‘Hold your nerve and trust nature’: birds, bats and butterflies rebound at Somerset rewilding farm

A short-eared owl in flight at Heal Somerset. The number of bird species at the former farm has risen from 67 to 94 in three years. Photograph: Jenny Vickers

Three years of rewilding on a former dairy farm in east Somerset have led to the number of recorded bird species soaring from 67 to 94, butterfly species rising from 11 to 24 and small mammals growing in number.

Heal Somerset, the first site acquired by the charity Heal Rewilding, has produced a state of nature report mirroring a national survey by environmental charities that has tracked the decline in nature.