The Wildlife Trusts have launched an appeal to raise £30 million to complete its purchase of and restore the historic Rothbury Estate in Northumberland.
The scale of the proposed project would cover 9,500 acres – roughly the size of Reading or Athens. The Estate had previously been in the Percy family since 1332 and its sale was the largest area of land in England to come onto the market in 30 years.
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Now, David Attenborough has shown his support for the project. He says, “Time is running out to save the historic Rothbury Estate. This huge, heart-shaped expanse of moorland, rivers, forest and upland in Northumberland needs your help.
“People know and love the Simonside Hills that rise here. They walk the ridges and listen for the calls of the curlew. They watch for red squirrels and admire the views as they scramble among the crags. They walk along its remote paths and marvel at the astonishing rock carvings left by our distant ancestors, who once lived here.”
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The Wildlife Trusts (TWT) and Northumberland Wildlife Trusts (NWT) aim to create a blueprint for how people can be working and living alongside wildlife in 2050. The ambitious plans seek to integrate nature recovery with farming, education and tourism, as well as natural carbon and water storage.
This includes restoring habitats for species such as European bison, pine martens, beavers and golden eagles, with the Estate being part of a 40-mile nature corridor that stretches from the north-east coast of England to the central Scottish border.
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Restoring Rothbury
Birds such as merlins, skylarks and pied flycatchers are found across the Estate, while salmon and critically endangered eels swim in its rivers. In summer, plants such as devil’s-bit scabious, harebell and wild thyme cover its grasslands. The Estate is also home to bilberry bumblebees, with the species now included on Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme because of its population decline.
£30 million must be raised by September 2026 for the project to go ahead, otherwise the land is at risk of being sold to multiple buyers – with TWT claiming many landholdings will be “planted with non-native conifers for commercial forestry”.
TWT and NWT have already secured part of the Estate, in the nearby Simonside Hills, which is known for its rich wildlife, ancient rock carvings and Iron Age hill fort.
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Top image: David Attenborough for The Wildlife Trusts' Rothbury Appeal. Credit: The Wildlife Trusts