The perception that humans have been responsible, directly or indirectly, for the extinction or extirpation of certain species is leading to growing calls for ‘rewilding’ programmes that seek to recreate a primordial nature untouched by human actions.

However, in the case of Britain, human have been an integral part of nature since they arrived, along with the other fauna and flora, at the end of the last Ice Age – would it not be ‘un-natural’ to recreate an environment without people?

There is, perhaps, something to be said for conservation programmes that seek to recreate ecosystems more akin to those that may have existed prior to the advent of farming and intensive human intervention. One of the foremost proponents of this idea is Frans Vera, whose studies of ancient ecosystems, and in particular the role of the extinct aurochs in managing landscape and environment have been very influential. Details about his work, and the work of others that support and challenge Vera, can be found below.

British Wildlife.pdf