Wildlife Trusts raise £30m to buy and rewild Northumberland's Rothbury estate

The Wildlife Trusts have reached their £30m fundraising target to buy the Rothbury estate in Northumberland, clearing the way for one of the most ambitious nature recovery projects ever undertaken in England.

The appeal was launched two years ago after the estate was put up for sale by Max Percy, the youngest son of the Duke of Northumberland. At more than 3,800 hectares — nearly 15 square miles, an area the size of Athens — it is the largest piece of land in single ownership to come to market in England in more than 30 years. Campaigners called the purchase a once-in-a-generation opportunity.

David Attenborough, who championed the campaign, thanked the public on Friday, saying that support arriving in thousands meant a landscape where nature and people thrive side by side could become a reality.

'Elated and humbled'

Mike Pratt, chief executive of Northumberland Wildlife Trust, said he felt elated at the campaign's success and humbled by the response.

"There was £17m from the public to make this happen and that is at the forefront of my mind – we've got to honour that support and make sure that people come here and really enjoy getting close to wildlife," he told the Guardian at Lordenshaws, the site of an iron-age hill fort and one of England's largest clusters of ancient cup and ring marked rocks.

The estate takes in the Simonside hills, wild moorland, valley woodlands and farm fields. The trust plans to restore and extend habitats, aiming to increase numbers of species already present, such as mountain bumblebees and red squirrels, and to help bring back water voles, encourage pine martens and see more curlew.

The longer-term ambition is for Rothbury to become the "beating heart" of a 40-mile nature corridor running from Druridge Bay on the coast to the Scottish-English border at the Kielderhead and Whitelee Moor national nature reserves. The trust believes more nature tourism would also benefit the town of Rothbury.

Sophie Bulgin, the Rothbury project manager, said volunteers' enthusiasm had overwhelmed her. Projects include eco-acoustic monitoring, with people walking miles through shoulder-high bracken to install and collect recorders that capture the sounds of small mammals and bats, plus earthworm counts due in a fortnight.

Funding and opposition

Alongside donations from 25,000 members of the public, the National Lottery Heritage Fund gave £5m. Charitable foundations and philanthropists made large donations, and the government pledged £1.94m this week.

Not everyone backed the plan: some farmers called it a folly. Guy Renner-Thompson, a councillor and chair of Northumberland Conservatives, questioned the government's priorities after its funding decision.

"Farmers on the estate have already raised concerns about food production, changes to traditional land management and whether their businesses can remain profitable," he said. "Those concerns deserve answers before ministers reach for the chequebook."

Pratt said the trust had worked closely with farmers and wanted to demonstrate that land can support plenty of wildlife and still be a productive business.

Source: The Guardian World.