The curlew, mountain bumblebee, lapwing, and other wading birds are just some of the animals calling a one-of-a-kind noble estate home.
Now, people around the world have come together to donate millions to buy this critical piece of biodiverse land which had been in the hands of a British noble family for 800 years.
Sir David Attenborough celebrated the achievement, saying that “together, we’ve achieved something amazing.”
Attenborough is referring to the Rothbury Estate in Northumberland, described by the UK’s Wildlife Trusts as “a place of rare beauty… rolling moorlands, woodlands, and wide-open starry skies.”
Owned since the 13th century by the Dukes of Northumberland, it was recently acquired by the Wildlife Trusts following a remarkable funding call that saw £30 million be donated from over 25,000 supporters from 50 countries.
The plan for the estate, which covers 9,400 acres of the Scottish-English border, is to incorporate it into a 40-mile nature corridor across Northern England, stretching from Druridge Bay on the coastline to the east to an existing nature reserve to the west, and the estate, which had divided this key “moor to mar” ecosystem, right in the middle.
Simonside Hills, Rothbury Estate – credit, Duncan Hutt ©
The curlew, mountain bumblebee, lapwing, and other wading birds live along the estate’s moors, while the woods provide a refuge for endangered red squirrels, cuckoos, and the UK’s smallest falcon, the merlin. A Critically-Endangered species of eel lives in the estate’s rivers along with salmon, while a variety of other songbirds, like the skylark, fly overhead.
“With the communities who live and work on and around the estate, we are developing a vision for the future management of this remarkable landscape,” the Wildlife Trusts wrote on their website.
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“With nature-friendly, regenerative farming, we will place nature’s recovery at the heart of the estate, while respecting the rural traditions of this region. We will show how nature, community and the rural economy can work together, with people and wildlife thriving side-by-side.”
Multiple partners, including the UK’s National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), and the Esmée Fairburn Foundation contributed to the fundraiser which was launched 2 years ago.
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“The Wildlife Trusts called for your support and you answered in your thousands,” said Sir Attenborough, President Emeritus at the Wildlife Trusts.
“The appeal to secure the future of the Rothbury Estate in Northumberland has been successful and now the opportunity to bring the vision of a landscape where nature and people thrive side by side can become a reality. This will be a place where nature, community, farming and heritage can combine to create something very special for generations to come. ”
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