Today a group of Wildlife Trusts launch Wilder Marches – an ambitious nature recovery project across two countries, four counties and three major river catchments. Shropshire, Herefordshire, Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire Wildlife Trusts aim to create and restore habitats across the historic and distinctive Marches region.  

‘Wilder Marches’ describes a unique natural and cultural landscape straddling the Welsh-English border and includes the headwaters of the River Lugg, River Teme and River Clun. Stretching across approximately 100,000 hectares, the area is home to long established rural communities and dotted with ancient woodlands, heathlands and peatland, flower-rich meadows, wood pasture and ‘ffridd’, a special upland habitat of scrub and grassland. The Marches also suffer from areas of intensive farming as well as extensive forestry plantations where nature is struggling to thrive. The Wilder Marches initiative aims to enable a network of estates, farms, woods, nature reserves and commons to help nature recover once more.

Due to its geographical location, the Marches has a critical role to play in water storage, ecological resilience and mitigating the impacts of the climate and nature crises. The current reform of farm subsidies has presented an opportunity to develop new business models that will help sustain farm incomes whilst allowing nature to be restored across the farmed landscape. Working with local communities and landowners, the Wilder Marches initiative will:

• restore and create lost habitats including peatlands, native woodlands and grasslands   
• re-establish natural processes across river channels, floodplains and wetlands to help reduce the risk of flooding and improve water quality
• protect, expand and promote remaining strongholds of rare species, such as pine marten, curlew, and freshwater pearl mussel
• create ‘investible landscapes’ linking landowners and farmers to emerging green finance opportunities to help generate viable income streams for the rural economy
• encourage regenerative farming including conservation grazing with native breeds
• promote and develop local sustainable food production

Helen O’Connor, head of development at Shropshire Wildlife Trust, says:

“Nature doesn’t adhere to country or county boundaries and that’s why we’re so excited to be working at a landscape scale in the Marches. The region might be part of Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire, Herefordshire and Shropshire but it is a single landscape, worthy of defending with a deep sense of place. Given the shared cultural heritage amongst the Marches’ communities, as four local Wildlife Trusts we have a fantastic opportunity to work with local people, landowners, farmers and NGOs to identify areas of strategic importance and opportunities that will benefit habitats, wildlife and people.”

Iolo Williams, wildlife TV presenter and vice president for The Wildlife Trusts, says:

“I adore the Marches and this exciting new project presents a fantastic opportunity to restore this once abundant landscape along the Welsh-English border. I’d love to see the fields of the Marches full of curlew, lapwing and yellow hammer, ponds brimming with newts and frogs, and flower-rich hay meadows buzzing with insects once again. In Wales we’ve lost iconic birds such as the nightingale and corn bunting – and water voles are now confined to a few isolated sites and are threatened with extinction. Wilder Marches gives us a vision to help nature that’s in crisis and I urge everyone to support this initiative.” 

Dr Rob Stoneman, director of landscape recovery at The Wildlife Trusts, says:

“Last year, the UK chaired a high ambition group at the Convention on Biological Diversity which secured a historic international agreement to restore 30% of degraded land and seas to allow nature to thrive once more. Given the dire state of the natural world, this is a game changer. But it’s important to remember that, as 80% of our land is used for agriculture, society must support farmers to find ways of reaching this exciting target. It’s vital that we green our rural economy in a way that is fair to farmers and to nature at a time when agriculture subsidy systems change and new trading relationships make parts of British farming less profitable. Wilder Marches is all about making that just transition a reality.”  

The Wilder Marches project will help develop local people’s understanding of the role of nature-based solutions and encourage them to take action for nature. It aims to help restore biodiversity and species abundance, and more broadly help foster a shared understanding of natural heritage, sense of ownership, and prospects for rural employment and economy. The programme is underpinned by The Wildlife Trusts’ 2030 strategy.

For more information please visit: shropshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/wilder-marches