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Broadcaster and naturalist David Attenborough is leading an appeal to raise 30 million pounds ($40 million) to buy and preserve vast tracts of British land.
Rothbury Estate is located in the heart of Northumberland, in the north-east of England, on the border with Scotland. The 9,486-acre property includes forests, rivers, historic sites, and the Simonside Hills, famous for their rugged profile and panoramic views.
For almost seven centuries, the land has been owned by the Percy family, Dukes of Northumberland, and was put up for sale in 2023 by their youngest son, Max Percy, making it the largest piece of land to come on the market in Britain in the past 30 years.
“We were immediately interested,” said Northumberland Wildlife Trust CEO Mike Platt. “It happens to be next door to a number of other properties and partners, including the National Trust and National Parks.
“We want to create a 40-mile (64km) nature corridor stretching from the north-east coast of the country (Druridge Bay) to the Scottish-English border in Kielder Forest.”
In October 2024, the Wildlife Trusts, a group of 46 local UK wildlife trusts, partnered with Northumberland Wildlife Trust to purchase the Simonside Hills and the western side of the property, which is a mix of lowland, woodland, riverside and farmland. The charity also called for the remaining portion to be purchased for £30 million ($40 million).
“People keep saying it’s a lot of money, but when you look at what we’re spending on infrastructure and roads and things like that, it’s not a lot,” Pratt said. “If we want to make good use of nature, we need to invest in it.”
Today, the land is home to a variety of animals, including Britain’s smallest falcon, the merlin, summer breeding birds such as warblers, and endangered red squirrels and eels.
But Mr Platt said wildlife could be even richer and more diverse, and the Wildlife Trust’s plans for the land, roughly the size of Greece’s capital Athens, focused on rewilding as well as conservation and restoration.
“We might introduce more traditional breeds that behave more like animals that originally came into that landscape,” he said. “We’ll see native horses, ponies, rare breeds of cattle, beavers, and maybe someday European bison.”
While some have raised concerns about how conservation efforts will affect farmers currently working on the land, Mr Platt said the trust would work with farmers, including producing sustainable meat for surrounding communities, which would have a positive impact on the local economy.
“We want very large sites like this because it’s not enough to have a small one anymore,” he said. “If we want to restore nature to 30% of[the UK’s]land area, we have to do something really big. At the moment it’s 7%.” The UK government has pledged to protect 30% of its land and sea by 2030 as part of the UN’s global goals.
“A place where people and nature can coexist”
So far, the charity has raised just under a third of its £30 million ($40 million) target, mainly through private donations and fundraising efforts from people in Northumberland, but with just a year left to raise the remaining funds, Mr Attenborough, honorary chairman of the Wildlife Trust, has joined in the appeal.
“People know and love the towering Simonside Hills here. They walk the ridges and listen to the call of the Great Sandpiper,” he said in a statement. “They watch red squirrels and take in the scenery as they pick their way through the crags. They walk along secluded trails and marvel at the amazing rock carvings left behind by our distant ancestors who once lived here.”
“Together with the community who live and work in Rothbury, The Wildlife Trust will create a place where people and nature can coexist and thrive.”
Pratt worries that if the remaining funding is not raised by September 2026, the land will be divided into several different uses that don’t focus on nature, such as commercial forestry or more intensive agriculture.
“It will destroy the landscape and we will lose a once-in-a-lifetime natural opportunity,” he said.
