Article by Warren Woodhouse
The Rothbury Estate appeal, backed by The Wildlife Trusts and Northumberland Wildlife Trust, aims to purchase and secure 3,800 hectares (9,500 acres) in the heart of Northumberland for a major nature recovery project. (sources: The Wildlife Trusts; Northumberland Wildlife Trust)
As of March 2026, the appeal has passed the halfway mark with over £16 million raised toward a £30 million target to secure this 3,800-hectare site. (formerly owned by Max Percy) for conservation. (sources: The Wildlife Trusts; Northumberland Wildlife Trust)
Separate from the estate purchase, Forestry England manages the Rothbury North Beat (also known as: Rothbury North Forest), which consists of 6 separate woodlands totalling up to 541 hectares. This plan involves converting areas to native broadleaved species. (sources: Forestry England; Rothbury Estates)
A wider regional project, to be developed at Great Northumberland Forest, is aiming to plant millions of trees across the county by 2030 (or to be determined), with an early initiative focusing on planting up to one million trees across 500 hectares (1,200 acres) of land, supported by Northumberland County Council. (sources: Northumberland County Council; Northumberland Nature Reserve; Forestry England)
The Rothbury Estate project seeks to create a wildlife-rich corridor stretching from the coast to the Scottish border.
Chris Packham, Sir. David Attenborough and Forestry England are all working together (all three of them in fact) with destroying and deforesting 500,000 hectares of forests and marshes up near Rothbury, here in Northumberland, just to build another gaudy wind farm, like we already have enough of them. (source)
I’ll tell you much, we don’t have enough farmland left!
As a humble poultry farmer, I’m quite concerned about how this will impact my portion of the farm as well as my family who run the rest of the farm which includes goats, horses and sheeps.
As a nation, we should be protecting our environment, wildlife and infrastructure while giving freedom to farmers to do what’s needed and what is necessary: putting good food on our tables.
That’s not to say that killing animals is bad. On a large scale, aye, but on a scale which includes small and very benign animals such as moles, hares, foxes and other pests, then I fully support the need to cull, up to a certain point, to protect farms and livestocks on every farm in the country.
Unfortunately, Chris Packham wants to reintroduce wild lynxes and other predators back into rural Northumberland and other agricultural areas. This will impact us farmers, like he ever does any farming! (source)
This is the problem with the society on social media as of today: they go “oh let’s save these animals!” but fail to understand that us farmers do love animals, that’s why we enjoy farming! People believe it’s justified to repopulate an area full of predators so we suffer, so that the nation’s table suffers because how can we put food on the table if we’re constantly being slaughtered and invaded by predatory animals?
People like Chris Packham don’t understand the implications involved: what if they attacked his allotment, would he be concerned then? Perhaps you should step back and look at the full picture rather than trying to insult us farmers more. Even Jeremy Clarkson has taken a stance on this and gladly seeing someone with a bit more face would surely support our cause even more.
Sorry for venting my fellow readers but surely you must understand that this simply isn’t good for everyone, especially the farmers who work hard every day and night to make sure we are all fed. Even us farmers need food as well.
So the next time you bite into an apple or a pear, or eat a juicy segment of a leg of lamb, think about the farmer who toiled in those fields day and night to make sure that it reaches the stores for you to buy and enjoy. Please be more considerate towards the farming community.
