Author Topic: Rewilding Britain  (Read 6818 times)

Mel

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Re: Rewilding Britain
« Reply #60 on: 21:01:27, 31/10/19 »
Flora, did you say? Virtually ever since wild flower seed mixes became commercially available for large-scale use they have contained seeds from sources outside of the UK that are genetically different from our true natives.


Just desperately trying to get the subject something like back on topic again as per richardh's original post and linked article  O0

richardh1905

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Re: Rewilding Britain
« Reply #61 on: 21:12:05, 26/11/19 »

Just desperately trying to get the subject something like back on topic again as per richardh's original post and linked article  O0

Thanks Mel - amazing how threads can drift!

As for all those worried about apex predators, feral cats and wildflower seeds - I don't see any of these advocated in the article.
WildAboutWalking - Join me on my walks through the wilder parts of Britain

richardh1905

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Re: Rewilding Britain
« Reply #62 on: 20:50:36, 27/11/19 »
Re-wilding need be no more than letting nature take its course.

On a minor scale, our new garden is an example - the previous owners were not keen gardeners (/understatement) and there was nothing but a patch of grass, a manky miniature box hedge, some gloomy laurel bushes and lots of gravel and bark chips laid over the top of abominable woven plastic mulch. Upon closer inspection, however, I have discovered the following invaders:

Dandelion (welcome in our garden)
Sow thistle
Buttercup
Hairy bittercress
Foxglove seedling
Wild strawberry
Ivy leaved toadflax (lovely)
Several ash seedlings
Hawthorn seedling
Several buddleia seedlings
3 holly seedlings

Most of these are welcome and will be left to spread, or possibly be transplanted to a more suitable spot. It will be interesting to see what else turns up next summer.

WildAboutWalking - Join me on my walks through the wilder parts of Britain

fernman

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Re: Rewilding Britain
« Reply #63 on: 22:19:54, 27/11/19 »
There is a wood in the Forest of Dean called Lady Park Wood, it is in fact a wood within a wood, that has been fenced off and left to its own devices since 1944, that's 75 years. There is no management whatsoever, i.e. no felling, no tidying up, no coppicing or pollarding, and no access to humans other than ecologists who do annual surveys (and other than a fern enthusiast who once nipped in undetected in what turned out to be a fruitless search for an old record of a rarity, cough, cough).

Bigfoot_Mike

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Re: Rewilding Britain
« Reply #64 on: 22:54:48, 27/11/19 »
We do have the dreaded leylandia, but too many to replace without massive cost. These do provide plenty of nesting places and roosts for the birds. We also have native trees, such as Scots Pine, Roman, Silver Birch and others. We get rabbits, hedgehogs, red squirrels, a fox and occasional roe deer, so we have a reasonable share of wild animals. We get interesting birds, from goldcrests and wrens, up to woodpeckers, sparrowhawks, herons, buzzards and tawny owls. The are lots of smaller birds and it is good to see blackbirds, thrushes and redwings eating all the berries. We also get a lot of geese overhead and very close by. This time of year there are huge flocks of crows and jackdaws circling and calling at dusk on their way to roost. A neighbour claims to have spotted pine martens on his camera trap and there are osprey and otters on the river nearby. It would be great to see wildcats, lynx, wolves and bears again, but I don’t think that is likely to happen.

 

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