On a very hot summer’s day, a group of five Soroptimists and two Soroptimisters joined a 2-hour tour of Watercress Farm at Wraxall, near Bristol, organised by Bristol Avon Rivers Trust (BART).
The visit was part of our Club’s environment project. We were accompanied on the tour by four members of BART and expertly guided by Gil from the Belmont Estate. Gil supplied us with an incredible amount of detailed information about the history of the creation of Watercress Farm, its current development work and future plans for the site.
Watercress Farm is part of the Belmont Estate and it is a rewilding project. The site includes rough pasture, formerly arable fields, woodland and a small river. There is a resident population of Yellowhammers and Kingfisher with Spring migrants and other passage birds. Whilst there we enjoyed the sight of a Hobby hovering above the trees, a Kestrel and heard a Green Woodpecker.
Watercress Farm Rewilding is one of Belmont’s nature recovery and connection projects, restoring biodiversity, reversing climate collapse, reconnecting communities and enabling people and businesses to learn, invest and be in nature to inspire behavioural change for ecological and economic success.
Rewilding is to restore the natural processes that once underpinned our natural landscapes. By restoring natural processes such as mixed grazing, seasonal flooding, and natural tree growth, we can restore and regenerate our damaged and degraded modern landscapes. The combination of free-roaming herbivores (pigs, cattle and ponies) with the natural regeneration of scrub and trees enables the creation of a myriad of complex, dynamic and diverse ecosystems.
They have been seeing naturally regenerated trees popping up, saplings born of seeds that have capitalised on the patches of open soil created by the energetic rootling of our free-roaming Tamworth pigs. They are also witnessing a significant change in plant communities across the once-monocultural agricultural fields. Where once there was a single species of grass, they are now seeing complex communities of native herbs and wildflowers taking hold, supporting a vast range of insects and other species with their nectar as well as cycling nutrients and sequestering carbon with their deep root systems.
Belmont believes that our disconnect with nature starts in childhood, which they help to address through a free series of events and opportunities for children to get out in nature. This nature connection program at the heart of Watercress Farm has proved to be very popular, with over 3,000 children from all backgrounds coming to the project each year to learn more and connect with the natural world.
So thank you Belmont, this was a wonderful visit which enabled us to learn about regeneration of our landscape and enjoy beautiful scenery.