Wildlife Trusts complete purchase of 9,500-acre Rothbury Estate in Northumberland after two-year appeal
The Wildlife Trusts and Northumberland Wildlife Trust have bought the whole Rothbury Estate, a 9,500-acre upland site in Northumberland, England, following a two-year public appeal of roughly £30m. A low-interest bridging loan covers pledged money that has not yet been received, so the fundraising is not fully collected in cash. What has been delivered is the land purchase, not any measured recovery of nature. Plans for a 40-mile wild corridor to Kielder and the Scottish border are aspirations, and some local farmers have called the purchase 'a folly'.
Large areas of upland land in England are managed with little room for nature, and this purchase puts one big estate in conservation hands, though whether it leads to recovery is not yet known.
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