Rewilded Holnicote Estate Stays Green Amid Drought
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- National Trust aerial footage of the Holnicote estate in Somerset shows land where rivers were returned to natural courses and wetlands restored remained lush and green through five summer heatwaves, while the surrounding countryside turned parched and brown.
- Holnicote's rewilding projects offer "strong evidence" that nature-based solutions can protect against wildfires, directly contradicting claims by rightwing commentators who have blamed rewilding for causing fires.
- Ben Eardley, project manager at Holnicote, said reconnecting river systems and creating "natural sponges in the landscape" stores water during droughts while slowing floodwater to protect downstream villages during extreme rainfall.
- More than 90% of the UK's wetlands have been lost over the past century, making restoration increasingly important for climate adaptation, water security and nature recovery.
- Harry Bowell, the National Trust's director of land and nature, called on the UK government to boost investment in nature-based solutions, warning another El Niño next year could bring more floods, droughts, heatwaves and wildfires.
- Dunwich, another National Trust estate, saw its lowland heath destroyed by wildfire this summer — a counterpoint illustrating the consequences where rewilding-style interventions had not been applied.
Why it matters: The Holnicote footage gives the National Trust a vivid, same-summer contrast to lobby ministers for expanded nature-based climate adaptation spending, with the trust's own Dunwich estate already burned this year underscoring the cost of inaction. Bowell's El Niño warning ties the case to a concrete near-term policy window rather than abstract climate anxiety.
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