It stinks! Celebrity farmer Jeremy Clarkson not best pleased with five-acre rewilding experiment

                                                                

Whitethroat - lover of  bramble patches

NEWBIE birder, broadcaster and TV farmer Jeremy Clarkson has had second thoughts about the benefits of rewilding.

Clarkson had  been so keen to encourage Corn Buntings, Yellowhammers and other species on his farm in the Cotswolds that he decided to leave some of the land to its own devices.

But, as he reports, in his latest column for The Sun newspaper, he has not been best pleased by the results.

He writes: "Initially I was a fan of rewilding and, ten years ago, decided to leave a patch of my farm completely alone.

"I did what Chris Packham and his Guardian mates want and put nature in the driving seat.

"And what I've ended up with is an impenetrable five-acre tangle of brambles which smells terrible because of all the rotting dead wildlife in there."

                                       

The Wryneck says: Here's hoping that the columnist does not give up on his bramble patch. Maybe, it temporarily smells unpleasant, but it doubtless provides excellent feeding, breeding and nesting habitat for songbirds such as Whitethroats. Who knows, in future summers, it may, if retained, even attract Nightingales.