Twenty years ago, James Canton moved from London to the English countryside. Behind his farm labourer’s cottage was a small, abandoned field with a ‘for sale’ sign. James knew that the two-acre patch of earth held more potential – as a place for nature to return and flourish.
 
Here is the story of how, over a number of years, he undertook a project to ‘rewild’ the field: digging a pond, forging meadowlands, creating habitats for birds and insects, encouraging flowers and plants that support pollinators and wildlife. Eventually what was once just a grassy space was again buzzing with life.
The process raised some interesting questions. Rewilding is about bringing a large landscape back to a natural, self-sustaining state. But that wasn’t possible on the scale of a field, a garden or a window box. What if we rethought the term? 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 shows how the concept of rewilding can be adopted by us all. We can all make positive change, however large or small. We can all be involved in caring for and restoring the natural world.
 
James Canton is Director of Wild Writing at the University of Essex. He has taught the MA Wild Writing: Literature, Landscape and the Environment since its inception in 2009. His books include Out of Essex: Re-Imagining a Literary Landscape (2013) which was inspired by rural wanderings in the county and Ancient Wonderings: Journeys into Prehistoric Britain (2017) that tells some remarkable tales of life in ancient Britain. The Oak Papers (2020) – Radio 4’s Book of the Week – explores some of the ties between humans and oaks since prehistory, meditating on our need to connect with the natural world. Grounded (2023) tells of rediscovering the most sacred spaces in our landscapes – both natural sites and human places – seeing the lessons we can learn from our ancestors and their relationship with the land. His new book, Renaturing: Small Ways to Wild the World (March 2025) investigates ways of democratizing rewilding, how we can all be involved in nature restoration.
Twitter: @jamescanton Instagram: @jrcanton1 Website: jamescanton.co.uk