Britain Could Be a Forest. We Have Sheep.

To many, the British countryside is the picture of natural beauty. Rolling hills. Open skies. Sheep grazing under the clouds. But look again. This isn’t nature. It’s what’s left of it. A barren grass monoculture, stripped of its wildness. A land that was once ancient forest, now reduced to a managed wasteland. The last native species cling to life on the margins while foreign domesticated animals dominate the landscape. The scattered trees that remain aren’t features — they’re survivors. They’re a warning.

Britain isn’t naturally treeless. Quite the opposite. The United Kingdom, being part of the British Isles, is ideal for tree growth. Our mild winters, abundant rainfall, fertile soils and hill-sheltered topography are perfect conditions for native woodland. If we simply stepped back — if cows and sheep were no longer allowed to raze the land year-round — the trees would return. Naturally. Gradually. Quietly. And left alone for long enough, much of Great Britain would once again be draped in mature oak forest.

But we don’t leave it alone. We keep stripping it bare. Dartmoor, for example, should be one of the richest habitats in Britain. Instead, it’s an ecological graveyard. Heather and bilberry have been replaced with tough, uninviting moor-grass. Peatlands are drained and damaged. Insects have vanished. Birds have nowhere to nest. Out of more than 22,000 hectares surveyed by Natural England, just 26 were in good ecological condition. That’s 0.1%. This is not neglect — it’s devastation, bought and paid for by public money.

And for what? Grazing sheep on Dartmoor is economically senseless. Each one loses its owner nearly £17. That’s before subsidies. The only reason sheep are still there is because we — the public — are forced to fund it. For decades, farmers were paid per head of animal. The more they grazed, the more they got. That meant maximum stocking, minimal accountability, and no incentive to protect the land.

Even when that system changed, the damage didn’t stop. Today, Dartmoor farmers still receive millions through schemes that are supposedly meant to help nature. And yet, not one of the commons has improved. Many have worsened. What does that tell us? That the system isn’t broken — it’s working exactly as intended, for the wrong people.

Natural England tried to intervene. In 2023, they proposed reducing grazing rates. The farming lobby threw a tantrum. Politicians sided with the noise. Natural England backed down. Meanwhile, Dartmoor continues to collapse under the weight of an animal that shouldn’t even be there.

Let’s be honest: this land does not contribute to food security. It’s in the bottom 20% of productivity and yields less than 3% of England’s food. What it could be is a sanctuary for life. Rewetted peat bogs could lock in carbon and reduce flooding. Rewilded heaths could host thriving ecosystems. Native woodland could return and repair the water table. Dartmoor could breathe again — but not with sheep trampling every root and shoot back into the soil.

This is not a smear on all farmers. Some are ready to make change. Some want to prioritise native species, restore the soil, and work with nature rather than against it. Those farmers deserve support. But those who continue to exploit the land, wreck ecosystems, and pocket public money for doing it — they deserve penalties, not pay-outs.

If you litter on protected land, you get fined. If you torch a national park, you get arrested. But if you trample a rare habitat to the brink of collapse with hooved lawnmowers, you get a cheque from the state.

A payoff for destruction. A betrayal of nature, climate, and common sense.

Dartmoor is dying — not from natural decline, but from policy failure. And that failure is funded by us. If we care at all about the planet, or even basic fiscal responsibility, then this has to end.

We need to pull the plug. No more subsidies for destruction. No more sheep on the uplands. No more mistaking ecological absence for pastoral beauty.

Rewet the bogs. Let the heather grow. Let the forests return. Let Dartmoor be wild again. And stop making us pay for its ruin.

Inspired by Chris Packham’s article in The Guardian