Deer statue

Imagined What it could do

Imagine a quiet statue at the edge of a wild meadow: a reminder that some land is not for people, but for deer, birds, insects and plants to shape as they please.

Real world What is rewilding?

Rewilding means stepping back and letting natural processes restore an area, often with a helping hand at the start, such as removing drains, letting rivers wander or bringing back missing animals. Instead of deciding exactly what should grow, rewilders let nature lead.

Bible As the deer

A psalm uses a thirsty deer as a picture of longing for God: "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after You, O God" (Psalm 42:1).

Real world A farm that went wild

From 2001, the owners of the Knepp Estate in southern England stopped intensive farming on their land and let it go wild, with free-roaming cattle, ponies, pigs and deer grazing as wild herds once did. The land became a patchwork of scrub, grassland and woodland, and rare species such as nightingales and purple emperor butterflies increased. In 2020, beavers were reintroduced to the estate.

Beavers are called "ecosystem engineers": their dams create wetlands that store water, slow floods and provide habitat for many other species.

Think about it

1. Should some land be left for nature to manage itself?
2. What might happen if beavers returned to rivers near you?
3. How do we balance land for food with land for wildlife?

Key words

Rewilding

Letting nature restore itself, often by bringing back key species.

Ecosystem engineer

An animal that changes its habitat in big ways.

Biodiversity

The variety of life in a place.