War of the wild: How trendy metropolitan eco-zealots with close ties to Boris Johnson are set on driving out traditional farming and 'rewilding' the land

When winter comes, an upsetting sight can greet office workers taking the train from the commuter town of Lelystad into central Amsterdam.

Roughly 25 miles east of the Dutch capital, they pass a nature reserve called the Oostvaardersplassen, where herds of red deer, wild horses and cattle roam free.

The 5,000-hectare plot is supposed to provide a rare haven for wildlife in one of Europe's most densely-populated countries. But when the weather turns cold, it can become more of a prison.

Bountiful: The Troutbeck Valley in the Lake District is pictured above. In the UK, rewilding is nonetheless one of the buzzwords of the moment, inspiring everything from a plotline in The Archers to a number of bestselling books

Bountiful: The Troutbeck Valley in the Lake District is pictured above. In the UK, rewilding is nonetheless one of the buzzwords of the moment, inspiring everything from a plotline in The Archers to a number of bestselling books 

That's because the creatures which inhabit this low-lying expanse of marsh and grassland find themselves with very little to eat.

Slowly, but surely, they starve to death. In particularly hostile winters, when the ground can freeze solid, hundreds — and sometimes thousands — perish, filling fields next to the railway tracks with emaciated corpses.

This appalling spectacle, which has occurred several times in recent years, is the result of an experiment in 'rewilding' — a trendy, but for some, highly controversial form of land management in which large areas of countryside are allowed to revert to nature.

Popular with conservationists (but hated by many farmers) it boasts many powerful supporters in the UK.

They believe removing land from agricultural production can help fight climate change and reverse the catastrophic decline in wildlife populations we have suffered in recent decades.

Boris Johnson's Government, currently formulating a farm-subsidy policy for life outside the EU, seems particularly keen.

Dead animals are pictured above on Holland’s Oostvaardersplassen reserve. The 5,000-hectare plot is supposed to provide a rare haven for wildlife in one of Europe's most densely-populated countries

Dead animals are pictured above on Holland's Oostvaardersplassen reserve. The 5,000-hectare plot is supposed to provide a rare haven for wildlife in one of Europe's most densely-populated countries

Indeed, large amounts of public money could be diverted from traditional farming and used to help rewild the British countryside.

Yet if events at the Oostvaardersplassen are anything to go by, the results may not always be so pretty as proponents expect.

This reserve was created in the 1980s, when scientists introduced 32 cows, 18 horses and 40 deer to an expanse of land reclaimed from the sea.

They thought grazing animals would prevent it becoming dense forest and instead create a varied habitat of grassland, scrub, marsh and open woodland in which rare birds could thrive.

Initially, it was a success. Known as the 'Dutch Serengeti', it became home to 29 endangered species, including majestic sea eagles.

Yet as the years went by, a problem emerged: since the cows, horses and deer had no natural predators, their population grew, remorselessly.

Eventually, it peaked at 5,230 horses, cows and deer. At that level, the animals began to damage the bird-friendly habitat they were supposed to create. Soon there was not enough food to see them through winter.

In 2016, a shocking video that went viral showed emaciated creatures pressed up against the Oostvaardersplassen's fence, desperate for food. In the background, foxes and crows picked at corpses.

Two years later, a cold snap saw 3,226 animals perish. Although rangers were by then employed to patrol the park, shooting animals on the verge of death and removing their bodies from view of railway tracks, the situation became a national talking point.

Animal rights activists called for the project to be abandoned. Dutch farmers complained they'd face prosecution for keeping livestock in such an awful condition. 

When the weather turns cold, it can become more of a prison. That's because the creatures which inhabit this low-lying expanse of marsh and grassland find themselves with very little to eat

When the weather turns cold, it can become more of a prison. That's because the creatures which inhabit this low-lying expanse of marsh and grassland find themselves with very little to eat

But the scientists behind the scheme were adamant: starvation was nature's way of restoring the population to a sustainable level.

Hostilities peaked in early 2018, when protestors tossing bales of hay over the fence of the park were threatened with fines. Eventually, matters ended up in court.

All of which serves to illustrate three points. First, rewilding schemes rarely run as smoothly as they are supposed to. Second, they don't always benefit wildlife. And third, they have a habit of sparking ugly disputes.

In the UK, rewilding is nonetheless one of the buzzwords of the moment, inspiring everything from a plotline in The Archers to a number of bestselling books.

And to the concern of farming unions, it also appears to boast the support of several influential, if largely unelected, figures close to Boris Johnson.

One fan is Henry Dimbleby — son of broadcaster David and co-founder of restaurant chain Leon — who runs the country's National Food Strategy. 

Another is Tony Juniper, the former chief executive of Friends of the Earth — and Green Party parliamentary candidate — who is head of the Natural England quango. 

Last year, Mr Juniper declared that he wants to rewild one per cent of England 'as an experiment' and on Twitter he has dubbed rewilding 'essential'.

Eventually, it peaked at 5,230 horses, cows and deer. At that level, the animals began to damage the bird-friendly habitat they were supposed to create. Soon there was not enough food to see them through winter

Eventually, it peaked at 5,230 horses, cows and deer. At that level, the animals began to damage the bird-friendly habitat they were supposed to create. Soon there was not enough food to see them through winter

This week, Juniper added he wants to re-introduce lynx to the UK to keep deer numbers down.

This is a contentious strategy endorsed by the rewilding lobby but vigorously opposed by farmers, who believe their lambs and calves will provide an easier prey.

In August, furthermore, Mr Juniper spoke at an event called Bird Fair with the Prime Minister's girlfriend Carrie Symonds, calling for farmers to be removed from tracts of the Green Belt, allowing it to return to nature.

Then there is multi-millionaire peer and environment minister Zac Goldsmith, who is also close to Ms Symonds.

Lord Goldsmith, who believes rewilding delivers 'huge benefits', co-founded the charity Rewilding Britain, which lobbies politicians and helps run a number of rewilding schemes.

His financier brother Ben is also a co-founder of the charity — and happens to be a member of the board of the Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs, along with Henry Dimbleby and Tony Juniper, among others.

Ben Goldsmith, for his part, caused fury among farmers this week by tweeting that 'overgrazing' by upland sheep farmers — rather than near-record rainfall — was responsible for the devastating floods suffered in South Wales.

He apparently takes the view (again central to the philosophy of many supporters of rewilding) that getting rid of sheep farming would allow scrubland and forest to develop in the hills, helping to absorb floodwater.

Tony Juniper spoke at an event called Bird Fair with the Prime Minister's girlfriend Carrie Symonds, calling for farmers to be removed from tracts of the Green Belt, allowing it to return to nature

Tony Juniper spoke at an event called Bird Fair with the Prime Minister's girlfriend Carrie Symonds, calling for farmers to be removed from tracts of the Green Belt, allowing it to return to nature

Opinion is divided over the logic of that claim. So inevitably the tweet outraged local hill farmers, including Gareth Wyn Jones, who presents farming programmes for the BBC and was astonished to see a Defra grandee adopting what he saw as an anti-farming stance.

Wyn Jones publicly dubbed Goldsmith 'a patronising, privileged individual' who 'should be ashamed', saying: 'We've had devastating flooding here in Wales. Farmers and other families have suffered and are suffering, and you are blaming sheep grazing? You are unbelievable!'

It's not just Ben Goldsmith who has infuriated farmers.

Perhaps the most high-profile supporter of rewilding (and another founder of Rewilding Britain) is environmental campaigner and journalist George Monbiot, whose 2013 book Feral argued for natural forest to be allowed to take over hill farms where sheep and cattle graze.

Monbiot is a hugely divisive figure in rural circles. He's expressed a desire to see most livestock farming come to an end, and has accused farmers of creating 'sheep-wrecked deserts' in the uplands.

He argues sheep — he calls them 'woolly maggots' — have caused an 'environmental holocaust' in the Lake District because their grazing stops wild forests growing on its hills.

But farmers point out that the entire Lake District landscape of dry stone walls and majestic hillsides, which draws millions of visitors each year and is loved by the British public, was entirely shaped by sheep farming.

In the uplands, many of them devote considerable energy to planting trees and protecting habitats on their properties.

Will Rawling, the former chairman of the Herdwick Sheep Breeders Association, reckons Monbiot has caused 'more damage to farmer-conservationist relations than anyone in the last 30 years.'

Minette Batters, the President of the National Farmers Union, believes his florid language stokes attacks on her industry, sometimes with serious implications for her members, who have one of the highest suicide rates of any profession.

'We need to reflect on the mental health of farmers when they are attacked continually by people who don't even live off the land,' she says. 

'The language used can have real life consequences, and soundbites about getting rid of meat and calling sheep 'maggots' can have desperately harmful effects on real people.'

Objections from farmers recently scuppered the UK's most ambitious rewilding project to date, the so-called 'Summit to Sea' initiative which was to cover around 25,000 acres of West Wales, from the Cambrian mountains to the Dyfi estuary.

It was to have been funded by a £3.4 million grant, originally from the Tetra Pak heiress Lisbet Rausing who dreamed of a dramatic 'expansion of populations of native species like pine martens, horseshoe bats and merlins' via a wildlife corridor where sheep farming might cease in some areas and be scaled back in others.

Since the whole project was orchestrated by Rewilding Britain — which boasts Monbiot's partner Rebecca Wrigley as chief executive (their home in Oxford was listed as Summit to Sea's mailing address) — local farmers were unimpressed. Angry public meetings were held and protests threatened.

In interviews, opponents of the scheme claimed it represented arrogant interference by rich metropolitan outsiders in the affairs of a tight-knit and remote Welsh speaking community.

Ben Goldsmith, for his part, caused fury among farmers this week by tweeting that 'overgrazing' by upland sheep farmers — rather than near-record rainfall — was responsible for the devastating floods suffered in South Wales

Ben Goldsmith, for his part, caused fury among farmers this week by tweeting that 'overgrazing' by upland sheep farmers — rather than near-record rainfall — was responsible for the devastating floods suffered in South Wales

'It was a load of people from across the border, middle-class, Left-wing idealists who were funded by a billionaire, carrying out a modern form of right-on colonialism,' said Nick Fenwick of the Farmers Union of Wales. 

'They were saying, 'I have a dream so I'm going to go to a place that's not important, in another country, and impose my dream on the local hicks'.'

Before Christmas, the outcry forced Rewilding Britain to withdraw from Summit to Sea. The project is now under review.

As ever, when two factions go to war, neither side in this ongoing debate has a monopoly on the truth.

And it should be pointed out that even the most vigorous opponents of rewilding agree that sometimes it can be a huge success.

Take, for example, Knepp Castle, a 3,500-acre Sussex estate which, despite being intensively farmed since World War II, had rarely made a profit.

In 2001, the owners Sir Charles Burrell and his wife Isabella Tree embarked on a radical experiment that saw traditional agriculture on their land abolished.

They instead removed internal fences and introduced small herds of red deer, longhorn cows, wild horses, and Tamworth pigs to control the vegetation.

The battered ecosystem bounced back, with fields of crops and pasture replaced by a landscape of scrub and trees which is often compared to an African savannah.

Today, Knepp boasts the densest population of nesting farmland birds per acre in England. Numbers of turtle doves, supposedly threatened with extinction, are rising. Rare purple emperor butterflies are breeding.

Two per cent of the nation's entire population of nightingales live there. Its air is thick with insects, bats and owls, while the amount of carbon sequestered in the soil has doubled.

'The noise of birdsong is so intense,' says Tree, 'that on a spring morning, you can feel it vibrating in your lungs'.

What's more, the estate now makes a profit. They receive around £400,000 a year in government subsidies designed to promote conservation, and turn over the same again through camping and 'wildlife safari' ventures on the estate.

Another £200,000 comes from sales of venison, pork and beef sourced from their roaming livestock herds, and roughly £500,000 again is raised by converting former agricultural buildings into business units.

It is, in many respects, remarkable — and supporters of rewilding believe Knepp provides a blueprint that ought to be replicated on a 'landscape scale'.

However, sceptics aren't so sure. One problem, they say, is that Burrell and Tree own 3,500 acres of the home counties near London. 

Most family farms are a fraction of that size and are far from major cities, and so don't have people on their doorstep willing to pay £225 per night to sleep in a yurt, as Knepp does, or to rent industrial units.

'There is no way this kind of project is replicable on any scale,' is how Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance puts it.

'The concept of rewilding requires farming to cease. Unproven and often dubious economic benefits are no replacement for dismantling farming communities that were built over generations.'

Then there is the question of whether removing sheep from upland areas will actually increase biodiversity, as Mr Monbiot and others claim.

A long-running scientific study at Moor House, a nature reserve in Upper Teesdale where large areas were fenced to keep sheep out around 65 years ago, has identified very little increase in vegetation, and no significant growth in animal populations.

Other studies raise further questions about rewilding. In 2014, a team led by Cibele Queiroz of Stockholm Resilience Centre in Sweden reviewed 276 studies on the effect of farmland being abandoned. It found that while some areas saw an increase in biodiversity, most did not.

This is because landscapes farmed in traditional ways (as opposed to intensively) create a wide variety of habitats that animals love, from grassland to hedgerows. When farming stops, those habitats can disappear.

One fan is Henry Dimbleby — son of broadcaster David and co-founder of restaurant chain Leon — who runs the country's National Food Strategy. Mr Dimbleby told farmers in November last year that 'an area of the UK the size of East Anglia does need to be planted with trees for rewilding'

One fan is Henry Dimbleby — son of broadcaster David and co-founder of restaurant chain Leon — who runs the country's National Food Strategy. Mr Dimbleby told farmers in November last year that 'an area of the UK the size of East Anglia does need to be planted with trees for rewilding'

For example, the study explains, the Coa valley in Portugal was once used for small-scale cattle and pig farming and foraging, creating a mosaic of habitats, supporting lynx and eagles.

But farming there ceased, and the valley has been choked with scrub and forest, with the constant threat of wildfires.

In Japan, where rice farming is in severe decline as the population falls and people switch to wheat, abandoned paddies get choked with vines and bamboo.

Over past 15 years, that has caused a steady decline in insects, birds, amphibians and plants. (Supporters of rewilding argue 'abandonment' is very different from the stewardship involved in well-run projects.)

In any case, argue critics, large-scale rewilding — taking substantial areas of farmland out of food production — will leave Britain either needing to import more food or to farm remaining land more intensively. Neither option seems environmentally friendly.

Rewilding Britain insists, for its part, that it only aspires to stop farming on a small portion of our countryside.

'Less than one per cent of the UK is currently rewilded and 70 per cent is farmland,' says Alistair Driver, Rewilding Britain's director.

'We only have ambitions to reach around five per cent by 2100. This isn't going to make a huge impact on food supply.'

So can the two sides in this increasingly rancorous debate reach a compromise?

The omens are not good. In Holland, moves to carry out an annual cull of large mammals on the Oostvaardersplassen — to stop so many from starving to death — were unveiled by the government in 2018, only to be attacked by animal rights groups who want the creatures relocated.

Even now, lawyers are fighting it out in court.

Few believe it will be the last battle fought over rewilding.

The comments below have not been moderated.

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

We are no longer accepting comments on this article.