Renaturing
James Canton
The term Rewilding has had more definitions than the word itself has letters, but a generally accepted (some would argue true) definition is that it is about allowing natural processes the space to do what they do. That basically means that rewilding can only really happen at a landscape level, but landscape sized projects are beyond the realms of possibility for the vast majority of us, so what can we ourselves do to help bring the wild back?
In my introduction to the book Great Misconceptions – Rewilding Myths and Misunderstandings, I said the most important space we can rewild is the one between our ears, in other words we need to change our mindset when it comes to nature, we need to build it into our everyday thought processes. We might not be able to technically ‘rewild’ our own much smaller scale spaces, but with a bit of thought we can manage them in such a way as to benefit wildlife, and that essentially is what the new book by James Canton, Renaturing, small ways to wild the world, is all about.
This is an interesting book, documenting the author’s journey in creating and shaping a space for wildlife on a small two acre patch of land adjoining his house. It is well written and thought provoking, but not all the thoughts it provoked in me were ones that agreed with his own. Firstly, I don’t like the word renaturing, I do not want to get bogged down with the semantics of words, but it is a word that implies you are returning nature, you are letting an area become natural once more.
The author describes how the newly purchased patch of land was at first carefully and regularly mown to create a cricket pitch, but the onerous task of very regular mowing of two acres soon led to less and less of the area being cut, until eventually the whole area was left to its own devices. After just a few years of not mowing the area, the author found himself witness to the natural process of succession. Brambles advanced, Blackthorn suckered outwards from the hedges, oaks sown by nature’s forester the Jay pullulated forth. This, I would argue, is renaturing – allowing a natural process to get on and do what it does.
Rewilding is, in principle, about non intervention, it is about taking our hand off the tiller and letting nature steer its own course. But on the smaller scale, as many a local nature reserve manager will tell you, we have to have some intervention, some steering, if we are to maximise the nature conservation potential of smaller sites that are often islands in a sea of biodiversity loss. But can this be called renaturing? The author speaks to many people on his journey and one of those is quoted as saying “I think we have interfered with nature so much, so now we can’t stop interfering.”
The author interferes with the natural processes unfolding on his land, he stops the natural progression of nature by removing the agents of succession so that he can establish areas of wild flower meadow. He does the opposite of rewilding and, in my opinion, renaturing. But is this actually a bad thing?
No, it is not, what the author does on his small patch of land is inspirational and is a lesson for us all – we can do things on our own small patches to help bring back biodiversity, to aid the multitude of species that we have pushed to the brink, he does this and he does this well. But I don’t see how it can be called renaturing, it doesn’t even need a new name, because one already exists that covers what the author does so well; wildlife gardening.
The creation of wild flower meadows is a good thing to do, both for pollinators and our own well being, but it isn’t necessarily a natural thing to do, especially when some of the species the author uses in his wild flower seed mix aren’t even native to these islands, despite many people assuming they are. It is gardening, wildlife gardening and we need more of us to be doing wildlife gardening, it is a good thing that many of us can do. But we shouldn’t confuse it with the natural processes which the name renaturing implies.
Aside from the book’s title there are two other topics discussed in the book that to me demonstrated confusion. The first of these is when the author is writing about Knepp, a great example of regenerative farming that is often portrayed as rewilding, or as Steve Carver describes it when interviewed by the author, rewilding-lite. The author tells the reader that he marvels at the story of the White Storks that “returned and settled” at Knepp. Later on, when mentioning the storks at Knepp again, he says about “the appearance of White Storks that decided to stay, nest and breed.” The White Storks at Knepp were shipped over in crates from Poland and kept in enclosures, their progeny may now be ‘free flying’ but those first White Storks didn’t return to Knepp by their own free will, nor did they decide to stay. They had no choice in the matter at all.
The second confusion arises from the author’s visit to a patch of land managed by a man that the author seems to treat reverentially. This man manages this land as his own nature reserve and this management involves killing Magpies – he proudly states that the author won’t hear a single one on his visit. The author describes this person, “He’s a countryman, one who shoots certain species for the benefit of others.” Except, he is only benefitting his own perception of what nature should be, rather than what it really is. Magpies do predate song bird nests, it is completely natural, killing them for doing so is nothing more than interference in the extreme.
The author goes on to call this person “an active player in the dynamics of the food chain.” But the reality is that by wiping out a native bird species from an area, you are completely disrupting the dynamics of a food chain, this can never be renaturing, it is denaturing and it is something that has been carried on in this country for far too long, much to the detriment of our natural ecosystems, yet the author seems to enjoy the antics of this person, jovially telling us how this person would be driven along public roads in a car, shooting magpies on other people’s land through the open window and sun roof of the car he was travelling in. This is described as if it was a humorous anecdote, it is in fact the documentation of serious criminal firearm offences.
There is more confusion, but this time it is my own. There are parts of the book that I don’t like, but there are plenty of others that I do, I really enjoyed reading about the new discoveries the author was making on his patch of land as he developed it, I could feel the author’s joy when he documented seeing his first Six Spot Burnet, his delight was palpable when he saw a Yellowhammer there for the first time. His passion for having a pond, be it an upcycled washing up bowl or a digger dug large one, is real and inspiring.
The book is written in a diary format which enables the reader to dip in and out of it, it is well written and it is an interesting read. I like books that are thought provoking, it is always healthy to have debate, and this book certainly provoked many thoughts as I read it!
Reviewed by Ian Parsons
Ian spent twenty years as a Forest Ranger before turning his attention to Nature Writing. Ian is the author of A Vulture Landscape, Seasonality, Of the Trees and the Birds and is also the editor and a contributor to Great Misconceptions – Rewilding Myths and Misunderstandings.