Help rewild the 'birthplace of England'.
We have a fantastic opportunity to rewild 73 acres of one of England's most historically significant sites at Athelney. But we urgently need your help to make it happen. We need to raise about £500,000 in the next few years to pay for the purchase of the land, and the costs of management.
Please donate whatever you can or become a member of Somerset Wildlands to support this purchase. A donation of £50 pounds will secure the equivalent of 30 square metres of land for wildlife, forever.
The environmental and cultural opportunity of rewilding at Athelney is huge. It was here, more than 1000 years ago that the swamps and marshes of the Somerset Levels helped lay the foundations for the Kingdom of England, but providing refuge to Alfred the Great in his wars with the Vikings.
At the time this was a vast wild wetland, teeming with life. Beavers, wild boar, wolves, eagles, lynx and wild cat would all have existed in Alfred's day. Further back pelicans, moose and brown bear thrived in and around the Levels. Somerset Wildlands is looking to bring a little bit of that wildlife, and wildness, back to the area through rewilding. We cannot go backwards, and recreate exact habitats from the past, but we can create a wilder richer future for everyone. We also think that rewilding the 'birthplace of England' is a powerful symbol of the new future we can build together.
But we can't do this without you. The initial cost of the land was paid for with generous supporting loans from We Have the POWER's Funding Nature programme - established by Julia Davies. However we need to pay back these loans - and pay for scientific work, community outreach and core management costs.
About Somerset Wildlands
Britain’s wildlife is in crisis. But it doesn’t need to be this way. The Somerset Levels in the South West of England was once a vast wild wetland teeming with life, including lost species like pelicans, beavers and wildcats. Somerset Wildlands is working to bring back that life through rewilding, setting aside areas of land - large and small - where nature can be in charge.