21 Aug 2026 - Amy
As summer draws to a close, I thought it would be a good time to update you on a fun tangent that I’ve been exploring, inspired by a workshop I attended in May at the University of Glasgow.
The workshop, titled Into the Wild, sought to bring together conservation and restoration practitioners with academics working in broadly adjacent fields, primarily archaeologists working on the reconstruction of past landscapes. It was a wonderful couple of days in which I learnt an awful lot, and which really got me thinking about my work, its potential utility, and how I might undertake meaningful science going forward. Because, however much my current fellowship and research direction might be focused on palaeoclimate and the precise dating of sediment records, I am still a palaeoecologist, even if I’m currently not a practising one!
What I loved most about the workshop was its focus on something I had not taken the time to consider before: what (or who!) are we restoring for?
We had fascinating discussions on the role of humans in the landscape, access to wilderness, and how nature restoration could be better supported through policy. I guess this is the advantage of working with archaeologists: their focus will always come back to the people who occupy a landscape, rather than the somewhat sterile landscapes I often envision with my geographical head on. It’s wonderful to spend time around people who view the world differently, and I was reminded that I should probably do this more often.
The big thing I have been thinking about ever since is England. My dad is from the wild west coast of Ireland, and because the Donegal countryside was the setting for all my happy childhood summers, that’s probably my favourite bit of wild. It’s not particularly wild, but it’s certainly wilder than, or at least a very different kind of wild from, anything that exists in England.
England’s landscapes, even the slightly more feral ones, are lived-in landscapes. The shape of England means it has very few peninsular hinterlands, and so wilderness has very little room to exist.
Where there is wilderness, it is often either heavily industrialised (e.g. the Peak District) or militarised (e.g. Dartmoor).
The climate is changing, and ecosystems are under greater pressure than at any point in recent history. There is already quite a bit of evidence that more biodiverse ecosystems are often more resilient ones. The basic idea is that diversity provides a kind of ecological insurance: when drought, disease, flooding, or other disturbances occur, different species respond in different ways, making it less likely that an ecosystem will lose its ability to function altogether. That does not necessarily mean that landscapes become more resilient simply because humans step back from them.
Some of England’s most species-rich habitats are the product of centuries of human management. But it does suggest that restoring complexity, diversity, and ecological processes may help create landscapes that are better able to cope with the uncertainties of a changing climate. Thus, as researchers, we have an important role to play in defining what a ‘wilder’ England might look like, and in ensuring that it makes our natural environment more resilient.
Yet the big thing that has stayed with me throughout this summer is that, whilst I believe it is extremely important that England becomes wilder, I am less certain about how that change should happen. I wonder whether the ways in which England is currently becoming wilder will make access to nature more equitable, or whether they will exclude people from it.
Because once we start asking who nature is for, we inevitably find ourselves asking who England is for as well.
I think, ultimately, the question is not just one of conservation, rewilding, and restoration, but also one of equality, justice, and, as I have recently made the first tentative steps towards applying this word to my science, socialism.
If, as scientists, we are laying the groundwork for a wilder England, we must also lay the groundwork for a fairer one.
Anyway, thanks to all who attended Into the Wild. I found it absolutely fascinating, and I can’t wait to see where all the amazing ideas presented, discussed, and seeded there go.
I’ll see you next month, or maybe the month after.