In 1988, an English farmer stopped cultivating his entire 377-acre wheat farm; 35 years later, it became one of central England’s biggest refuges for scrub, woodland and rare wildlife

An English farmer who stopped intensive wheat farming in 1988 has unintentionally helped create one of central England's largest young woodland nature reserves, reports the Guardian. Strawberry Hill, a 377-acre site near Knotting in Bedfordshire, has now been permanently protected after the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire (BCN) officially purchased the land. The purchase followed a public fundraising campaign that reached its £1.5 million target. For 35 years, the land was left largely untouched after landowner Hugh White stopped farming there in protest against government agricultural policies. Over time, the former fields naturally changed into a mix of hawthorn bushes, scrubland, grassland and young woodland. According to ecological surveys by the BCN Wildlife Trust, the site now provides important habitat for threatened birds. It is home to around half of all breeding nightingales recorded across Bedfordshire.

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