#669: Can Britain become wild again?

A film which was made a few years ago, and is now available to view on YouTube.

Hope Rewilded is a documentary exploring rewilding in Britain — what it means, why it matters, and whether giving nature the freedom to recover could help reverse the dramatic decline of our wildlife.

Across Britain, landscapes that have been shaped and depleted over generations are being given the chance to recover. Species are returning, habitats are regenerating and people are beginning to rethink what our countryside could look like. 

But what does it really mean to rewild a country like Britain? 

How much nature have we lost? 

What should we bring back? 

And how wild are we prepared to let Britain become? 

Hope Rewilded explores these questions through some of the people at the forefront of rewilding, conservation and nature recovery in Britain. Featuring interviews with: 

George Monbiot — environmental journalist, author and campaigner, and co-founder of Rewilding Britain. His books include Feral, an influential exploration of rewilding and ecological restoration. 

Isabella Tree — award-winning author and co-owner of the Knepp Estate in West Sussex, home to one of Britain’s best-known rewilding projects. She is the author of Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm. 

Simon Roper — zoologist, conservationist and co-founder and Director of Ambios, an organisation working in nature recovery, conservation training and species reintroductions. 

Prof. Alastair Driver — ecologist and leading UK rewilding specialist, former Director of Rewilding Britain and former National Conservation Manager for the Environment Agency, with more than four decades of experience in conservation and nature recovery. 

At its heart, Hope Rewilded is not simply a film about what Britain has lost. It is about what we could get back. What happens when we give nature another chance?

#607: Sand Dunes

I've previously posted about Bill Sutherland's Conservation Concepts videos.

This one on Sand Dunes was filmed at Holkham beach.

Format and contents of the video:

• How wind speed affects sand movement and accumulation 
• The role of pioneer plants in trapping and stabilising sand 
• How marram grass structures and strengthens dunes through rhizome networks 
• The succession of dunes from bare sand to woodland 
• The effects of human disturbance and coastal management 
• How natural dynamics — storms, floods, and fencing — continue to shape dune systems today

Thanks to Jake Fiennes of the Holkham Estate for making this possible and explaining the history.

This is a place that we used to visit for many years when I was Head of Geography at a school in King's Lynn.

I am developing a resource on the Holkham Estate for possible use as a case study by teachers, including reference to their WONDER strategy.

#571: Live Ospreycam

One resource that may be used when preparing to teach the GCSE Natural History will be webcams or streams which show wildlife and environments. I can imagine creating a wall of webcams.

The Norfolk Wildlife Trust has shared a new live webcam of an osprey pair who successfully fledged two chicks at NWT Ranworth Broad and Marshes in 2025, making the nature reserve the first known site in the region to make a home for breeding osprey in hundreds of years.

Just before the birds returned this spring, NWT carefully installed a wildlife camera that offers views into the nest the pair used in 2025, which will be streamed online thanks to support from NWT corporate partners, MelBek.

The avian couple returned to Ranworth Broad nature reserve in late March, making 2026 the fourth consecutive year that the site has welcomed a pair of osprey. They settled back into the same nest site as last year, within close sight of the new camera.
The osprey pair has already been seen settling into life in Norfolk, feathering their nest, hunting for fish, and laid three eggs! 

Watch the live camera stream to stay updated on their journey.

I've been a member of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust for over 25 years. You can join them here for just a small monthly fee which gives access to all of their reserves including the place that started it all: Cley next the Sea.

#541: Nature - by Royal appointment

Catherine: the Princess of Wales has shared the 4th in a series of videos as part of her personal journey with cancer, and sharing the power of Nature. 

It is called Mother Nature.

Here are the 4 videos so far:

Spring

Summer

Autumn

Winter

#457: World Rainforest Day

Happy World Rainforest Day! Join @aprilwindle from the British Lichen Society to explore one of Devon’s finest temperate rainforests and the #lichens found there. Full video can be found on YouTube: https://t.co/wjWigtrrqd. #worldrainforestday #worldrainforestday2025 pic.twitter.com/Hv6mxqZfBc

— The British Lichen Society (@BLSlichens) June 22, 2025

Here's the video:

Happy World Rainforest Day! #Lichens are an important feature of these wonderful habitats. From loop lichens, to yellow speckle-belly’s to the red eyed shingle lichen & everything in between - they add so much beauty to our rainforests! #worldrainforestday2025 #worldrainforestday pic.twitter.com/Q5CTzpTQIy

— The British Lichen Society (@BLSlichens) June 22, 2025

#456: Earth in 100 Seconds

Earth in 100 Seconds is a short film made by Daniel Raven Ellison - with each second revealing 1% of land and how we are using it.

After the premiere last night, the film is now available.

From the film's script:

"What are we using planet Earth for? 

Let’s go for a walk to find out.

 Each second of our walk reveals 1% of land and how we’re using it. 

We spend our first 10 seconds walking across a frozen land of ice. 

The next 11 in desert, barren and rocky lands. 

14 more seconds of our walk is through ecosystems we minimally use including only 8 seconds of intact forests. 

All other land is directly exploited by people. 

So that makes just 35% of the Earth's land area is 'natural' - we could debate that.

Just 1% of land is built on 

Crops cover 11% of land, nearly half of these are fed to livestock 

For 20 seconds, we’re in the woods again These forests are managed for their timber and play a vital role in regulating our climate, air and water Some are great for wildlife, while much are not.

We’ve prioritised over a third of land for producing meat, dairy and animal products.

14 seconds of our walk is on less used wilder grasslands and rangelands As well as cows, sheep and goats, wild animals could graze here Some livestock is managed carefully so other species can flourish, much is not 

Our final 19 seconds is through pastures that we mostly use for rearing cows.

Cows now have a collective mass that’s nearly 10 times greater than all wild mammals combined At a time of climate crisis And when a million species are at risk of extinction Why not rethink this mix of lands we have and how we use them I need more trees please I think more nature would be greater So what if we made more space, for nature?" 

Dan explains why he made the film:

This is an important little film. It tells the story of how we're using and (mis)using the planet.. all through a humble walk. Earth is vast and complex, making it difficult to fully comprehend its scale, understand how we’re using it, or organise efforts to manage it more effectively. 

Thoughtful land use is vital for the survival of humans and countless other species, as well as for creating fair and equitable futures. Access to better data and insights about how we interact with land is crucial - whether it’s choosing what to eat or deciding who to support at the ballot box. 

This film draws on data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Special Report on Climate Change and Land. While the report does an excellent job of presenting the facts, its charts and graphs often fail to connect with people on a human level. 

Earth in 100 Seconds transforms this data into a relatable journey, using a simple walk to evoke a sense of story, place, and scale. 

In just a couple of minutes, it allows viewers not only to see what the data means but also to feel its impact - by sitting through it. 

We desperately need to have better relationships with the rest of life on our planet and the land, climate, resources and systems we all depend on - ones that are kinder, healthier and more harmonious. 

I hope this short film sparks meaningful conversations that help make that happen more of the time.

#349: Bill Sutherland's Conservation Concepts

A new (to me) YouTube channel features a number of short videos produced by Bill Sutherland.

Each video explores a different ecological concept.

For example, here is a video on Fens.

Notes included:

Fen are groundwater-fed, base-rich habitats. 

They arise where rainwater permeates spongy calcium-rich rocks, resulting in mineral-rich water. Calcium carbonate dissolves to produce bicarbonate, which acts as a pH buffer, keeping the pH neutral. Where the water table in the ground intercepts the ground level the water comes out as springs or seeps into the fen. So fens are wet, ground-fed, base-rich habitats. The seeping water moves slowly so the soil surface has little oxygen- is anaerobic- so the vegetation rots slowly forming peat. This, in turn, means fens are low in the key nutrients of nitrogen, phosphate and potassium, as these are locked up in the peat. The calcium can also bind the available phosphorus reducing the fertility further. The fen community includes specialist plants that tolerate low oxygen conditions, calcium carbonate deposits and low nutrient availability. The diversity in geology, hydrology, topology, fertility and disturbance results in a mix of open water, low habitats, dense vegetation and woodland, which provides a huge diversity of habitats and species. Cutting vegetation and grazing no doubt have kept habitats open whilst peat digging has created many habitats we now consider important. Once drained, these well irrigated, base-rich, high organic content soils are attractive for farming. Hence less than 1% of fens remain. The remaining sites are complex to manage. Maintaining the hydrology, water quality and disturbance is key. 

Filmed at Thelnetham Fen, Suffolk Wildlife Trust, reserve.

#224: The Surprising Map of Plants

Made by Domain of Science.

In this map of plants I summarise all of the different kinds of plants from algae all the way through bryophytes, ferns, gymnosperms, angiosperms, monocots, eudicots, rosids and asterids. I explain how they are related to each other due to their evolutionary history, and the features that make plants so successful, leaves, roots, a vascular system, spores, seeds, flowers and fruits.

Download a large copy of the map from here.