Somerset Wildlands is setting aside land for nature restoration and rewilding.

Our Mission

The Somerset Levels and Moors in the South-West of England were once this region’s Danube Delta. From pelicans to lynx, beavers to sturgeons, they would have teemed with wildlife. Somerset Wildlands is a charity aimed at restoring some of that lost wildlife and wildness through a process of distributed rewilding we call ‘wild stepping stones’.

Beginnings

Our journey began in 2016 when our Director purchased a few small fields in the Levels and began a gentle process of small-scale rewilding, allowing nature to take its course, and watching as plants and animals colonised the space. Following this experience Somerset Wildlands was founded in 2020 and purchased its first land in 2022.

Wild stepping stones

Somerset Wildlands is developing a network of sites throughout the Levels. Each of these will be managed in as light-touch a way as is possible allowing nature to take the lead, and each will be subtly different. Rather than one big rewilded estate, over time this will create numerous ‘wild stepping stones’ - providing refuges and diversity within the overall landscape, and adding something to the existing mix of managed nature reserves and farmland.

How we are different

Most nature conservation in the UK focusses on protecting particular species and habitats, often involving intensive management. This is important, but is not enough. We need to make more space for nature to ‘do its thing’, free from our control. This is called rewilding. At the same time we want to show that rewilding is for everyone, at large and small scales.

Building a community

As we set aside land for nature we will build a community around rewilding in the Levels. We will work with landowners looking to rewild their own land, and provide ways for people - particularly younger people - to get involved. If you have land you would like to rewild, why not get in touch?

Beavers, boars, pelicans

Over time we will seek to return wildlife which has been lost from the Levels – from small animals like harvest mice or glow worms to working with others to create the conditions where larger animals such as pelicans or wildcat can return. If larger animals already present in Britain return by themselves – for example wild boar, beaver or sea eagle – we will welcome them with open arms. At the same time new species may start to arrive naturally as the climate changes. These too will be welcomed.

Meet the Team

  • Alasdair Cameron

    Founder and Executive Director of Somerset Wildlands. Alasdair is an environmental campaigner with many years experience working on international wildlife trade, beaver reintroduction, climate change, conservation, investigations, energy and much else besides

  • Peter Cooper

    Ecological consultant and general animal wrangler. Pete was an early supporter of Somerset Wildlands and while he now works for Restore, a specialist business supporting rewilding and restoration in the UK, he is always willing to provide expert advice. Most of his work so far has focused on wildcats, fossorial water voles, glow-worms and harvest mice, the latter of which Pete lead a release of in Godney Marshes in 2019.

  • Natasha Hurley

    Natasha is one of our Trustees, and is a long-standing environmental campaigner and activist. She currently works at the Changing Markets Foundation in London where she is running a campaign to stamp out the use of wild-caught fish in aquaculture . She has a lifelong passion for food, people and the great outdoors and is very excited about helping Somerset Wildlands flourish and thrive!

  • David Powell

    Dave is Chair of our Board of Trustees. He is an expert in communications, environmental economics, and policy. Dave works for the communications charity Climate Outreach. He was previously Head of Environment at the New Economics Foundation and Senior Economics Campaigner at Friends of the Earth, and helped to incubate the community engagement charity, Rights Community Action. 

    Dave hosts the monthly podcast Your Brain on Climate, and was previously co-host of the veteran comedy podcast, Sustainababble. He is also chair of the South London Jazz Orchestra.

  • Debbie Banks

    Debbie is one of our Trustees. An environmental campaigner, she leads on Tigers and Wildlife Crime for the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). Debbie has been with EIA since 1996, overseeing and participating in investigations into Asian big cat poaching and trafficking, tiger farming and the role of organised crime in illegal wildlife trade in the trans-Himalayan and Mekong region.

  • Lynne Davies

    Lynne is a fundraiser, with a wide range of experience gained over the last decade in the charity sector. She currently works as Fundraising Manager at Plan International UK, and has previously worked at a variety of environmental charities. Lynne is deeply passionate about nature conservation and international development causes, and is committed to developing new and innovative approaches to fundraising that demonstrate the impact of the non-profit sector.

Funding

Somerset Wildlands is funded by a mixture of public donors, trusts and charitable foundations and donations from suitable companies. We have a membership that donates monthly and a number of donors who give one-off sums. We publish the names of all sources of grants and company donations, and private donations greater than £5000 in our annual report. You can find our latest annual reports here.

2023-2024 annual report
2022-2023 annual report