AIBU about rewilding?

[monpetitlapin]

I'm in two minds about this and would be interested to know what wise Mumsnetters think. On one hand, I think Titchmarsh is right that "rewilding" probably produces less biodiversity than cultivated beds that are thoughtfully planted, but on the other hand, surely "rewilding" is better for manicured lawns?
So AIBU to think he hasn't entirely thought this through?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12305285/Alan-Titchmarsh-warns-trendy-rewilded-gardens-catastrophic-wildlife.html

If people see Giant Hogweed then please record it on iRecord or similar. It really is a dangerous plant and as an invasive non-native, the landowner has certain responsibilities and sometimes the local Council, Environment Agency or other bodies might have projects to eradicate it or deal with it in tricky locations, as yes it can be really harmful.
Also if it is posted on iRecord with photos then it becomes fairly simple to decide whether it really is Giant Hogweed or just a big Common Hogweed, or cow parsley, or hemlock or other native umbellifer.

I think rewinding in areas like the Lake District for example, which have been used for commercial purposes for many years (ie mining) and then abandoned, is a brilliant idea. It brings back so many of the native plants and wildlife.
I think for a garden, as mentioned above, it's requires more maintenance as we don't tend to have the creatures come in and keep certain plants and pests under control.
There was a really good series on BBC2 last year which was about this, and about the peat bogs. I think Simon Reeve presented it, but I could be wrong.
I prefer Monty's way of gardening to Alan's. I feel it's much more in tune with the surroundings.

I completely disagree with AT.

Sadly, I only have a tiny garden so rewilding wouldn't really have much impact, but what I have done is to make sure all of my plants are bee & pollinator friendly and I gets loads of bees & other insects. I much prefer that to some of the sterile, over manicured gardens I see out & about.

Agree about nettles and footpaths, but you hadn't said that in the post I was responding to (and remember I can't see your future posts while I'm writing my reply).

Most people can't distinguish between Giant Hogweed and Hogweed, if you can, then fair enough.

Rewilding is about restoring natural processes. To work well it needs a functional ecosystem (primary producers, herbivores, detritivores, top predators) and quite a bit of space. In a very small space such as a garden you can gain more biodiversity through careful planting and management but you will not be restoring the ecosystem in any meaningful way.

Wow lots of responses on this. Interesting that AT has financial interests in gardening chemicals that wouldn't be necessary in rewilded/wilderness gardens.

Re: the brambles, I've always encouraged mine and trained them into shapes with arches etc as I love the blackberries, but I know people are very polarised about them because MIL was shocked that I stopped her ripping them out of my garden (then she went blackberrying with her church two weeks later 🙄).

I particularly liked seeing the results on Clarkson's Farm when he let a big area go to wildflowers, it was a really beautiful image when they had all grown.

It never occurred to me before reading this article that wildflower areas would have a shorter flowering season but at the same time I had noticed the British hedgerows are tragically shortlived every year (and not a patch on the ones we had in the North of Ireland with the stunning golden yellow explosion of gorse hedging every spring).

Plenty of gorse in areas that have soil to suit it - lots of south wales is carpeted with it....

Oo great to see a thread on rewilding! Am working my way through Isabella Tree's latest large book. There's a section on gardens...

My garden has a large section which is wild - and it is full of insects. I’ve had so many butterflies this year and bees. It’s wonderful.

Exactly.

Wildlife friendly gardening is brill. Not the same as rewilding though which is more about restoring natural processes, such as large herbivores, even predators, flooding...

Brambles tend to grow in areas where there has been some previous construction, particularly in the countryside, where there used to be a lot more dwellings, barns, old single-track railways then there is now.

So it does take some human input to RE wild, you can't just leave it, or the brambles, bracken, etc take charge and reduces biodiversity as much as humans have done.

This.
The key is a degree of management and that's something that both forms of garden (cultivated and rewilded) have in common.

We’ve left areas of long grass and chucked flower bombs in the planters this year instead of the usual bedding plants. Massive increase in bees, butterflies and birds.

Planning to do the same next year in the established beds. It looks quite lovely if done in a contained way!

I have both in my garden, it’s not one or the other?

I live in the countryside - the herbicide for killing bracken (large ferns) is now banned - I am watching the surrounding hills slowly disappearing under bracken. So they will be green in the summer and rusty brown in the winter.
I wonder where all the ground nesting birds and hares will go.
Some things help wildlife, some things don't.

The asulam ban isn't about rewilding though it's about human health risk, supposedly.

Bracken encroachment though is a good example of why 'rewilding' timescales are so different to our own.

Actually I hate the term rewilding - people use it to talk about everything from land abandonment to landscape scale conservation to species reintroductions. It's pretty much meaningless.

So it does take some human input to RE wild, you can't just leave it, or the brambles, bracken, etc take charge and reduces biodiversity as much as humans have done.
Is this true? I was under the impression that brambles give shelter to all sorts of vertebrates and invertebrates, then willows and ashes start growing where they are, and then the brambles slowly move on to new territory, because that's what brambles do if left to their own devices.
I haven't really had a chance to see what bracken does, but I can't imagine it reducing biodiversity as much as, say, a new subdivision or a eucalypt plantation does.

@Jujubes5 can you explain why bracken is bad? We have a couple of bracken covered hills nearby and I relish their colour changes. Theyre used for cattle and horse grazing as well as being popular with walkers. I suspect there are lots of ground nesting birds there too.
Not challenging, but wanting to learn!

Bracken is potentially carcinogenic. It's an issue for people who work a lot in areas with high bracken cover, less so for people who just walk through bracken covered areas occasionally. Also, ticks like hiding in bracken.

@faffadoodledo
Review article on bracken carcinogenicity here with many further links

Wow @Igneococcus I used to live very close to a large Royal Park in SW London. Covered with bracken, and in summer full of picknicking you g families. Ooooer.

I don't worry too much about the ticks thing.Philosophically they need a habitat and coexist with the likes of deer who live among bracken too. It's always wise to carry a tick remover of walking in bracken, and keep checking legs in particular

I live at the West coast of Scotland @faffadoodledo there is loads of bracken all around me.
I've had an insane number of ticks this year already even avoiding walking through bracken. I had Lyme disease two years ago, spotted very early, so no problem thanks to antibiotics. I'm a little worried about the fact that the first cases of ticks carrying a virus causing encephalitis have been found in the UK. It's quite a problem where I grew up (central Europe).

I completely take on board your point about ticks. I know a young person who took 6 years to complete her degree and hasn't been able to work - all due to Lymes disease.
I wonder whether we need a bigger public info campaign? As a counter balance to the rise of bracken?

I was lucky to have spotted mine because of a typical erythema migrans developing but not all Lyme infections get the rash, then they can be hard to diagnose.
Lorna Slater, the Scottish minister for biodiversity has just blocked the use (in Scotland) of the only approved chemical that controls bracken, so Scottish farmers now have to remove bracken manually from their fields which they won't be able to do for large areas. I do understand the reluctance to use herbicides, I really do, I'm a biologist, we follow organic principles in our garden and allotment, but there has to be some sort of compromise here, hills covered in bracken aren't biodivers, besides the safety issue.