‘Wilder Marches’ describes a unique natural and cultural landscape straddling the Welsh-English border and includes the headwaters of the River Lugg, River Teme and River Clun. Stretching across approximately 100,000 hectares, the area is home to long established rural communities and dotted with ancient woodlands, heathlands and peatland, flower-rich meadows, wood pasture and ‘ffridd’, a special upland habitat of scrub and grassland. The Marches also have areas of intensive farming as well as extensive forestry plantations where nature is struggling to thrive. The Wilder Marches initiative aims to enable a network of estates, farms, woods, nature reserves and commons to help nature recover once more.
New Welsh-English project to restore nature and boost rural prosperity across historic Marches
Today a group of Wildlife Trusts launch Wilder Marches – an ambitious nature recovery project across two countries, four counties and three major river catchments. Shropshire, Herefordshire, Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire Wildlife Trusts aim to create and restore habitats across the historic and distinctive Marches region.
Natures recovery and farming can go hand in hand - Photo Credit James Adler
I adore the Marches and this exciting new project presents a fantastic opportunity to restore this once abundant landscape along the Welsh-English border.
Due to its geographical location, the Marches has a critical role to play in water storage, ecological resilience and mitigating the impacts of the climate and nature crises. The current reform of farm subsidies has presented an opportunity to develop new business models that will help sustain farm incomes whilst allowing nature to be restored across the farmed landscape. Working with local communities and landowners, the Wilder Marches initiative will:
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restore and create lost habitats including peatlands, native woodlands and grasslands
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re-establish natural processes across river channels, floodplains and wetlands to help reduce the risk of flooding and improve water quality
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protect, expand and promote remaining strongholds of rare species, such as pine marten, curlew, and freshwater pearl mussel
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create ‘investible landscapes’ linking landowners and farmers to emerging green finance opportunities to help generate viable income streams for the rural economy
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encourage regenerative farming including conservation grazing with native breeds
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promote and develop local sustainable food production
Helen O’Connor, head of development at Shropshire Wildlife Trust, says:
“Nature doesn’t adhere to country or county boundaries and that’s why we’re so excited to be working at a landscape scale in the Marches. The region might be part of Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire, Herefordshire and Shropshire but it is a single landscape, worthy of defending with a deep sense of place. Given the shared cultural heritage amongst the Marches’ communities, as four local Wildlife Trusts we have a fantastic opportunity to work with local people, landowners, farmers and NGOs to identify areas of strategic importance and opportunities that will benefit habitats, wildlife and people.”
Iolo Williams, wildlife TV presenter and vice president for The Wildlife Trusts, says:
“I adore the Marches and this exciting new project presents a fantastic opportunity to restore this once abundant landscape along the Welsh-English border. I’d love to see the fields of the Marches full of curlew, lapwing and yellow hammer, ponds brimming with newts and frogs, and flower-rich hay meadows buzzing with insects once again. In Wales we’ve lost iconic birds such as the nightingale and corn bunting – and water voles are now confined to a few isolated sites and are threatened with extinction. Wilder Marches gives us a vision to help nature that’s in crisis and I urge everyone to support this initiative.”
Dr Rob Stoneman, director of landscape recovery at The Wildlife Trusts, says:
“Last year, the UK chaired a high ambition group at the Convention on Biological Diversity which secured a historic international agreement to restore 30% of degraded land and seas to allow nature to thrive once more. Given the dire state of the natural world, this is a game changer. But it’s important to remember that, as 80% of our land is used for agriculture, society must support farmers to find ways of reaching this exciting target. It’s vital that we green our rural economy in a way that is fair to farmers and to nature at a time when agriculture subsidy systems change and new trading relationships make parts of British farming less profitable. Wilder Marches is all about making that just transition a reality.”
Tony Norman, Herefordshire farmer, says:
“With the impending loss of Basic Payments our industry will see a step change in the way we produce food. We must improve our soils, reduce our costs and 'stack up' other sources of income. Accessing payment for services such as carbon capture and storage, Biodiversity Net Gain and flood control, will enable improvements in linking vital nature habitats, as well as supporting activity such as hedgerow management and tree planting.
"The Wilder Marches project can provide support for landowners during this transition. Its vision is to promote sustainable farming, green income streams and natural recovery to benefit wildlife and local farm businesses alike. By working together across the wider landscape, it will enable us to help clean up the rivers and streams of the Marches and to see more wildlife back on our farms.”
The Wilder Marches project will help develop local people’s understanding of the role of nature-based solutions and encourage them to take action for nature. It aims to help restore biodiversity and species abundance, and more broadly help foster a shared understanding of natural heritage, sense of ownership, and prospects for rural employment and economy. For more information please visit: shropshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/wilder-marches
Editors Notes
Additional quote: Jan McKelvey, head of conservation at Shropshire Wildlife Trust, says:
“Wonderful, and yes, sometimes wild (and that’s just the weather), the Marches has a special place in my heart. It’s a landscape of wooded valley sides, patchwork fields alongside winding rivers and rough moorland hilltops. At its centre are the people who created it - generations who cultivated and farmed it, and today still strive to make a living from this cherished landscape. This project looks to the future and how we can support both the people and the wildlife and keep it such a special place.”
Funding
The Wilder Marches initiative has received a grant from the John Swire 1989 Charitable Trust for the first two years of development. In addition to that fund, Wilder Marches aims to use new ‘green finance’ models to generate long-term income streams for land managers and for the programme. These include biodiversity net gain payments, carbon and nutrient credits and landscape recovery schemes. The Wilder Marches programme may access publicly funded agri-environment schemes to support the work of landowners for nature's recovery.
Shropshire Wildlife Trust (SWT) has a vision of a thriving natural world, where Shropshire's wildlife and natural habitats play a valued role in addressing the climate and ecological emergencies, and people are inspired and empowered to take action for nature. We combine projects across Shropshire (including Telford & Wrekin) with advocacy and campaigning to restore nature and to engage people. We manage over 40 nature reserves and have almost 50 staff, 300 volunteers, and over 9000 members. SWT is an autonomous charity, but we are increasingly working collectively, as part of The Wildlife Trusts, to ensure that our local actions have a national impact and help to address global issues.
Radnorshire Wildlife Trust
Radnorshire Wildlife Trust (RWT) is a registered charity, part of the federation of 46 Wildlife Trusts working across the UK to protect and restore nature, inspiring people to connect and take action for wildlife. We have over 1,000 members and currently manage 18 nature reserves and 1 farm covering over 400Ha of land. RWT believes that if we act now, together across communities and strategically with landowners and decision makers we can create positive change for both nature’s recovery and climate change – reducing its impacts and mitigating against in-bedded changes.
Herefordshire Wildlife Trust
Herefordshire Wildlife Trust is the largest member-based nature conservation organisation in the county, with over 6,500 members, 500 volunteers and 60 nature reserves across Herefordshire. The Trust has 60 years’ experience of managing sites valuable to wildlife and people and runs a variety of projects and partnership initiatives from environmental education programmes to conservation projects to protect, restore and celebrate Herefordshire's landscapes and wildlife. The Trust is part of the federation of 46 Wildlife Trusts based across the British Isles.
Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust
Since 1982, Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust (MWT) has been working to conserve and protect wildlife in our special corner of Wales. We manage 18 nature reserves covering more than 510 hectares, we have close to 2,000 members and around 300 individuals volunteer with us. Although an independent registered charity, we are also part of the federation of 46 Wildlife Trusts working across the UK.
John Swire 1989 Charitable Trust
The Programme Development phase funding is kindly supported by John Swire 1989 Charitable Trust.