‘Hold your nerve and trust nature’: birds, bats and butterflies rebound at Somerset rewilding farm

Three years of rewilding on a former dairy farm in east Somerset have seen recorded bird species soar from 67 to 94, butterfly species rise from 11 to 24 and small mammals grow in number. Heal Somerset, the first site acquired by the charity Heal Rewilding , has produced a state of nature report mirroring a national survey by environmental charities that has tracked the decline in nature. Surveys at the 190-hectare (460 acres) farm are revealing the rate at which wildlife returns after conventional agriculture stops. A humane trapping survey found the site was home to five small mammal species compared with three at a nearby organic dairy farm. Two tamworth pigs roam free on the former dairy farm. They are to be joined by a small number of cattle and ponies. Photograph: Heal Rewilding Heal Somerset near Frome is now home to at least 15 bat species and 60 species of breeding bird, including the endangered bullfinch and numerous tree pipits , another bird under threat. “I had no idea when we arrived in January 2023 what to expect,” said Jan Stannard, chief executive and co-founder of Heal Rewilding , which acquired the site through donations and philanthropic lending. “To some extent you hold your nerve and trust nature. If you give wildlife an undisturbed safe place, a sanctuary, you have this sense that something good is going to come out of it. …