“The Word for Rewilding is Possibility” — In Conversation with Heal Rewilding

Be The Earth is proud to invest in Heal Rewilding. Launched in 2020 as the UK’s first charity dedicated to being a rewilding landowner, they acquired their first 460-acre foundation site, Heal Somerset, in 2022. Neighbouring the land of 42 Acres, this region of Somerset is gradually becoming a rewilded haven. 

I’d love to hear the origin story — how did Heal begin?

Heal Rewilding was founded in 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic — a bold and slightly wild time to launch anything. Yet the timing proved unexpectedly powerful. A wonderful feature in The Guardian brought national attention, and donations and offers of support began pouring in.

During lockdown, people across the UK became more enamoured with the importance of wild spaces. There was a renewed appreciation for nature and its role in wellbeing. It was the perfect moment to begin.

By December 2022, Heal had secured its first site: Heal Somerset. The land had previously been an intensive dairy farm — Grade 4 agricultural land, among the least productive for growing food. Years of silaging, slurry and agricultural inputs had degraded soil health and significantly reduced biodiversity. It was precisely this kind of ecologically depleted land that Heal was seeking.

Three of the five surrounding dairy farms had already transitioned away from agriculture, reflecting the long-term economic challenges facing smaller farms. Heal’s ambition is now bold and clear: to establish a rewilding site in every English county, with a second site planned in the north of England in the coming year.

Was there a particular moment when you saw a tangible shift in the land?

I’ve noticed the land changing enormously.

Last summer was incredible — we called it “the summer of abundance”. Every time you stepped outside there was a constant hum of insect life. That’s something I don’t remember hearing for a very, very long time. It was noticeable from morning to evening: a living, vibrating landscape. It was really special.

In 2024, a pair of wild beavers made Heal Somerset their home. By summer 2025, they had given birth to three kits. The fact that these wild beavers have found our land — decided “this is our home and we’re going to start a family here” — is really special.

They have since transformed the landscape, building ten dams, including one large structure that has created a thriving wetland ecosystem just across from the office. During a prolonged drought, while much of the surrounding land dried out, this new wetland remained lush and vibrant — a powerful testament to nature-led restoration.

The human response has been equally moving. In October, over 60 staff and volunteers arrived at 6:30am on a cold, dark morning to assist with a gentle clearing of deer off our land — to help regenerate woodland. Some had travelled over an hour, many visiting for the first time. Nothing says engagement like that. It was so special to witness.

Community engagement is central to Heal’s work. Our engagement manager, Julia, works closely with local and additional needs groups to improve access to nature. One particularly moving story involved a family who had recently moved to England. Their young son had barely spoken since arriving — but during time spent exploring the land here was the most that his mother had heard him say for months.

Little stories like that reveal the quiet, transformative power of connection with nature. 

What wildlife are you seeing on the land?

The beavers are not alone. Otters have been spotted, and while not strictly wildlife, our two Tamworth pigs roam freely across 180 acres as ‘ecosystem engineers’. They're absolutely loving it and they’re transforming the land with their rootling.

They’re creating all sorts of amazing disturbances really quickly, which is helping to create new habitats. 

Biodiversity is steadily increasing. Three nationally vulnerable or endangered butterfly species have been recorded: marsh fritillary, wall and white-letter hairstreak. Fifteen species of bats have been recorded on the land.

UK Red-Listed bird species such as skylark, linnet, tree pipet, marsh tit, yellowhammer and greenfinch have all been recorded during the breeding season. Families of kestrels soar above the fields in summer, scores of skylarks sing from February onwards and we even saw 17 bullfinches in just one walk last year!

Even wasp spiders and wolf spiders are thriving.

How do you measure success in rewilding?

From the beginning, it’s been important for us to provide meaningful data to prove that the rewilding is working. The team is currently compiling a Heal Somerset State of Nature report to establish a baseline and track ecological recovery.

The UK State of Nature report paints a sobering picture of biodiversity decline. It’s very sad.

At Heal, the hope — and increasingly the evidence — is that the graphs move in the opposite direction.

Rewilding presents unique monitoring challenges. It is dynamic and nature-led, without fixed species targets. This fluidity has historically made data collection difficult. However, Rewilding Britain is now trialling a national monitoring framework across pilot sites, including Heal, which will generate robust comparative data.

Heal aims to contribute meaningful scientific evidence that rewilding can deliver measurable, large-scale nature recovery across the UK.

What has the land taught you that no book could?

That the word for rewilding is possibility. 

It’s dynamic and entirely flexible because it’s nature-led. Species and habitats craft themselves. So we have no idea what we’re going to see on a daily basis. Every day we’re learning.

Heal Somerset was formerly intensive pasture, which means its soil chemistry differs dramatically from sites such as Knepp, which was ex-arable. Heal’s soil contains high levels of nutrients, that means for us, unfortunately we think it’s going to take a lot longer for wildflowers to return. We have to be really patient.

Nutrient levels must gradually decline before more diverse habitats can flourish. That’s not something we knew about at all before starting.

The Tamworth pigs play an important role here, disturbing the ground and creating patches of bare earth where seeds can establish. 

The team also discovered deer densities of 22.5 per square kilometre — more than double the British Deer Society’s threshold for high density. This grazing pressure prevented young oak saplings and other regenerating vegetation from thriving. Again, that’s not something we’d anticipated. So now we’ve adapted and have created a deer management programme to support woodland regeneration.

Rewilding is entirely nature-led — and therefore beautifully unpredictable.

Is there a species you hope will return one day?

Our Founder, Jan Stannard, once said she hoped beavers would return — and they have. So we’ve already had that magical moment of our wildest dreams coming true. Now we have a family of five and we’ve seen further courtship behaviour. So we might see even more kits later in the year, which is really exciting!

Looking ahead, Heal’s rewilding ranger, Dan, dreams of one day seeing lynx and even bison roaming the land — species that could play transformative ecological roles if policy and public support align.

What's the long-term vision?

The vision is ambitious: a Heal rewilding site in every English county.

Heal Somerset serves as the blueprint — a living laboratory of learning. The knowledge gained here will inform future sites, accelerating impact and scaling nature recovery nationwide.

At its heart, Heal is proving that even degraded land can hum again with life — if given space, time and trust.

👉 SUPPORT HEAL REWILDING