Renaturing (small ways to wild the world)

Renaturing is a lovely and unique book. We’ve all heard of rewilding, a good idea whether you own an estate or fund organisations to buy up land to provide natural habitats for birds and wildlife.

But this book focuses on a smaller scale, basically rewilding on your doorstep, starting in your garden! With a little bit of knowledge and care, you can rewild your outdoor space, to restore important habitats for all creatures, including insects and pollinators.

Also read about Patch of the Planet’s 10-Step Nature Gardening Course.

Use no-dig gardening (and avoid netting) to help wildlife (and ensure ponds have sloping sides). Also read our post on pet-friendly gardens. And learn how to stop birds flying into windows.

This is the story of a man who 20 years ago, moved from London to the countryside. Behind his farm labourer’s cottage with a small field, wit ha ‘for sale’ sign. Previously a place for family picnics and cricket matches, he knew that this 2-acre patch of land help great potential for nature to flourish.

So James decided to ‘rewild the field’. He built a wildlife-friendly pond, planted new meadows and created safe havens for wild birds and insects (and encouraged pollinators and wildlife, by encouraging flowers and plants). And soon what was once a grassy space, was again buzzing with life!

The author’s argument is that ‘rewilding’ can only really be done on a grand scale, if you own a country estate or on a government level. Renaturing is something smaller. It’s not mowing your lawn in May, planting a few pretty flowers for pollinators, not using chemicals to grow food and flowers. All of this is protecting nature, in a country that has now paved 50% of its gardens over.