British barley field left in 1961 became woodland in 60 years
A 60-year study of a former barley field in the UK demonstrates that passive rewilding can successfully restore native woodland without human intervention. Thorny shrubs played a crucial role in protecting young trees from herbivores during the regeneration process.
Why it matters
The findings provide evidence that nature-led restoration is a viable and cost-effective strategy for national afforestation and biodiversity goals.
In 1961, researchers at Monks Wood in Cambridgeshire harvested a final crop of barley from a four-hectare agricultural plot known as Stocking Close, ploughed the soil and walked away. They did not plant a single tree, build a fence or protect young saplings with plastic tubes. Yet over the next six decades, the bare farmland naturally developed into a dense, closed-canopy native woodland. The long-term natural experiment, monitored by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), shows that passive rewilding can restore biodiverse native woodland on lowland farmland in a surprisingly short time.
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