Biodiversity in the UK brings so many benefits – stunning landscapes, iconic wildlife, and clean air and water, not to mention the carbon sequestration capabilities of healthy habitats that help us to limit climate change. But the UK’s biodiversity is under immense pressure. In fact, 50% of the UK’s biodiversity has been lost since the Industrial Revolution. Consequently, the UK ranks in the bottom 10% of all countries when it comes to biodiversity intactness. The main factors contributing to this shocking decline are intensive agricultural management, climate change, hydrological changes by humans, urbanisation, invasive non-native species, pests and pathogens, pollution, and poor woodland management.
Wildflowers in the UK have fared particularly badly over the last few decades – 97% of wildflower meadows have been lost since the 1930s. This staggering statistic illustrates the immense pressure on native flower species and the animals that rely on them to survive.
By supporting the restoration of habitats that are vital for biodiversity, as well as for ecosystem services like flood prevention, we can secure the future of the UK’s wildlife and the landscapes that benefit us all.
Wildflower restoration turns degraded or intensively farmed land into species-rich meadows. These keystone plants support pollinators, invertebrates, birds and mammals, building ecosystem resilience.
At their Dumyat site near Menstrie in the Ochil Hills, The Future Forest Company is restoring two adjoining grassland areas into thriving lowland meadows rich in native wildflowers, pollinators, and birdlife.
Once species-poor, these fields supported just 4–7 plant species per m² when first surveyed. Since 2022, gradual restoration has been underway, with Highland cattle introduced to create varied sward structure, their ecologist and local volunteers planting wildflower plugs, and community partners carrying out butterfly, bee, moth, and bat monitoring.
Over the next 10 years, they’ll continue transforming the 5.9-hectare area into a diverse wet-meadow habitat by:
This steady, nature-led approach aims to shift the grassland from poor/moderate to good condition, achieving around 50–800 % biodiversity uplift (Defra metric), while strengthening pollinator networks and soil health across the Dumyat landscape.
Follow the latest milestones and updates from this project.
Conservation grazing involves the introduction of carefully selected livestock to the site to help increase plant species diversity by reducing competition from grasses. Livestock also help to provide some gently soil disturbance to encourage the germination of wildflower seeds within the soil.
The removal of gorse from specific areas of the site helps to improve habitat condition by allowing native plant species to become established instead.
At their Dumyat site near Menstrie in the Ochil Hills, The Future Forest Company is restoring two adjoining grassland areas into thriving lowland meadows rich in native wildflowers, pollinators, and birdlife. Plant species present on this site include common rock-rose, wild thyme, lady’s bedstraw, quaking grass, bitter-vetch, moonwort, common butterwort, and yellow oat-grass. This diverse range of plants is helping to support pollinators, including butterflies. This site is home to a wide variety of butterflies such as the rare northern brown argus and small pearl-bordered fritillary.
Between April and June 2025, 0.688 hectares have been restored.
With FFC, 6000 trees have been sponsored between the period of January to March 2025, along with the restoration of 1.15 hectares.
The Future Forest Company created a series of ponds at their Mill of Plunton site in Ayrshire last year. Their hard work is already paying off, with Emperor Dragonflies calling the ponds home!
17 Northern Brown Argus butterfly eggs have been recorded by the Head of Ecology at the Future Forest Company and local volunteers at Dumyat near Stirling. This rare species of butterfly was absent from this region for over a century!
Having planted 500 common rock rose plants which is an important breeding ground and food source for this rare butterfly, FFC monitoring has found 17 Northern Brown Argus eggs at Dumyat. This butterfly had been absent from the region for over a century!
FFC's hard work removing gorse and preventing overgrazing has enabled one of the UK's rarest plants to thrive at Dumyat. Local conservation volunteers led by FFC's Head of Ecology identified over 10,000 flowering stems, triple the amount found in 2013!
Great Crested Newts have been confirmed to be living in newly created ponds at Mill of Plunton. Traditional surveying combined with eDNA sampling has proven that these rare and protected creatures have made the site their home, which is a great indicator that the water is very healthy.
A camera trap, set up next to a new pond created by The Future Forest Company team, has captured some great shots of local wildlife making use of the pond! This Roe deer was spotted having a drink, as well as Grey herons, Brown hares and others!
A camera trap set up by a newly-created pond at FFC's Mill of Plunton site has captured some great animal encounters! It has spotted Roe deer, Grey herons, and Brown hares to name a few.
Healthy ecosystems help keep carbon stored in soils and vegetation. , In particular, peatland is one of the UK's largest carbon stores - an estimated 3.2 billion tonnes of carbon are locked away in the UK's peatlands. This carbon can be released when wetlands become degraded, and so these habitats can become a source of carbon emissions if not managed properly. Through this project, carbon will be kept locked away so it can't contribute to climate change.
Along with wetlands, healthy forests store carbon in the biomass of plants and in the soil. Protecting an additional 335–466 million hectares of forest could help us avoid 5.55–8.83 gigatons of CO₂e emissions by 2050. Not only that, but protecting forests prevents the carbon locked away in these ecosystems from being released into the atmosphere.
This project is protecting vital habitats for a wide range of native plants, animals and fungi. By protecting and restoring these habitats, we're also protecting all the organisms that call these places home. Wetlands are also a crucial water source for lots of other creatures - a new pond created by this project has had visits from foxes, roe deer and a hare!
Creating and restoring habitats isn’t just important for plants and animals above the ground; this habitat restoration work is vital to keep soils healthy too. For example, the presence of native wildflowers brings much-needed stability to soils, preventing soil degradation and erosion due to weather. Healthy soils can support much more life, providing organisms with the nutrients and moisture they need to survive.
Spending time in nature is proven to be good for our wellbeing. All the sites where this project is taking place are accessible to the public, with well-maintained footpaths to encourage local people to explore the habitats we are restoring. Local volunteers are also involved in the restoration work, whether that’s clearing invasive rhododendron or helping to survey for pollinators
Restoring wetlands, peatlands, and woodlands enhances their ability to absorb and store atmospheric carbon, helping to mitigate climate change.
Restoring wildflower meadows, wetlands, and woodlands directly contributes to reversing biodiversity loss in the UK. Restored ecosystems improve soil quality, water purification, and ecosystem stability, which are vital for long-term land sustainability.
These partners help deliver the project and verify its impact.
The Future Forest Company run award-winning landscape-scale nature restoration and reforestation projects to fight climate change and help nature thrive.
