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Field Notes / Land

Nine Plots, 459 Species

Volunteers counted what came back on nine plots of former grazing land. Through a summer of heatwaves and drought, the numbers went up.

By Nicolai Imset6 min read
rewildinglandnature
What 236 animal species is made of
Fauna recorded
161 insects41 birds34 other
Nine plots, 2026 survey. The remainder includes 14 arachnids, 9 mammals, 8 molluscs and 2 reptiles.

Take land out of animal agriculture and nature does not wait politely for an invitation. It moves back in, fast.

The Vegan Land Movement buys plots of grazing land in the UK and takes them out of production. Every year volunteers walk those plots and count what lives there. The 2026 survey covered nine plots, some of them under recovery for several years, some newly secured and being recorded for the first time so there is a baseline to measure against later.

The year was not kind to it. Summer brought severe heatwaves and drought. The numbers went up anyway.

What the count found

  • Fauna species rose 11.9% against the 2025 count.
  • Flora species rose 16.8% across the sites.
  • 236 animal species recorded, including 161 insects, 41 birds, 14 arachnids, 9 mammals, 8 molluscs, and 2 reptiles.
  • 223 plant species documented.

That is 459 species on land whose previous job was growing one crop of grass for livestock to eat.

Vegan Land Movement Species Counts 2026: a grid of 42 numbered photographs of butterflies and moths recorded on rewilding land removed from animal agriculture, from Gatekeeper and Comma to Jersey Tiger and Hummingbird Hawk Moth

The residents worth naming

Some of what turned up carries a conservation status. These are not species that pass through anywhere. They arrive where the habitat can hold them.

Recorded on the recovered acreageby how rare
1Water Vole, heard in the overgrown drainage ditchesEndangered
2Four-lined HorseflyRed Data Book
3Dartford Warbler, displaced by regional wildfireAmber-listed
4Scarlet Darter, a dragonfly establishing presenceScarce migrant
5Clouded Yellow, an uncommon migrant butterflyScarce migrant

The Dartford Warbler is the one that stays with me. It did not arrive because the plot was advertised. It arrived because its own habitat burned and this was somewhere left to go. Recovered land is not only a nice outcome for wildlife. It is the spare capacity the rest of the countryside no longer has.

Vegan Land Movement Species Counts 2026: a grid of numbered photographs of birds recorded on rewilding land, including Barn Owl, Dartford Warbler, Reed Bunting, Kingfisher and Water Rail

The chain, in order

None of this is complicated. It runs in a sequence, and every step depends on the one above it.

How the ground rebuildsremove the pressure
  1. 01Livestock come offThe constant cropping and trampling ends.
  2. 02Native plants regenerateSeed already in the soil gets a season to finish.
  3. 03The soil keeps its structureUncompacted ground holds water and air. Roots go deeper.
  4. 04Microhabitats formLong grass, scrub, wet ditches, bare patches. Different creatures need different corners.
  5. 05Insects return161 species this year, the bulk of everything counted.
  6. 06Birds and small mammals followThe insects and rodents are the reason they come.
Almost none of this was planted. It arrived because the grazing stopped.

You can watch the last step happen on individual plots. Native willows planted on Plot 6 now shelter reed buntings and puss moth caterpillars. Barn owls patrol Plot 8, drawn there by the rodent population living in re-established grassland. The owl is downstream of the grass.

None of the species featured would exist on expanses of monoculture grazing. They would be trampled by cattle, the earth compacted and these wonderful creatures could not survive. A blue-eyed damselfly rests on a green stem

Living proof, which is the useful part

Arguments about land use tend to run on projections. What a hectare could hold. What a diet would free up. Modelled, contested, and easy to wave away.

A species count is not a projection. Volunteers walked nine real plots and wrote down what was there, in a drought year, and the total was higher than last year's. Degraded soil recovers when the pressure comes off and it is given time. That is now a measurement rather than a claim.

The Vegan Land Movement runs on donations, and every plot bought is one taken out of production permanently. You can back the land buyout directly or get involved with the work, including the counts themselves.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead. A Common Blue butterfly rests on a thistle flower