Wilder Blean – Bison Bridges

West Blean and Thornden Woods is a critical site where we are pioneering conservation grazing, with the release of European Bison, Exmoor ponies, Iron-Age pigs and Longhorn cattle. Across the landscape they initiate rewilding processes through their grazing, movement, bathing, and dung.

To increase their impact, we must connect areas which are currently fenced off, thus creating a much wider grazing area without human interference. This is part of our Wilder Blean strategy, a much wider landscape restoration approach.

The site is crisscrossed by mapped footpaths; we must build bespoke tunnels for the animals to freely move between spaces. So that people can still move freely across the sites, we must build bridges over these tunnels, preserving the footpaths. These ‘Bison Bridges’ are an innovative approach, creating greater landscape connectivity whilst enabling rewilding practices. We have adopted learning from other sites across the world, including in the US and Netherlands.