BISON AND PIGS ARE NATURAL AGENTS OF REWILDING

Bison roaming wild in a Kent woodland and B curly-coated pigs rooting in the open grasslands of Dorset are playing vital roles in returning two areas of countryside to the way they were thousands of years ago. It is a spectacular 'take' on the concept of rewilding.

- JOHN CRAVEN

The two separate schemes at Wild Blean woods near Canterbury and at England's first super-sized national nature reserve (NNR) on Dorset's Purbeck Heaths - have a common purpose: using livestock to mimic the behaviour of their wild ancestors and transform the landscape.

Both projects have recruited pigs (Mangalitsa in Devon, Iron-Age in Kent) that are the nearest thing to wild boars, Exmoor ponies and cattle (long horn in Kent, Red Devon in Dorset). They have been put to work as 'ecosystem engineers': through their natural behaviour they create the conditions for other wildlife to thrive.

Woodland is opened to light, soil is disturbed to benefit flora and invertebrates, and grassland becomes wildlife havens. On Purbeck Heaths (scene of this year's Springwatch), the National Trust and partners are establishing 1,370 hectares of open 'savannah' on the reserve.