"Over four years in the 1820s, Charles Waterton built a 9ft-high, 3-mile-long wall around the parkland and lake of Walton Hall. The fox- and poacher-proof boundary enclosed what could be the world's first nature reserve, completed in Yorkshire 200 years ago. Waterton, an eccentric, controversial and pioneering environmentalist, built nest boxes, special banks for sand martins and innovative bird hides, and offered local people sixpence for every hedgehog they brought into his reserve."
"After completing the wall and banning hunting and shooting, he recorded 5,000 wildfowl on his lake and 123 species of birds, including ones that were widely persecuted at the time, such as herons and kestrels. Droves of hedgehogs and so-called vermin, such as weasels, were said to gambol freely like rabbits through his reserve."
"Now the overlooked achievements of the innovative nature reserve and the crumbling wall that still surrounds Waterton's former home are being remembered by WallFest, a programme of 60 community events organised by a charity created to protect the wall and remember its legacy. The events, which take place during May around the village of Walton, West Yorkshire, and in Waterton's former home, now a hotel, will help raise funds to repair the wall, which has collapsed in places."
"We're keen to raise the profile of the first nature reserve in the world, said John Smith, the chair of trustees of Friends of Waterton's Wall, a charity run by volunteers which was created after Covid when Smith and others last another century. We also want to raise the profile of the wall itself and the need to preserve our heritage for future genera"
Charles Waterton built a 9ft-high, 3-mile-long wall around Walton Hall’s parkland and lake over four years in the 1820s. The boundary enclosed what could have been the world’s first nature reserve, completed in Yorkshire 200 years ago. Waterton installed nest boxes, created special banks for sand martins, and built innovative bird hides. He paid local people sixpence for every hedgehog brought into the reserve and banned hunting and shooting. After the wall was finished, he recorded 5,000 wildfowl on his lake and 123 bird species, including herons and kestrels. Hedgehogs and other animals described as vermin were said to roam freely. WallFest now runs 60 community events to raise funds to repair the wall, which has collapsed in places.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]