Sunday Rewilder Exclusive: are pigs the new sheep??
St David’s day 2021
Four legs are better than weeds.
Lockdown III the sequel, prequel and whole kit and cabooquel continues leaving us listless, lustless and powerless to advance the rewilding programme through lack of funds, lack of direction and lack of labour [ everyone else in Wales being engaged in the production of lambs]. Against this tide we seem to be spending vast amounts of time and resource fencing OUT every last sheep from Red Kite Estate. I’m even demanding a Shepherdess’ crook for Mothers day - [who even knew there was a farmer’s co-op?]
Symbolic of spring, God, and on this Welshest of weeks, [Wales smashing England 40-24 winning the Triple Crown, followed by St David’s Day], the Welsh lamb should be being celebrated. Lambs are of course as adorable ( and edible) as any other baby creature and extremely useful to boot. I just fed one with a bottle at Granny Val’s [as it’s mum showed no interest at all] but it sadly died. It seemed so bright and characterful and full of hope but just didn’t make it. Those which do however, have evolved brilliantly to feed themselves on just about any of the decent different grasses and plants available in the uplands leaving only bracken, sedge and gorse in their wake. But our woolly friends are currently PNG and considered instrumental in the diminution of bio-diversity amongst the conservation cognoscenti. Being mild-mannered they roam free whereas their more intelligent (less biddable) chums lead more yard based lives. Surprisingly good escapologists they return to the locus in quo with Darwinian persistence, and whilst apparently not overtly intelligent, have certainly worked out the calorific value of food on the mountain.
Winston, our new coal black, bible black porker
So over the winter, we at Chillderness HQ have concocted our own version of the Recipe for #Rewildingredkite and for us right now, pigs and ponies are the new sheep. The rewilding theory which has been buzzing in my head since I read Feral by journalist George Monbiot some years ago [ the meme is not universally popular], is of trophic responses and regeneration. In his case he wrote of Yellowstone Park and the reintroduction of wolves at the top of the food chain that ate the deer which were overgrazing, particularly at the water’s edge which dramatically regenerated and renewed the wildlife and geography of the Park, even down to the courses of the rivers. We did not think our guests would like a replay of Red Riding Hood on their glamping breaks, and with our history of erratic stock fencing, we know our neighbours would probably take a shot gun to us, so we have stopped short at that lupine move. Instead, with some rudiments of O level biology, but throwing theory and caution to the wind at the same time, we will, in spring, introduce some semi-wild, largely vegetarian four legged chums. Although people do keep telling me pigs will eat anything, including humans. So it looks like Red Kite will be the ideal place to play murder in the dark if your family has been getting on your case during lockdown. But seriously folks - The theory is the creatures will graze and rootle and find different ways to churn up the crazy wild grass which has over taken the estate, nose up any native original species and create the groundwork for new air borne ones to embed themselves in the ruts the beasties will leave in the soil with their trotters and hooves. With the resultant seeds they ingest through one oriface and plant through another, they can plough the land a dam sight quicker than I can with a petrol strimmer, but more than that, we reckon this will result in attracting other forms of life and soak up the water from the boggy landscape left by the tree cull. Somewhere in there, I dare to dream that the common land behind us, known as the Desert of Wales will also regenerate [more anon].
The key is that the animals will not be fed by us, they will need to find their own food. We will have a CHP1 or something similar and watch respectfully from a distance. If we prove ourselves capable of husbandry [of which my own husband, David is not convinced], and our guests at RKB and the Conker can exist side by side with roaming creatures, we will breed next year. So watch out for Huckle, Berry and Flynn, 3 rescue Carneddau ponies and Winston and Blossom the semi Wild Boars. More on their provenance later but as I say, Lockdown has provided some good time for research and reflection.
Some time before the this band of merry four-legged friends had been shortlisted. I had decided we should jog the flora along by providing the woodlands with some winter colour. Even if it is white. [ Cause apparently bees see white as UV]. During Lockdown 1 The Prequel, when I managed to produce about three peas and a few runner beans at a cost to the earth and my pocket which was disproportionate, my family advised politely that I could give up providing for them with no sense of failure.
But I still believe I can reproduce. At my age it becomes a need. And so to accompany Joel’s tree planting, hail stinging our faces, November bulb planting took place. God actually must have had quite a hard time creating the world in Wales. Let’s just say that root, reed, rock and clay posed significant challenges.
I’m putting all my hope into these buoiss..
