Alastair Driver
@AliDriverUK
Senior Advisor @GlobalRewilding; Specialist Advisor @HealRewilding @BroughtonSanc @RiverActionUK; Hon Prof @UniofExeter; rewilding and nature-friendly farming.
Just been released into the wild after exactly 100 months as Director of @RewildingB. It's been an amazing and thoroughly enjoyable journey and an absolute privilege! I will continue in a similar vein with other organisations tbc, but in the meantime here are my top 5 highlights:
Had a very pleasant walk and chat with our MP @YuanfenYang to Ali’s Pond LNR today. Topics included Thames Water (inevitably), local nature sites and community engagement, the value of allotments and growing your own food, and the emerging benefits of “No Mow May”.
Check this thread on Ofwat from someone who was there. The whole sorry saga is an absolute disgrace and a very sad reflection of human nature.
I spent a year at Ofwat back in 2013 working on price controls I’m not remotely surprised it’s being abolished - what I saw astonished me 🧵 theguardian.com/business/2025/…
Chanced upon this beautiful creek when visiting @RewildingNow in Birch #Idaho. Victoria Rail calling from the undergrowth was an audio bonus.
Huge thanks to Dave Stricklan and @RewildingNow for hosting me at their Mandalai ranch in Idaho to witness wild horse reintroduction with horses from elsewhere which would otherwise be heading for the slaughterhouse. Part of the Yukon to Yellowstone wilderness corridor extension.
Fantastic whistlestop visit to #Yellowstone after visiting Rewilding Idaho project "nearby". Great to see large wild herbivores side by side with lots of people. #Bison and #Elk (closely related to Red Deer) to the fore. No dramas. People generally know how to behave around them.
Off to visit this amazing @RewildingNow initiative in #BirchCreek, #Idaho this week. Reintroducing wild #horses - a keystone species - to help restore a healthy functioning ecosystem and extend the #Yukon to #Yellowstone wilderness corridor further south. rewildingamericanow.org/birch-creek-va…
Just found this stunning Peach Tree Borer clearwing #moth in our Kieran‘s garden in Des Plaines, #Illinois. And yes, unfortunately for him it had read the script and was underneath his peach tree. @USAmothID @Moth_Week
Suburban wildlife at dusk in Des Plaines, Illinois - fireflies rising to the backdrop of the Cicada chorus
Eat your heart out Swift brick-denying UK government. Here in Wisconsin, the Lake Geneva Avian Committee appointed and hosted by the City Mayor, instal and maintain dozens of these pole-mounted boxes for Purple Martins around the lake with great success and the locals love it.
This is the extraordinary sound which echoes around the lake every evening on our Wisconsin adventure - American Bullfrog justifying its name.
Back in the USA visiting family and just been sent this. There’s a lot in it that sounds good on the face of it - and some that sounds potentially contradictory. And of course beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but overall good to see - I think?!! whitehouse.gov/presidential-a…
A highlight of last Saturday was meeting the daughter of Tim Bagenal. Tim taught me freshwater ecology @LancasterUni in the 1970s and I still have one of his books. I was proud to know him and hopefully he’d be proud that I’ve notched up nearly 50 yrs as a professional ecologist
Just heard that the total tickets sold for this event at the @AlnPlayhouse was 161 - which is apparently by far their largest audience for a presentation/discussion event. Well done to all the organisers. Thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Just heard that the total tickets sold for this event at the @AlnPlayhouse was 161 - which is apparently by far their largest audience for a presentation/discussion event. Well done to all the organisers. Thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Had a really enjoyable speaking gig today at the What a Wonderful World festival in Alnwick, Northumberland, preceded by a return to the fantastic #Hepple Wilds site near #Rothbury. This corner of England is becoming a beacon of hope for nature recovery.
Good to see @TonyJuniper keen to see Eurasian Lynx reintroduction happen sooner rather than later. Just like Beavers, the benefits massively outweigh the disbenefits. If we weren’t an island they would be here by now and no-one would bat an eyelid. theguardian.com/environment/20…
Poster on the wall in our Alnmouth hotel. As relevant today as it was Abram Games designed it in WW2.
Had a really enjoyable speaking gig today at the What a Wonderful World festival in Alnwick, Northumberland, preceded by a return to the fantastic #Hepple Wilds site near #Rothbury. This corner of England is becoming a beacon of hope for nature recovery.
Big swathes of Lady’s Bedstraw now appearing in the limestone outcrop areas 5 years on from sheep removal at @BroughtonSanc. Far more than we’ve seen before.
If you want a #rewilding and #nature-friendly farming reading list you could do a lot worse than several of this lot I came across at Hepple yesterday.
One of the best moth-ing years for a good while thanks to the warm weather. A couple of stars from the trap last night were Lobster Moth and The Miller. Other less usual suspects were Bordered Straw, Small Elephant Hawk-moth, Phoenix and Brown Scallop.
Thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the @BBCTheArchers to discuss #rewilding in #Ambridge and why Justin needs to work on his comms skills. The whole experience was enhanced by the all-round loveliness of @emmafreud and her twiglet brownies. bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0…
