Bisons are returning to the UK for the first time in 6,000 years

A small heard of wild bison is set to be released in Kent in spring 2022 to help revive the species. 

Wild bison have not been in the UK for 6,000 years, but with this £1m project that will reintroduce the animals, a future for the species can be secured. 

The first phase of release will see one male and three females set free in a woodland. The bison will also naturally regenerate a former pine wood plantation by killing off trees, creating a healthy mix of woodland, scrub and glades that will boost insect, bird and plant life.

The bison will come from the Netherlands or Poland, where previous releases have been safe and successful.

Since 1970, the population of most of the UK’s important wildlife have plummeted by an average of 60%, making Britain is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world.

Paul Hadaway, from Kent Wildlife Trust, said: “The Wilder Blean project will prove that a wilder, nature-based solution is the right one to tackle the climate and nature crisis we now face. Using missing keystone species like bison to restore natural processes to habitats is the key to creating bio-abundance in our landscape.”

Trees are killed by bison eating the bark or rubbing against them to remove their thick winter fur. 

This dead wood is a feast for insects and birds. It also creates a sunny clearing where native plans can survive.

The trust believe nightingales and turtle doves will benefit from the bison’s ‘ecosystem engineering’. 

Steppe Bison are thought to have roamed the UK until about 6,000 years ago but went globally extinct due to hunting and changes in habitat. 

The European bison that will be released in Kent is a descendant of the species and the closest living relative. 

The European bison is the continent’s largest land mammal with bulls weighing up to a tonne. Stan Smith of Kent Wildlife Trust said: “They’re enormous but what is amazing is how they blend into their background and they’re quite docile really.”

The project will cover 500 hectares with the bison first placed in a 150-hectare area, giving them enough space even as the herd grows. Normal cattle fencing will stop them wandering further afield. 

The public will be able to visit the bison with rangers and watch them from viewing platforms one they are settled. 

Paul Whitfield, of Wildwood Trust said: “The partners in the Kent project have long dreamed of restoring the true wild woodlands that have been missing from England for too long.

“People will be able to experience nature in a way they haven’t before, connecting them back to the natural world around them in a deeper way.”

The bison will be kept ‘as wild as possible’ in order for the project to succeed which means they will not be given food or artificial shelter.

“This initiative could be good news for Britain’s battered biodiversity,” said Rebecca Wrigley, of Rewilding Britain. “It’s increasingly clear that bold and imaginative rewilding is urgently needed to tackle the country’s worrying loss of wildlife.”

She added that far more needed to be done across the UK to reintroduce large herbivores and “unleash their biodiversity-boosting rewilding magic”.

Smith said: “Sometimes in the rewilding debate people think that it’s a look back to the past, but that’s not what we’re about. We’re about trying to find the right natural solution for the modern world.”