Strawberry Hill

Strawberry Hill Farm - drone view

Strawberry Hill

Strawberry Hill, a farm in Bedfordshire, has been left to rewild for 25 years. This 150-hectare site, the largest area of scrub and young woodland in the region, has presented a remarkable opportunity for WTBCN to protect this unique habitat and create a place where people can be inspired by nature.

In order to give the Trust time to raise the funds to purchase the freehold of the site, it has initially been bought by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Julia Davies of We Have the Power with help from some generous philanthropic lenders. 

Our vision

Our lives and communities have changed hugely in recent years – in particular the way we engage with the nature on our doorsteps. While screens, technology and online media have connected us in new ways, they have also contributed to a disconnection with the outdoors. But there is hope for our relationship with wildlife. 

We are embarking on an exciting project at a unique site right in the centre of our patch, within an hour’s drive of all the urban areas we cover.

Strawberry Hill - drone view with farm

About the site

Bedfordshire is one of the most intensively farmed counties in the UK. However in the 1990s, one enlightened farmer turned his 150-hectare farm over to nature under the Countryside Stewardship Scheme.

Some twenty five years later, Strawberry Hill has been transformed from arable fields to scrub and young woodland, providing habitat for large populations of an increasing diversity of species, monitored by local naturalists. 

Wildlife

Strawberry Hill is already an important site for nature. We aim to protect the species there and the special habitat that has developed over the past twenty five years, as well as enhancing it for other species to come in and thrive.

A recent bird survey showed healthy populations of nightingales, willow warblers, whitethroats and garden warblers with ideal habitat for turtle doves.

Strawberry Hill - drone view

What will be happening at Strawberry Hill?

Strawberry Hill is a unique opportunity for the Wildlife Trust BCN to save a site rich in nature and create a wild visitor destination.

We will make Bedfordshire, Cambridge and Northamptonshire wilder

Strawberry Hill will see the protection and monitoring of wildlife across 370 acres of land, which currently has no designation. We will secure the future of the species that have taken hold there in recent years and improve connectivity for nature within its boundaries and beyond.

We will undertake more research to better understand our wildlife and its needs

Strawberry Hill provides some unique conservation research opportunities. It will allow us to analyse the first 25 years of bird communities (thanks to detailed recording by local naturalists) and provide a more comprehensive baseline now, combined with habitat descriptions and measurements of carbon storage and sequestration rates.

Because of its size, different approaches to ecological development could be tested, informing management across our counties and the wider movement.

We will inspire more people to love and take action for nature

In the past, the harmony between people and nature was more obvious. We have embarked on a downward spiral of disconnection: as we are increasingly detached we value nature less, and the quality of our natural environment declines. It is vital that we continue to reverse this, both for our own sakes and for nature’s recovery.

Evidence says that if we get one in ten people taking visible action for nature we create a social ‘tipping point’ – a magic moment when a social behaviour moves the masses to do the same. Strawberry Hill will afford us the opportunity to engage with a more diverse range of people in different ways.

We will work nationally to benefit wildlife locally

Nature doesn’t recognise human boundaries. Government plans and strategies, climate change, pollution and the threats to migratory wildlife all affect nature on a local scale. If we want wildlife to thrive locally we need to engage at every level of society.

Strawberry Hill will reinforce our campaign to ensure that people recognise the need for nature’s recovery. It will also allow us to explore and develop other natural solutions to the climate crisis.

For further information email fundraise@wildlifebcn.org

Gorse and heather C. Mark Robinson

C. Mark Robinson

Philanthropic Loans

Unlocking the land for nature's recovery

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Scrapes at Stanwick Lakes filled with water

Our projects

We manage over 100 reserves across the three counties and also provide land management support and advice beyond our reserves, as well as running community based projects.

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Bedfordshire countryside

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