Heal Rewilding: Raise money, buy land and rewild it

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By Ruby Batt, Communications Officer

Drone footage looking out across the Somerset countryside on a sunny day — Heal Somerset drone footage (Tom Francome)

‘To restore stability to our planet, we must restore its biodiversity, the very thing we have removed. It is the only way out of this crisis that we ourselves have created. We must rewild the world!’ – David Attenborough

Heal Rewilding is the UK’s first charity dedicated to being a rewilding landowner. It launched in March 2020 with the aim of acquiring and rewilding a 500-acre site in every English county and secured its foundation site, Heal Somerset, in December 2022. Heal’s name is its purpose: heal the land, heal nature, heal ourselves.

The charity was born in response to the devasting biodiversity and climate crises we are facing and our increasing disconnection with nature, with the adverse effects this has on human health and wellbeing. To these three problems, Heal sees one clear solution: rewilding.

Rewilding Britain defines rewilding as ‘the reinstatement of natural processes and, where appropriate, missing species, allowing them to shape the landscape and the habitats within, leading to the restoration of fully functioning ecosystems’. It’s a wonderfully exciting, still relatively novel, way of restoring ecosystems, which hands the reins over to nature and as a result, brings benefit to nature, planet and people.

Birds-eye view of the River Frome weaving through the countryside — River Frome tributary at Heal Somerset (Alex Sams)

Rewilding gives nature the breathing space it needs to recover. It allows plants to regenerate and creates spaces where wildlife can live freely and vulnerable species can thrive. It’s also a key asset in the fight against climate change, through natural regeneration and the restoration of wetlands, carbon is removed from the atmosphere. A report by Rewilding Britain has shown that by rewilding 30% of land in Britain 53 million tonnes of carbon dioxide could be captured per year, which is more than 12% of current UK greenhouse gas emissions. Rewilding is also incredibly beneficial to people. It creates spaces that encourage nature connection, brings economic benefit, improves soil health, cleans the air we breathe and reduces water pollution.

At the end of 2022, we acquired our very first rewilding site, Heal Somerset, which is a former dairy farm that covers 460 acres of undulating countryside, with miles of hedgerows and three tributaries of the river Frome. There are also several old farm buildings which, once restored, have the potential to become accommodation and event spaces to support ecotourism.

A view across the countryside at Heal on the summer solstice — Summer solstice at Heal Somerset (Emma Lewis)

In the 18 months we’ve been at Heal Somerset, our team have been dedicated to making the site a place where nature and people can thrive. We’re in the process of completing a range of baseline surveys, with a special focus on professional surveys of bats, birds and invertebrates. These taxonomic groups were chosen because they are indicator species, meaning they’ll give us a good sense of the site’s general ecological health. Baseline surveying is a crucial first step for rewilding projects to measure their impact on the land and ensure intervention decisions are well informed. Wildlife highlights so far include the discovery of a roost of rare lesser horseshoe bats, finding out that the site and surrounding area is a stronghold for the red listed tree pipit and the arrival of wild-living beavers through natural dispersal. Every new species we spot is exciting, but the arrival of beavers was particularly thrilling. We knew these ecosystem engineers were becoming increasingly widespread in Somerset, but we didn’t dare hope to see them return so quickly after 400 years of absence.

But it’s not just wildlife we’re helping. People are critical to everything we do at Heal. A core part of our mission is to increase access to nature, which is why our site is open and free to access all year round, at any time of the day. It’s also why we’ve worked hard to collaborate with the local council, community networks and other charities to develop relevant and inclusive opportunities. We've had people living with dementia strolling through the site enjoying birdsong, groups with poor mental health inhaling the freshness of ground ivy, teenagers with special needs gasping at camera trap footage and children with disabilities peering through microscopes.

Group of people on a tour through the countryside on a sunny day — Tour of Heal Somerset (Ruby Batt)

We also run engaging and educational commercial events and experiences. You can now camp at Heal Somerset, either in your own tent or our tipi. The campsite is basic and very close to a wild camping experience, giving visitors the opportunity to really immerse themselves in nature. This year we hosted our first two-day long rewilding gathering, Into The Light, which saw rewilding experts and enthusiasts from across the country come together to discuss the latest in the rewilding world. Another notable event is our one-of-a-kind night time soundscape performance Out Of The Darkness, which blends sounds of wildlife from the present, recent past and ancient past. The performance was created as a provocation, to start a conversation about the profound changes that have happened in our countryside at night, but also to give hope for the return of some of nature’s lost sounds if wildlife is given new safe spaces in which to thrive, like at Heal Somerset. Excitingly, both these events will be returning in 2025 and you can find out more here.

As a charity, we rely on the generosity and support of others to ensure we fulfil our mission. This support comes in various forms, including donations, volunteering and attending our events. Volunteers help us with all sorts of tasks, including admin support from home and on-site support with things like wildlife surveys and land management. If you’d be interested in volunteering with us, you can view our current opportunities here. People also support us through donations. Our Heal 3x3 scheme is a particularly popular option which allows people to sponsor a 3m by 3m patch of land at Heal Somerset for £20. Sponsors are then given the what3words address and the opportunity to visit and see the place we’re rewilding for them, giving them a real sense of involvement with the project. You can find out more about Heal 3x3 here.

Our current focus is on developing Heal Somerset and making sure it’s the perfect blueprint for our future sites, before turning our sights north and starting the search for our second site. You can follow our journey on social media @healrewilding and @healsomerset, on our websites www.healrewilding.org.uk and www.healsomerset.org.uk, and via our monthly newsletter Heal Highs which you can sign up to here.