Urban Rewilding
By Molly Lanigan, Nature Conservation Intern
Rewilding is the process of restoring an ecosystem in a way that allows it to maintain and regulate itself indefinitely. Enabling nature to take care of itself and have its autonomy, rather than continuously requiring humans for its management and control. One of the key methods of rewilding land is through the reintroduction of species that have become locally extinct in the habitat. This can be due to several reasons, including predation or competition from invasive species with which they haven’t coevolved, urban development, or even pollution and contamination. All species play a functional role in an ecosystem, and it’s not limited to them simply acting as a predator or prey. For example, when beavers create their damns, they create a new wetland habitat, which can mitigate drought and flooding, supporting a greater biodiversity. This year, the UK government announced that Beavers can be legally released in the wild – a landmark step in UK rewilding. Previously, they were only allowed to be released in monitored enclosures, but after almost two decades of research and trials, their success and importance have been proven!
Smaller, less noticeable species can also play just as important role. Water voles, like beavers, are mini ecosystem engineers; their burrowing can alter moisture levels and microbial activity in the soil, and their feeding of water shoots prevents the dominance of certain species, so a greater plant diversity can exist on the river bank. The water vole is the UK’s fastest declining mammal, and is threatened by the invasive American Mink, which escaped from fur farms in the 50s and 60s. Thanks to key conservation efforts, American mink populations are being controlled, and water voles are being reintroduced. The Citizen Zoo project reintroduced water voles to the Hogsmill River in south-west London. They’re also planning another release along the river in the Epsom and Ewell area this July! It will be the first ever recorded release in Surrey. Citizen Zoo are also establishing Tolworth Court Farm as an urban nature reserve, a site which was previously not supporting the level of wildlife it could, considering its size and proximity to the Hogsmill and the Bonesgate. They have plans to reintroduce grazing cattle and pigs to mimic the ecological effects of aurochs and boar, which are extinct in the UK, and have begun turning a small area into a wetland habitat. Habitats & Heritage will be working with them for a joint volunteering session for this project on the 22nd of July, so if you would like to get involved, please find out more here.
Although urban rewilding may seem like an oxymoron, it is possible to restore healthy ecosystems even in an urban environment, despite the fewer green spaces and reduced connectivity. The balance of an ecosystem is delicate, but they are also incredibly resilient and will find a way to recover in the right conditions, regardless of the size. No space is too small to contribute to a functioning ecosystem, which is why we even work on roadside verges to improve the connectivity of larger green hubs. Even the action of rewilding private gardens, which cover 25% of the London green areas, once multiplied, makes a huge difference. Green spaces can be managed with nature in mind, not just from their aesthetic value or functionality – typically, unsightly habitats like rotting wood, tree stumps, and weeds are critical for a whole host of species. We are living in the age named the Anthropocene, so despite whether you think humans being at the centre of the global ecosystem is a good or a bad thing, it means we have the power to change and reverse some of the damage our species has caused
If you find this topic interesting and want to learn more about rewinding in the UK, we recommend Isabella Tree’s book “Rewilding”, which details how Isabella and her husband were able to turn their old dairy farm into a thriving nature reserve.
And if you want to get involved in some nature conservation near you, you can join some of our volunteering sessions here, or you can join your Local Friends of Parks Groups