Author: Hazel Draper

Rewilding Species of the Month: The White Stork

2 March 2026

Our rewilding species this month, the White Stork, is a brilliant ambassador for species reintroduction. This beautiful bird is large enough to spot without the need for binoculars as it stands proudly on one bright red leg or congregates with others to draw graceful circles in the skies. It is a friendly species, happy to…
Rewilding Species Of The Month: Sphagnum Moss

3 February 2026

Being hailed across the internet as a ‘Miracle Moss’, ‘Nature’s Superpower’ and even ‘The Most Important Plant on Earth’ it’s about time that sphagnum enjoyed its place in the spotlight as our Rewilding Species of the Month. Although it is not strictly speaking a species but a genus (a family of closely related species), I’m sure that sphagnum…
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas in the Ghost Woods

23 December 2025

‘Twas the night in a Ghost Wood, when all through the gloom Not a creature was stirring, beneath the cold moon; Pine needles were strewn ‘cross the empty brown floor Where once there were acorns and oh so much more Where rare slugs once nestled all snug in the leaves And visions of bluebells once…
Rewilding Species of the Month: The Boar

1 December 2025

The boar plays an incredible role in our ecosystems. Unfortunately, especially with current laws set against reintroduction, we are sorely missing this keystone species.
Rewilding Species Of The Month: The Oak

3 November 2025

Oak trees have always been entwined with human life, building our ships, flavouring our whisky, and structuring our steeples for centuries. Throughout history, the great oak has sheltered both our princes and our paupers and thousands of non-human species too
Wild Card trip to Embercombe

19 October 2025

As a group that’s all about nature but which organises via technology, it’s vital to Wild Card that we return to our roots whenever we get together. Hence, our in-person meet-ups prioritise opportunities to get out into the field, (though that field might be a meadow, a moor, a wetland or a woodland). These visits…
Shakespeare and the Ghost Woods

14 October 2025

Finding Shakespeare’s Ghost Woods Whether it be Hamlet’s father, Richard III’s victims, or Banquo and his gory locks, everyone knows Shakespeare’s connection with ghosts. Far far fewer are aware of the connection between Shakespeare and the Ghost Woods. Yet, as our team began to research the sites of ancient woodland smothered beneath conifer plantations, we…
Rewilding Species of the Month: Bats

1 October 2025

October seems the ideal time to celebrate bats as our rewilding species of the month. They will soon be emerging in window displays of Halloween bat bunting and, if you’re lucky, your local bakers may even be serving gingerbread bats. Extended nights can also mean you’re more likely to spot a bat in the wild…
Rewilding Species of the Month: The Eurasian Lynx

1 September 2025

As part of the UK’s ecological heritage, the Eurasian lynx has earned its place as our rewilding species of the month. Although lost to us around 1,300 years ago, through habitat destruction and hunting, these tufty eared beauties managed to cling on elsewhere in Europe. Is it time we brought them back here as well?
Rewilding Species of the Month: Seagulls

2 August 2025

This title will annoy some readers since, strictly speaking, there is no such thing as a seagull – there are herring gulls and black-headed gulls and common gulls and a whole host of other species of gull but no such thing as a seagull (what would Jonathan Livingston say?) but the different varieties of gull are all…