Insectopia

It’s November. We have been living at Wildwood for five months. I am watching the rain fall on the North field, with its caged juvenile trees and tussocks of browning grass.

Our rewilding project was never going to involve safari jeeps or keystone species. But other than the aim of creating a wildlife corridor that connected to other local projects as part of Devon Wildlife Trust’s Avon Valley restoration project, we were not sure what rewilding would bring. We knew that without sheep the grass would get longer, and without the annual flaying the hedges would get bigger. We planted nearly 700 trees in early 2021 to create wood meadows. We hoped for more birds. What we have created so far seems to be best described as ‘insectopia’. Grasshoppers, butterflies, slugs, snails, bees, flies, caterpillars, hornets, moths and spiders. These are our rewilding companions. The brambles, nettles, ragwort and hemlock are thriving. But so are the new trees, and some older residents including goat willow, alder, hawthorn and hazel. This is not an undertaking for the impatient gardener.