Over 1300 different species have been identified in this summer’s survey of Dorset Wildlife Trust's Wild Woodbury rewilding project at Bere Regis including eight ‘Red List Birds of Conservation Concern.’
Over the last year, the land at Wild Woodbury has been allowed to naturally regenerate, increasing the biodiversity and abundance of wildlife with surveys recording an increase in the biodiversity and abundance of species moving onto the site.
A dry spring alongside the increase of invertebrates in the former arable fields has led to a very positive breeding season for birds with a rising number of juvenile birds spotted across the site including 18 skylarks, 28 Yellowhammers and a breeding pair of tree pipits, with all three being on the ‘Red List Birds of Conservation Concern.’
Red List birds are classified as an endangered species facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild, compiled by a coalition of the UK’s leading bird conservation and monitoring organisations including RSPB and the British Trust for Ornithology.
Over 200 meadow brown butterflies have been identified, as well as silver-washed fritillary and newly-hatched painted lady on the wing with the hot weather that July and August brought increasing moth activity too.
Traps are holding hundreds of individuals and attracting some rarer species such as dingy mocha and invertebrate specialists have accumulated over 200 species of beetles, bugs and spiders, some of which only have a handful of previous records in Dorset.
Large clumps of the nationally scarce lesser quaking grass have appeared which offers an excellent food source for many finches.
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Rob Farrington, the Wilder Dorset Project Manager, said: "The aim of rewilding Wild Woodbury is to build an exemplar for sustainable land use to tackle the climate and ecological crises.
“By letting nature take the lead as much as possible and the restoration of natural processes on the site should provide the right conditions for many species to return in greater numbers over the coming years.
“Restoring a landscape and making space for nature on this scale takes time of course, but it is extraordinary to see all that has been achieved in just one year and to witness the abundance of wildlife which has made its home at Wild Woodbury.
“Our plans for the next year include re-naturalizing the River Sherford to allow it to occupy a more natural course across the land, reducing the nutrient load carried into Poole Harbour and creating wetland habitat for wildlife whilst locking up carbon in wetter soils, introducing mixed grazing on the land and opening up 35 acres of the site for local people to use.”
Find out more about what has been achieved at Wild Woodbury here: dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/wildwoodbury.
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