Have you heard that the 2020s are a crucial decade for Britain’s nature?
To halt the catastrophic loss of species, the UN estimates that we need to protect 30% of our land for nature by 2030. We are more than half way through the 2020s and yet England has protected as little as 2% and a maximum of 7% of its land. It’s little wonder that we’re one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world with 1 in 6 of our species under threat of extinction.
But this is a time of hope, not despair.
England may be one of the most nature-depleted countries and have radically unequal land ownership, but we are also an island of passionate nature-lovers who are coming together to protect our precious wildlife.
Wild Card is a grassroots movement of wonderful people across Britain united by a mission to see the return of our green and precious lands.
Our aim is to get Britain’s biggest landowners to rewild 30% of their land before 2030 – and with 1% owning half of the country there’s the potential to rapidly improve a huge amount of land (not to mention start some interesting conversations about land ownership and access).
This may seem wildly ambitious given how secretive and untouchable institutions like the Royal family or the Church of England can seem. And yet, just five years after we started, Wild Card has already celebrated wins on the Public Forest Estate, Duchy of Cornwall, and Crown Estate. We now need your help to take this further!
So, how do you win against a massive, ancient landowner?
The answer, as with so many things, is in community and in connection. Take our ‘Rewild the Ghost Woods’ campaign as an example. In early 2025, we launched this campaign aimed at getting Forestry England (Britain’s biggest landowner) to speed up their restoration of ancient woodlands.
These woodlands are the most biodiverse habitat in the whole of the UK, but instead of flourishing as rich, native wood, much of it was turned into sterile plantations of fast-growing, non-native trees – choking out the lives that once thrived there.
Amazingly, buried beneath these Ghost Woods are the seeds, fungal networks and surviving species which cling on from centuries-old ecosystems. The real jeopardy of the campaign was ensuring that restoration happened quickly enough to save these remnant species, because if progress continued to drag they would vanish forever.
To bring these places to life for people all across England, we hosted ‘Ghost Hunts’ – citizen science days out to local Ghost Woods to hunt for the remnant species and bring people’s attention to just how denuded these places are.
Ghost Woods aren’t something most people have a clear idea of, and yet I am certain that you have walked through one and noticed the eerie silence and dry needles on the forest floor. Perhaps you’ve looked over your shoulder, just in case there really was someone behind you.
Whilst much of what we do to campaign for Britain’s nature is digitally based, it is nearly impossible to fight for a place and species you have no physical relationship with. Those Ghost Hunt days formed the basis of the campaign, which swelled to encompass the support of well over 100,000 people (including the illustrious Dame Judi Dench).
Because of people’s deep passion for England’s woods, we managed to secure £5.9 million funding to restore our most important and irreplaceable ancient woodlands! And we’re just getting started.
This newsletter is all about finding those missions from our relationship with places – coupling our adventures into nature with a purpose greater than our own enjoyment.
So, if you want to hold Britain’s biggest landowners to account, if you want to give something back to the natural world that you love so much, or if you just really love being part of a colourful and joyful movement of people, we’d love to have you on board!
Get involved in our most recent campaigns here.
With wild optimism,
Rosie and the Wild Card team
