parts of the ecosystem.
Yet agriculture only employs 1.5% of the UK's workforce
and contributes around 0.5% to its GDP.
This juxtaposition has led many to question
whether the UK's land area is being used effectively.
Forecasts suggest that in the period between 2015 and 2030,
about 11% of agricultural land in Europe
will have a high risk of abandonment by farmers,
leaving behind large areas of unused land.
In recent years, this inspired a growing rewilding movement across the UK.
Originally, the concept of rewilding was associated with the restoration
of large connected wilderness areas
that support wide ranging keystone species
and apex predators like the great wolf.
Since then, three broad forms of rewilding have been distinguished.
Passive or ecological rewilding focuses on letting nature take care of itself,
enabling natural processes to shape the ecosystem.
Like here in Oostvaardersplassen in the Netherlands
where animals graze free and totally unassisted by humans.
Translocation or trophic rewilding is a more active approach,
which involves the reintroduction of species
that were native to the area in recent history.
The presence of a keystone species like the Iberian lynx in Spain
helps to restore missing or dysfunctional ecosystem processes.
Pleistocene rewilding introduces descendants of megafauna species
that disappeared after a mass extinction
towards the end of the last Ice Age, 120000 years ago.
This happened unintentionally around Pablo Escobar’s private zoo,
on his seized estate in Colombia.
This form of rewilding is largely disputed
as it bears a high chance of uncertain impacts
due to the potential risks connected to the introduction
of a completely foreign species into an ecosystem.
In 2017, Chris and Janet Jones from Woodland Valley Farm
brought Eurasian beavers back to Cornwall
in an attempt to transform their farm into a biodiversity hotspot.
Having the beavers has been an absolute delight,
because they're constantly working,
either building a dam, cutting down trees or building a lodge.
There's always something going on.
Any day of the week, it's a bit different from the day before.
Beavers have been dubbed the ultimate environmental engineers,
capable of alleviating flooding
and sparking new life into barren wilderness.
Through their dams, the landscape has been restored dramatically
for a fraction of the cost of other methods.
Biodiversity has increased hugely in the wetlands.
Elsewhere in the UK,
another promising trophic rewilding project is underway
in West Blean woods in East Kent,
with the re-introduction of European bison.
Large herbivores like bison graze in very unique ways.
They kill selected trees by chewing their bark
or rubbing up against them to remove molting fur
This generates deadwood and allows light to reach the woodland floor,
providing a three dimensional habitat for other species.
They also create large sandpits through their dust bathing,
which clears densely packed vegetation to form wildlife corridors.
These are all of the active rewilding projects across the UK
which serve as an inspiration for other landowners
to consider a more nature based approach.
The concept first gained mainstream appeal
following its success in North America's Yellowstone National Park.
In 1995, Yellowstone National Park famously reintroduced gray wolves
after an absence of over 70 years.
The project proved that when you take away the large animals,
you are left with a radically different ecosystem.
By reintroducing the wolves, deer populations fell,
but much more significantly, they changed their behavior on the land.
This allowed vegetation to recover,
which changed the geography of the rivers,
creating optimum habitats for a variety of species
to return entirely on their own.
Beavers,
built dams that created habitats for otters and ducks.
The wolves also killed some of the coyotes,
which led to an increase in rabbits and mice,
bringing back other predators.
This phenomenon is known as trophic cascade.
The process by which the activity of an apex predator
at the top of the food chain
stimulates the growth of several other animal species
and enriches biodiversity.
As the rewilding movement in the UK continues to grow,
many have called for the reintroduction of wolves
to the Scottish Highlands.
In 2003, Paul Lyster bought a 23,000-acre estate
in the Central Highlands and called it Alladale Wilderness Reserve.
He planted more than 900,000 trees,
boosted red squirrel populations,
protected salmon and created a Scottish wildcat habitat.
However, he still faced a booming red deer population,
which was threatening his replanting efforts
by eating the young tree shoots before they could mature.
To combat the problem,
Lister is seeking permission to bring wolves over from Sweden
to kickstart a trophic cascade on his reserve.
Currently, he still waits for approval from the Scottish Highlands Trust.
The main resistance comes from local farmers and landowners
who are worried about their livestock and personal safety,
as well as the proud legacy of Scotland's "right to roam" laws.
These state that anyone can access any land,
regardless of whether it's privately owned or not.
The fear is that wolf reintroduction could prompt many to erect fences
in an attempt to protect livestock
or to contain the wolves.
Despite Lister's requests currently being at a standstill,
recent government changes to agriculture provide a source of hope.
Various schemes are now in place to subsidize landowners
to regenerate soil health, restore native woodlands
and find methods to sequester more carbon.
With a plethora of success stories from around Europe,
there is a real hope that this cultural shift in the UK
can have a profound positive impact.
So, let’s return to the visualization of a wild UK.
If we choose to, we can restore our depleted lands
to diverse, thriving ecosystems once more.
By exploring new areas of economic growth,
we can enrich the lives of humans, plants and animals for generations to come.
Above all, what rewilding ultimately offers is hope.
A hope that around the world people can reconnect with nature,
driving more change makers
who are willing to love and defend it at all costs.