Rewilding ourselves: a bird’s eye view of the Ambios experience
To arrive in South Devon in time for an Easter Egg hunt is perhaps not the most obvious act of self love available to members of the homo sapiens species. After all, these omnivorous bipeds have been known for thousands of years for their preference for dry land habitats, compared to their ancestors’ sea-dwelling and marshy origins.
But living beings are adaptable, and in the end the wind, hail and ankle deep mud that besets this group of newbies proves no match for the warmth and camaraderie exercised each evening, combined with two of homo sapiens’ most critical inventions – fire and hot chocolate.
Arriving on the Sharpham Estate on the outskirts of Totnes can seem both a strangely primal and a comfortably modern experience. On Home Farm, put under a non-interventionist rewilding regime since 2020, patches of scrub, boggy ground and deadwood are navigated by wild-looking, Pleistocene-reminiscent ponies and hogs browsing for food. Yet up in the spacious Day Room, in the Treehouse or the Yurt, you’ll find the Ambios Spring Trainees poring over GPS coordinates, checking camera trap images, and analysing bat recording data.
Ambios – a long-term tenant on land owned by the Sharpham Trust – run their year-round, nature-friendly and organic farming operation while supporting dozens of people each year to learn about and engage with the natural world.
The Traineeship has new flavours this year. The eleven Trainees are the largest group to be hosted here, taking part in an extended 16-week programme. The course title: ‘Nature Recovery’, is also new, reflecting the now widespread acceptance that human ‘conservation’ of nature is failing, and that setting our ambition to beginning its regeneration is the pressing priority.
So who are these Trainees? They range from recovering school teachers with an interest in mindfulness in nature, to tiger conservation campaigners curious about the wildlife in their own backyard, to recent school-leavers and graduates beginning their journeys into nature-based careers. Their origins span from down the road in Exeter all the way to Australia.
This small population settles quickly into its niche in the interconnected ecosystem of Lower Sharpham Barton Farm, alongside the onsite team, long-term volunteers, regenerative farming students, and the marvellous staff and service users who attend the adjoining day centre for adults with disabilities.
There are also new non-human arrivals this year. Two Konik ponies – a hardy breed more closely related to Britain’s early megafauna than their pedigree counterparts – have recently joined the pair of Mangalitza pigs in the rewilded fields. The foursome’s combined trampling, browsing, rootling and dispersing will accelerate the diversification of plant and animal species across this land, which for years was kept as pasture for dairy cows.
There are still traditional farm animals here as well, with a dozen or so Belted Galloway cattle and a similar number of sheep and poultry. These creatures too, kept in their small numbers, contribute to the land management and food production of the farm. With several new livestock born during the Spring – including a small number of lambs that don’t survive – the full circle of messy, joyous life is played out among these small groups of grazers.
Every day on the Traineeship is different, with each week of the programme including activities ranging from garden planting and harvesting; building fences, tree-guards and bird boxes; deep-diving into UK land management policy and countryside stewardship schemes; to identifying and monitoring the plethora of species of birds,insects, mammals and plants on Sharpham.
It’s fair to describe the Trainees as unrepentant rewilding disciples, inspired by stories of America’s Yellowstone, the Netherlands’ Oostvaadersplassen, and the UK’s own Knepp Wildland – the latter stunningly portrayed in a cinematic documentary released this year. They nerd out on this stuff, reviewing tidbits of new knowledge at communal mealtimes. “Those swifts (UK red-listed as birds of conservation concern since 2021) dipping over the rewilding fields? Did you know some have been continuously flying for three years solid since first fledging?” There’s even wildlife-related gossip: “The beavers (now officially recognised as wild native animals in the UK) that appeared down on the River Otter? Wait ‘til you hear how they got there…”
Every day comes with new wildlife wonder, onsite or during the many day trips to other local hotspots. Sloworms spotted basking in the sun; seals and river otters popping their heads above water downriver; whitethroats and cirl buntings heard calling from the foliage.
The course, flashing past like the changeable weather, is more than a beginner’s guide to conservation. It’s a shared, often spiritual experience. It’s an exercise in opening your eyes to things that were previously peripheral, a discovery of new skills and fascinations; embodying the Robin Wall Kimmerer quote that “It is a radical act to reclaim your own attention and turn it to the natural world.”
It’s uncovering the euphoria of peeking into a nest of newly-hatched pied flycatchers; of cooking together with wild garlic, elderflower and nettle; of mastering the art of herding escaped cows and pigs.
It’s learning to live harmoniously with each other as well as the natural world, parking the penchant humans have for passive aggressive point-scoring and letting ourselves love each other’s imperfections; picking each other up when we’re down. It’s being open and vulnerable but ambitious and determined to take these learnings and wield them in a world that can often appear incorrigible.
The time spent here will be banked, redeemable in so many future settings: a memory box of light and laughter; the beginning of a personal encyclopaedia of nature-based knowledge; a network of friends and collaborators. Flying our Sharpham nest – like future ospreys and white storks will, if the team here gets its way – feels daunting and daring. But by playing our small part in rewilding the land here, we have also rewilded ourselves – reconnecting our heads and hearts to the life-giving systems that feed, foster and fascinate us.
✍ Luke Davis – Ambios Alumni (Spring 2024 16-week Nature Recovery Traineeship)
