rewilding farming
The land management here at Old Lands is informed by ecology, the restoration of our farmland biodiversity being the thing on which we place the most importance. With the industrialization and intensification of agriculture, our farmland flora and fauna have declined catastrophically in Britain over the last 100 years. Like Rewilding, we are not looking to offer a solution to feed an entire population. Still, we hope to be an example of how a farmed landscape, managed in a low-intensity manner, allows open country species to thrive while also providing food. We are just a small part of the necessary mosaic of regenerative land management that is needed to restore what we have lost.
Through his work over the last 30 years, Sam Bosanquet, our ecologist and the current custodian of Old Lands, has mapped many of the best grasslands and wetlands across Wales for the statutory conservation agencies. Putting into practice all that he learned from the farmers who managed them, he started making changes to the farming here at Old Lands some 18 years ago. He saw the role traditional, low-intensity grazing management has in maintaining these diverse habitats and how these species underpin our open-country biodiversity. Having learned his craft in the lost hours of childhood as a boy roaming the fields barefoot, piles of jotters full of sighting notes dating back to the early 90s show the universal decline is undeniable. Shifting baselines in sharp relief. He has watched as the Tree Sparrows, Dyer’s Greenweed, Wall Brown butterflies and Common Lizard disappear from Old Lands ; all having now gone from lowland Monmouthshire. To date, he has recorded just over 3500 different species here.
“Old Lands,” as it is found on the historic maps, is a tussocky old field to the north of the estate. When Sam and Clare took on the management of the southern part of the 1250-acre Dingestow Court estate, they adopted the name to define the parcels of land that were being farmed argoecologically. With the fortuitous, simultaneous turn of three farm tenancies, a regenerative farm cluster is beginning to take shape. A landscape-scale Natural Flood Management and rewetting project funded by Monmouthshire County Council was constructed late summer 2024. As more of the estate is gathered in, nature is noticeably bouncing back.
Almost all of the land that skirts the big house was ploughed in the Dig For Victory campaign in 40s and then ‘de-hedged’ in the 60s and 70s to make more ‘efficient’ arable fields. The small fields gone, it came to be known by the family as The Prairie, and only one corner of marshy grassland survived. That corner – the Caewern Triangle – was protected due to its inaccessible nature, and the flora and fauna that sought refuge there have now moved back across the landscape to the arable that was left bare under the Set-aside scheme in the late ’90s. This was the start of a slow recovery, which saw native flowers and grasses return, accompanied by the invertebrates that feed on them. In order to aid this recovery, the complete avoidance of fertilizers and a gentle balance of cattle grazing and hay cutting was put in place in 2008. None of the fields have been reseeded, as the species that originated here are best placed to support the full lifecycle of the native insects, offering nectar adults, and food plants for their larvae and the cover for them to pupate. A reseeded herbal ley might look flower-rich, but its annual plants only provide nectar for adult insects.
Airborne ammonia pollution spreading in from the surrounding intensive agriculture has slowed the pace of the reversion to species-rich permanent pastures. We are not alone in this – it is the case across much of lowland Britain – but this form of rural pollution is as yet little discussed. Nearly 30kg of nitrogen per hectare annually falls onto our land from nearby dairies and poultry units. This ‘free fertilizer’ favours grass growth over flowers, resulting in the Nettles, Thistles, Docks, Goose-grass and Bracken thriving. To help mitigate its effects, hay-cutting helps to reduce fertility, and the arrival of Yellow Rattle a few years ago has, and will, significantly reduce grass dominance. As an additional long-term solution to help stall the nitrogen drift across our land, we are looking to plant carefully sited tree and scrub screens.
As for what we have achieved so far, we now have 40 acres of species-rich grassland priority habitat (as defined by Save our Magnificent Meadows), surrounded by another 160 acres of herb-rich semi-improved grassland. Grasshoppers, grassland Moths and Butterflies, Soldier Beetles, Leaf Beetles and Robberflies are all thriving. Insectivorous birds such as Tree Pipit and Redstart arrived 15 years ago, Kestrels bred for the first time in decades in 2022, Stonechats colonised a scrubby area in 2023, and Grey Partridges have returned after 40 years of absence. A Curlew spent three days prospecting in the early summer of 2023 and may, we hope, eventually return to breed. When the Cuckoo finally shows its head, that will be our ultimate sign of success. Until that day comes, we will be working our utmost to lure back the large moth caterpillars on which they feed in readiness for their return.
In June we run free guided walks with Sam, to be added to the list of attendees please email oldlandsoffice@gmail.com
