Roborough Rewilders

Our fields

Find out more about our Roborough Fields

In February 2020 Nick and Annie Benge bought 10 acres of Devon farmland just north of the village of Roborough, in rural North Devon (OS Grid Ref: SS576175). The two fields were a mixture of grazed pasture and rush pasture, and had been used for low-intensity agriculture for the last 15 years or so. The west field was semi-improved grassland that had been grazed by sheep, and the east field was wet and had just been cut periodically for animal bedding.

The fact that the site already had ancient Devon bank hedgerows and a supply of clean spring water from above allowed for significant habitat creation, with an overall aim to create a biodiversity hotspot. The surrounding land also had Devon banks, woodland and fallow fields with no intensive agriculture, so the new habitats would blend into and reinforce the existing plant and animal communities.

Our Project Timeline

2020
May
a green field with a cartoon style sold sign on it
Fields purchased
June
a banner with a kestrel hovering against the sky and above trees, with the words welcome to roborough rewilders
Website went live
August
Front cover of Clarkson & Woods ecological survey for the project
Baseline survey completed
September
Various people stood either side of a grassy path with longer grass either side. All are looking towards the camera
Friends of the Fields 1st meeting
2021
January
scraped areas of turf in a wet spell, lots of water laying on the soil. The turfs have created banks which have trees planted in them
Wetland constructed
April
areas that have been scraped of their turf - these bare soil areas are very dry. The turf has created banks which have been planted with trees
Hedgerows & wildflower habitat created
September
View across a grass field, with a fence and gate to the left, and work tools left alongside
Fencing of Middle Meadow
September
close up photo of yellow rattle seeds
Yellow Rattle seed sown
October
shetland sheep in various colours in an area of grass which has been fenced either side
Shetland sheep introduced
December
tamworth pigs all with their snouts down turning over the grass in a field
Tamworth pigs introduced
2022
March
Goren farm label stuck on a bag of premium wildflower meadow mix
Wildflower seed sown
August
red ruby cattle stretching up and browsing willow trees in amongst rough vegetation
Red Ruby Devon cattle introduced
2023
May
Screenshot from the charity commission website, showing the registered details for roborough rewilders
Became a charity
August
a single red devon animal in amongst vegetation, it's looking straight at the camera
Red Ruby Devon cattle - 2nd visit
2024
January
charity logo of a hand holding a little pile of soil and a plant, the word charity is on the hand with a red heart forming the dot of the i
Fields donated to the charity
August
photo shows a line up of 9 red ruby cattle, all facing the camera in a field, with a hedge behind them
Red Ruby Devon cattle - 3rd visit

We set out to transform the east field into a wetland complex of shallow pools, ditches and deeper ponds, trickling the spring water out over the land to create a proper wetland and wet meadow. The west field had lighter soils and here we planned a dense complex of Devon-bank hedgerows, ditches, field trees and wildflower.

The overall aim of the project was always to increase biodiversity as much as possible. 

Species Totaliser

Our baseline survey in August 2020 by the ecology company Clarkson & Woods revealed 250 species of animals and plants ~ we currently have

570

an image of a thermometer with ivy growing up it, the bulb at the bottom is the earth and the scale shows a reading of just over 550

To find out more, click on the links below.

The Land

Project Details

Meet the Team