“Heartfelt” book explores how we can all do our bit to bring wildlife back

No matter how big or small your garden, allotment or window box, Dr James Canton’s latest book gives you all the practical tips and inspiration you need to rewild your natural environment.

Renaturing: Small Ways to Wild the World is the latest book by nature writer Dr Canton, of the Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies. 

It’s been described as an “important, heartfelt message that there are things that we can all do to improve the current and evermore concerning state of nature” by Matt Collins, Head Gardener at The Garden Museum.

Renaturing was inspired by Dr Canton’s own experiences rewilding a field behind his home on the Essex-Suffolk border.

“I wanted to tell my own tale of bringing wildlife back to a small field and that of others who were also passionate about renaturing the world – naturalists, soil experts, gardeners, and even a scything expert,” said Dr Canton.

“Renaturing is about democratising rewilding. It is a book about ways in which we can all be a part of restoring nature, making the world wilder again,” he added.

Dr Canton’s own rewilding adventure started 20 years ago, when he moved from London to a cottage in the Essex countryside and noticed a two-acre field behind.

“I knew that two-acre patch of earth held more potential – as a place for nature to return and flourish,” he said.

Renaturing charts the journey he took, over a number of years, to rewild the field, digging a pond, forging meadowlands, creating habitats for birds and insects, and
encouraging flowers and plants that support pollinators and wildlife.

“Eventually what was once just a grassy space was again buzzing with life,” he added.

It was a project that inspired Dr Canton to re-think the term rewilding: “Rewilding is about bringing a large landscape back to a natural, self-sustaining state. But that isn’t possible on the scale of a field, a garden or a window box. What if we aimed for ‘renaturing’ instead?

“Even on the smallest of scales we can create habitats to support a greater diversity of nature. A single window box planted with pollinator-friendly flowers can provide a mini-habitat to support honeybees; a tower block with a window box on every balcony becomes an acre of bee-friendly ecosystem.”

Renaturing: Small Ways to Wild the World, published by Canongate, shows how the concept of rewilding can be adopted by everyone.