The wetlands and low grassland habitats along the River Trent and the species that depend on them are declining, but now a rewilding project led by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust has been awarded the funding to create, restore and connect spaces for nature to encourage wildlife to thrive in the Trent Valley and beyond.
Animals have been shaping the landscape for thousands of years, but some species are more important than others. We call these ecosystem engineers. In the relatively recent past, large herbivores such as aurochs, elk, beavers, wild horse, wild boar, red deer and bison roamed Derbyshire’s landscape.
The Call of the Wild project is reinstating the actions of these lost wild herbivores across six sites managed by the Trust to rewild 267 Ha.
As part of the project, a dedicated Wilder Grazing Officer has been recruited to coordinate and monitor our natural grazing programme. The actions of grazers are fundamental to the natural development of diverse and dynamic habitats within a complex, healthy and functioning ecosystem.
The first step has seen the introduction of ten highland cattle and eight Exmoor ponies four from Exmoor and four from Knepp, a trailblazing 3,500-acre rewilding project in the south of England.
These larger herbivores browse brambles and trees to create a mosaic of habitats; dung and graze grass and vegetation to different heights which creates habitats for invertebrates; encourage wildflowers to grow providing pollen and nectar for invertebrates; increase food availability for birds and ultimately lead to more diversity in the nature. They can even affect the amount of carbon being stored in the plants and soil.
Using GPS-collars, which train livestock through sound to migrate across the landscape, the small herd’s movements and behaviours will be monitored to show the impact of landscape scale grazing and demonstrate the effectiveness of geo-fencing for future projects.
The Trust hopes to engage local people with nature, connecting them to wildlife and inspiring them to value and protect biodiversity through volunteering opportunities to carry out livestock checking, habitat and species monitoring.
