COSTING THE EARTH

We need to restore nature and rewild the world. But who will foot the bill? Words

- by JAMES FAIR

THE FIELDS AT SLEIGHT FARM, near Bath, are not much to look at. One is bare earth and deeply rutted, reminiscent of land that has been subjected to the rootling behaviour of wild boar. "This," says environmental consultant Dominic Woodfield, "was the most rubbish. Overgrazed and compacted, and it's had fertilisers, too."

To start the process of ecological recovery, Woodfield, site manager Simon Nash and farm manager James Fowles introduced a couple of Tamworth pigs to the field. The pigs’ rootling behaviour creates ruts and exposes the soil, giving seeds other than grass the chance to germinate.

Exactly what happens next, the team isn’t really sure, but the action of the pigs should be a kickstart, precipitating natural processes that can bring the field back to life. In time, one can imagine it supporting nesting skylarks, vole-hunting barn owls and the occasional mad March hare.

This field is a perfect example of why the UK ranks in the bottom 10 per cent of all countries in the Biodiversity Intactness Index – but it is also on the frontline of a revolution. Because the transformation being plotted at Sleight Farm isn’t born purely out of altruism, nor from government subsidy, but because the landowners have received money from a developer.

There is arguably no more existential question for the human race than how we halt and reverse declines in wildlife. There is a basic premise that if we destroy nature, we destroy ourselves, because we rely on it for so much - food, water, protection from flooding and mitigation of climate change.