Sir David Attenborough backs bid to buy Rothbury estate

Sir David Attenborough has backed a bid by conservationists to raise £30 million to buy the entire vast mountain estate.

The Wildlife Trusts and Northumberland Wildlife Trust are trying to complete the purchase of the Rothbury Estate, a 15 square mile (38.8 sq km) area of ​​former grouse moorland, woodland and farmland, with plans to encourage wildlife, restore wetlands and promote nature-friendly farming.

With a year left to raise the £30 million needed to secure the entire estate or risk being broken up and sold off, Sir David urged people to back the bid.

In the video, the naturalist and TV presenter said time is running out to save the Rothbury Estate.

It is the largest area of ​​land to be put up for sale in England in decades and is at the heart of what nature experts have said could be a 40-mile (64km) “wilderness” corridor, stretching from the coast to Kielder and the Scottish Borders and including the Simonside Hills

Rothbury Estate was owned by the youngest son of the Duke of Northumberland, Lord Max Percy, and had been in the family for around 700 years.

The partnership between Northumberland Wildlife Trust and Wildlife Trusts has been given two years in October 2024 to raise the £30m needed to buy the entire estate.

Sir David said: “People know and love the Simonside Hills that rise here, walking the ridges and listening to the curlews, looking out for red squirrels and admiring the views as they climb the cliffs.

“They walk its remote paths and admire the amazing rock carvings left by our distant ancestors, who once lived here.”

He said the Wildlife Trusts would work with local farmers and communities who lived and worked in Rothbury to care for the area, breathe new life into its habitats and create a place where people and nature could thrive side by side.

“We are asking you to help us make this vision a reality,” he added.

Around £8m, in donations ranging from £5m to £5m, has already been raised, but the race is on to secure the remaining two-thirds. An online appeal has been launched to raise funds.

Northumberland Wildlife Trust chief executive Mike Pratt said the purchase was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to do something significant for nature on a large scale by restoring and protecting habitat and increasing access to the countryside.

The property is home to rare wildlife, including curlews, mountain bumblebees, chipmunks, chipmunks, cuckoos and merlins, as well as Atlantic salmon and critically endangered eels, but conservationists say nature could be even richer.

Their plans include bringing in large herbivores, including ponies, hardy cattle and eventually even bison to naturally graze the land, and there are hopes that martens, beavers and bald eagles could repopulate the landscape.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Craig Bennett, chief executive of the Wildlife Trusts, said the Rothbury Estate was the largest piece of land to come on the market in England in more than 30 years – and was bigger than the city of York.

“That’s why it’s such a unique opportunity,” he said.

“We know that the UK is one of the most nature-poor countries in the world and I’m sick of seeing lots of graphs showing that nature is going downhill.

“We want to change that and start bringing nature back on a larger scale.”

The trusts said local people would benefit from greater access to the estate, with the potential to build new trails, develop a visitor and education center and create new jobs.

Mr Pratt described the Rothbury estate as an area that could be a “special nature recovery area” – the only opportunity of its scale in England.

“It already has a fantastic and interesting landscape, but when you look at the details, a lot of the finer biodiversity, like everywhere else, is not there as it should be,” he said.

“It represents a great canvas for the restoration of nature in that beautiful landscape.”