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Poet-inspired project sees gains for wildlife

Katy Prickettand
Emma Baugh
News imageEmma Baugh/BBC Richard Astle standing outside. He had an aqua coloured scarf around his neck and is wearing a dark quilted zipped coat. He is smiling broadly. Behind him are fields, shrubs and grey sky. Emma Baugh/BBC
Richard Astle thinks John Clare would find great joy in hearing skylarks in the landscape he wrote about more than a century ago

A landscape restoration project inspired by one of the nation's most beloved nature poets has already seen good results, according to the project's chairman.

The 19th Century poet John Clare grew up in Helpston, Cambridgeshire, then a part of Northamptonshire, and wrote about the loss of the scenery he loved as a child.

The John Clare Countryside Project was set up in 2019 with the aim of connecting Peterborough to Stamford, Lincolnshire, through green corridors of farmland.

Richard Astle said the nature reserve at Etton Maxey Pits was "a real example of how you can restore nature in a landscape".

"This was originally just a pretty barren agricultural fields, good for food, not great for nature," said Astle.

"Then there was gravel extraction and after the extraction, they restored it to this wonderful wetland which is now full of nature and a great place to come and visit," he added.

News imageEmma Baugh/BBC Weathered looking greenish statue of John Clare. Its head is turning sideways and looking down, has deep eyes and sideburns. Behind it is a low-lying white painted building with black painted windows. Emma Baugh/BBC
John Clare was a fieldworker as a teenager and had his first poetry book published in 1820, called Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery

Astle said he suspected Clare would be "quite depressed" about statistics around nature loss across his beloved landscape.

The trust said in the past 50 years turtle doves have declined by 98%, nightingales by 90% and hedgehogs and brown hares by 75%.

"But I really hope that he'd come somewhere like [Etton Maxey Pits] and recognise some of the wetlands that he roamed around, writing his poems and would say, 'Goodness me, at last some of the nature is bouncing back', and I think he would take great solace in that," he added.

News imageEmma Baugh/BBC A wetland landscape with grass in front and beyond the fences are wintery reeds and pools of water under a grey cloudy sky. Emma Baugh/BBC
The John Clare Countryside Project wants to expand areas for nature and attract visitors to enjoy it

The project, led by the Langdyke Countryside Trust, hopes to create a wildlife corridor through Burghley Park, Barnack Hills and Holes, Southey Woods, Castor Hanglands and Milton Park.

It is a partnership of local landowners, charitable environmental trusts, businesses, civic organisations and local government, including 21 parish councils.

Hundreds of volunteers have got involved in nature recovery and creating nature friendly private gardens, while every parish in the area has its own nature recovery plan.

News imageEmma Baugh/BBC Two volunteers working along a hedgerow. In the foreground is a woman in a blue fleece with a black beanie. She is leaving over a wire fence with her yellow gloved hands towards a tree within the hedgerow, possibly pruning it. Behind her is a man in the distance also leaning into the hedgerow. Emma Baugh/BBC
Hundreds of volunteers are involved in the project, which involves 21 parishes councils

Astle said: "We want to recreate some of John Clare's lost landscapes, but we absolutely want people to come and enjoy them, to walk in the countryside, to come and visit some of the woodlands, the visitor attractions in this area, and just to take that bit of time out of our busy lives.

"There's so much evidence now about the power of nature in healing us both mentally and physically and I think we all need to do a little bit more to spend time in nature."

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