Episodes
Monday Apr 29, 2024
#14 - Danube Delta - Ukraine 馃嚭馃嚘 & Romania 馃嚪馃嚧
Monday Apr 29, 2024
Monday Apr 29, 2024
The Danube Delta is a complex network of river channels, wetlands, marshes, inter-channel islands and riparian forests. No matter the season, the region hums, thrums and squawks with life. Here, restoration works are focused on reversing years of drainage by agriculture and reconnecting the natural flow of water across the landscape.Further inland, at the Tarutino Steppe, the team are also busy regenerating large swathes of semi-dry grasslands, by reintroducing an army of grazing animals, both big and small, to reignite natural processes.
The work here is ambitious on any level, but to keep such focus on the restoration of nature, whilst a large-scale invasion of your country is happening, is a testament to the resolve and resilience of the people here, and also the hope that rewilding brings.
Monday Mar 25, 2024
#13 - Southern Carpathians - Romania 馃嚪馃嚧
Monday Mar 25, 2024
Monday Mar 25, 2024
The Southern Carpathians of Romania are at the tip of Europe鈥檚 third-longest mountain chain. Here, ancient woodland cascades over the hillsides and the full suite of apex predators still roam amongst the trees.聽
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For many years, there has been a missing element of these wild landscapes. The woodlands have been devoid of their biggest sculptor, until now.
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Since 2013, European bison have come back into the equation. They disturb and disrupt as they feed, trample and push their way through the trees, leaving a dynamic wake of聽ecological processes no other species can聽achieve. Tune in to hear all about it.
Monday Feb 26, 2024
#12 Central Apennines - Italy 馃嚠馃嚬
Monday Feb 26, 2024
Monday Feb 26, 2024
The Central Apennines are just a couple of hours from Rome, and yet this is a landscape where Italian wolves roam, Marsican brown bears awake from season-long slumbers and native crayfish gather in crystal clear pools.
The team here is absolutely passionate about people and place. They intertwine the need for species conservation and restoring landscape-scale ecological functions with promoting sustainable businesses and growing an unbreakable connection between communities and their surrounding environment.
The Central Apennines is one of ten inspiring Rewilding Landscapes across the continent, set up by Rewilding Europe with local teams on the ground.
Monday Jan 29, 2024
#11 LIFE Lynx - Slovenia 馃嚫馃嚠
Monday Jan 29, 2024
Monday Jan 29, 2024
Whilst Eurasian lynx still have strongholds in the east of their range, subpopulations in western Europe have long been under threat. In the Dinaric Alps of Slovenia, these elusive felines are now considered endangered.
So how do you go about saving the ghost of the forest? How do you even start to help an animal that does not wish to be seen? A transboundary initiative has been pulling together expertise from across the continent to bring the population back from the brink.
LIFE Lynx is a member of the European Rewilding Network, a collection of groundbreaking initiatives across the continent, brought together by Rewilding Europe as part of a broader rewilding movement.
Thursday Nov 30, 2023
#10 Velebit Mountains - Croatia 馃嚟馃嚪
Thursday Nov 30, 2023
Thursday Nov 30, 2023
The Velebit Mountains are a 145km long mountain chain in Croatia. On the face of it, these forested hillsides seem like a rich wilderness area, but beneath the canopy, humans have shaped the land and the array of animals that live here.
The Rewilding Velebit team is reinvigorating trophic chains through reintroductions of herbivores and carnivores alike. They're on a journey to transform the extractive economies of forestry and hunting tourism into more regenerative ways of making a living, through eco-tourism and carbon sequestration.
The Velebit Mountains is one of ten inspiring Rewilding Landscapes across the continent, set up by Rewilding Europe with local teams on the ground.
Monday Oct 30, 2023
#9 Lille Vildmose - Denmark 馃嚛馃嚢
Monday Oct 30, 2023
Monday Oct 30, 2023
Lille Vildmose is Denmark's biggest protected area and home to northwestern Europe's largest raised bog. This is a vital store for both carbon and water.
As with many ecosystems across the continent, it has been exploited by humans over past centuries through sphagnum moss harvesting and peat mining.
In this episode, we explore how four-legged tree trimmers are being utilised to restore the bog for the future.
Lille Vildmose is a member of the European Rewilding Network, a collection of groundbreaking initiatives across the continent, brought together by Rewilding Europe as part of a broader rewilding movement.
Saturday Sep 30, 2023
#8 Meuse Valley River Park - The Netherlands 馃嚦馃嚤
Saturday Sep 30, 2023
Saturday Sep 30, 2023
The Meuse Valley River Park is a pioneering partnership in the southern tip of the Netherlands. Here, an unlikely collaboration between miners & ecologists is working hard to rewild a river.
The different stakeholders have come together to pave a new way for gravel extraction, nature restoration and flood protection to work side by side. Where a historically modified landscape recently sat, a dynamic ecosystem is now progressing.
A large stretch of river is being released from its shackles and being given the space to act more freely.
The Meuse Valley River Park is a member of the European Rewilding Network, a collection of groundbreaking initiatives across the continent, brought together by聽Rewilding Europe聽as part of a broader rewilding movement.
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Monday Aug 28, 2023
#7 Knepp Wildland - England 馃彺鬆仹鬆仮鬆仴鬆伄鬆仹鬆伩
Monday Aug 28, 2023
Monday Aug 28, 2023
Knepp Wildland has become one of the most important areas in Britain for breeding birds. It's brimming with butterflies and humming with crickets. It's bucking the trend of biodiversity declines across the board.
Why?
Because the team here has allowed in the untidy. They've welcomed a tangle of scrub and a knot of thorns.
The most inspiring thing about this is the speed of change. Just 15 years ago, this was an intensive farm.
Knepp Wildland is a member of the European Rewilding Network, a collection of groundbreaking initiatives across the continent, brought together by Rewilding Europe as part of a broader rewilding movement.
Monday Jun 26, 2023
#6 Grote Netewoud - Belgium 馃嚙馃嚜
Monday Jun 26, 2023
Monday Jun 26, 2023
Grote Netewoud is a rewilding area in the heart of one of Europe's most densely populated countries. Here, Belgium's largest nature organisation, Natuurpunt, is restoring the natural flow of water to allow the return of alluvial forest.This special ecosystem is a tangle of willow and alder, where beavers work their magic & an eruption of dragonflies & damselflies dance above the standing water.But can rewilding still work at a smaller scale & alongside all the complications human infrastructure brings to the table?Grote Netewoud is a member of the European Rewilding Network, a collection of groundbreaking initiatives across the continent, brought together by聽Rewilding Europe聽as part of a broader rewilding movement.
Monday May 29, 2023
#5 Greater C么a Valley - Portugal 馃嚨馃嚬
Monday May 29, 2023
Monday May 29, 2023
The Greater C么a Valley is a 120,000-hectare watershed where rewilding is helping create a healthy, natural corridor for some of the country's most iconic species.
The Rewilding Portugal team is working to improve co-existence between predators and rural communities whilst creating more natural ecosystems that are resilient to fire.
The Greater C么a Valley is one of ten pioneering, large-scale landscapes created by Rewilding Europe to demonstrate the benefits of wilder nature.
Join James Shooter as he discovers this awe-inspiring location, home to Iberian wolves, Egyptian vultures and dung beetles.
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My name’s James Shooter and for the last 10 years I’ve been working for a rewilding charity in the Highlands of Scotland. I’m a photographer and filmmaker by trade and as part of a small team, I’ve been helping to tell stories from the natural world through books, articles and documentaries.
This year, I’m teaming up with Rewilding Europe to produce a new podcast where we’ll be traveling around the continent, shining a light on the passionate people and inspiring initiatives fighting back for nature.