A "rewilding" project in west Norfolk has doubled the number of plant species in just three years, according to a new survey.
About 1,000 acres of poor quality farmland, and some woodland, was returned to nature in 2019 at the Wild Ken Hill estate, near Snettisham.
A vegetation survey was conducted before that process began, and it was repeated in 2022 to assess the impact on non-woodland areas.
It found the average number of plants in sampled plots had roughly doubled, from 16.8 to 33.2.
Wild Ken Hill credits these improvements to rewilding processes including the introduction of free-roaming livestock including Red Poll cattle, Exmoor ponies, and Tamworth pigs, whose "natural processes" help transport seeds, recycle nutrients and creating soil disturbance.
Wild Ken Hill project manager Dominic Buscall now expects knock-on benefits cascading through the ecosystem, as plants provide food and shelter for many insects and birds.
"There is a popular misconception that rewilding is simply about species reintroductions, afforestation, or bringing back specific species like beavers," he said. "But the truth couldn’t be more different at Wild Ken Hill.
"The very fabric of the ecosystem is being restored from the ground up in a science-based, nature-led, and low cost manner, benefiting the full suite of species, from plants and invertebrates to birds and mammals."
Several rare plants with conservation status – such as smooth cat’s-ear – had spread prolifically through the rewilding area, says the report, and one of the sampled plots increased from containing four species of plant in 2019, to 48 species in 2022.
Graeme Lyons, who produced the survey, said there had been significant change and "remarkable" results on sandy fields at the south of the site.
"To think they were just sugar beet and spring barley three years ago and now they are (in places) full of flowers, with common cudweed, smooth cat’s-ear and some silver hair-grass is fantastic," he said.
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