Wild Whittington- Letting Nature Take the Lead
Author: Ben Spinoza, Nature Recovery Assistant, 4th July 2024
Wild Whittington is an area of former arable farmland in the northernmost area of Chesterfield. Having recently been acquired by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, it has seen a dramatic change in management- but not quite in the way you might expect.
Since the site has been subject to intensive ploughing, harvesting and chemical application throughout its recent history, some serious changes are needed to transform the ecologically deficient farmland into a thriving nature reserve. The ploughed fields could be re-seeded with wildflowers, for example, or large numbers of trees could be planted. Perhaps the highly fertilised soil could be restored to a more natural state to make it more suitable for wildflowers? Without a doubt, it will require a huge amount of work. To make this happen, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust are calling upon our most esteemed and hardest-working ally: nature itself.
What is rewilding?
The restoration of Wild Whittington will be achieved through rewilding, which means that nature will be doing almost all of the decision-making. New plant species will reach the site through natural dispersal rather than seed mixes, bringing in animals which will further improve and diversify the ecosystem. Over time, new habitats will generate on their own rather than being directly created by us. The ecological balance of the site will be dictated almost entirely by nature, and as a result it will perfectly complement the existing habitats in the surrounding area.
At first this might sound like a rather passive plan, but in fact there is still a lot of work to be done. Our landscape evolved to accommodate many disruptive species such as wild boar and aurochs, most of which have been lost as humans have claimed the vast majority of the land for our own uses. Our native habitats are adapted to thrive in the presence of these ‘ecosystem engineers’, so replicating their activity- through manual conservation work or by utilising particular breeds of livestock- results in healthier habitats that support higher biodiversity and are more resilient to the ever-increasing pressures of climate change.
Knowing exactly what we need to do to complement the rewilding process is not simple, but thankfully we can once again look to our most esteemed ally for the answers by taking an evidence-led approach. This involves listening closely to nature- harnessing data collected through a plethora of different survey methods in order to make habitat management choices that are as informed and appropriate as possible.
Wild Whittington is a Biodiversity Net Gain site. What does this mean?
Biodiversity Net Gain (or BNG) is a fairly recent government directive that is designed to preserve biodiversity within the construction industry. It provides a technical framework for quantifying the biodiversity of a site. Since February 2024, developers are required to measure the existing biodiversity of a development site before work begins (the ‘baseline’) and commit to providing a minimum of an extra 10% on top of this. The directive places priority on implementing BNG within the development site itself, but if this is not possible it can be outsourced to an off-site provider. This where Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and other conservation charities like us can get involved.
Once an ecological baseline is established at a BNG site, a detailed management plan is drawn up which represents a legal agreement to implement the ecological uplift we’ve envisioned. We then sell the BNG units generated by the site to recoup the cost of purchasing the land in the first place. The developers’ legal requirements are fulfilled, vital conservation work is well funded, and large areas of land like Wild Whittington are given back to people and nature. Everybody wins!
What’s actually going on at Wild Whittington?
In order to create the most accurate picture of the progress at Wild Whittington, we need to monitor many different facets of the ecosystem- currently we are in the process of establishing the ecological baseline and understanding the current state of the site. By recording which habitats and species are present already, we can generate a good estimate of what the site might eventually become after a few years of rewilding. We’re achieving this through a combination of active, passive and remote methods which utilise a veritable arsenal of ecological data collection tools.
The majority of the data we are collecting targets indicator species, which through their habitat or diet preferences can tell us a great deal about their environment. For example, monitoring bats gives us a good idea of the abundance of flying nocturnal invertebrates present at the site, which in turn reveals the overall ability of the habitats to support invertebrate populations. We can then use this information to adjust our management activity to improve or maintain the habitat in the most appropriate way possible. Over time the data we collect will reveal trends in species diversity, population numbers and many other interesting things, and we’ll use this to review, adapt and optimise our methods.
During a visit to Wild Whittington, you might spot large pieces of roofing material for monitoring reptiles, or a well-hidden camera trap for collecting images of the local mammals. You could come across a static bat detector- a clever little device that autonomously captures ultrasonic echolocation calls at certain times of the day. After the site has had some time to regenerate, you might encounter livestock that have been specially recruited for their conservation grazing prowess. If you’re particularly lucky you might even meet a friendly ecologist with some behind-the-scenes information!
How can you contribute to Wild Whittington?
The more data we collect, the better the site will become for nature. Extensive as they are, the ongoing surveys can’t record everything, and this is where you can get involved. As you explore Wild Whittington, you will find fixed-point photography posts which you can use to contribute to our crowd-sourced monitoring of the site. Simply place your phone in the holder and take a photo, send it to us, and we’ll use it to visually demonstrate the magic of rewilding as the site is transformed over the coming years!
You can also help us by submitting records of the species you find at Wild Whittington to the Derbyshire Biological Records Centre (or DBRC). The best way to do this is to is to make an account on the DBRC Online Recording System, which you can find here. In fact, submitting species sightings either directly to your local records centre or through applications like iRecord is one of the best ways to contribute to nature wherever you are!
At Wild Whittington you can experience the rewilding process taking place in real time. Spending time in nature is good for all of us, so next time you’re in Chesterfield why not visit and see what you can find?