Renaturing: Small Ways to Wild the World

by James Canton

Twenty years ago, James Canton moved from London to the English countryside. Behind his farm labourer’s cottage was a small field with a ‘for sale’ sign. At first it was a site for family picnics and cricket matches with friends, but James knew that the two-acre patch of earth held more potential – as a place for nature to return and flourish.

Here is the story of how, over a number of years, he undertook a project to ‘rewild’ the digging a pond, forging meadowlands, creating habitats for birds and insects, encouraging flowers and plants that support pollinators and wildlife. Eventually what was once just a grassy space was again buzzing with life.

The process raised some interesting questions. Rewilding is about bringing a large landscape back to a natural, self-sustaining state. But that wasn’t possible on the scale of a field, a garden or a window box. What if we rethought the term? What if we aimed for ‘renaturing’ instead? Even on the smallest of scales we can create habitats to support a greater diversity of nature. A single window box planted with pollinator-friendly flowers can provide a mini-habitat to support honeybees; a tower block with a window box on every balcony becomes an acre of bee-friendly ecosystem.

Renaturing shows how the concept of rewilding can be adopted by us all. We can all make positive change, however large or small. We can all be involved in caring for and restoring the natural world.

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction

255 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 13, 2025

About the author

James Canton teaches the Wild Writing MA course at the University of Essex, exploring the fascinating ties between literature and the landscape of East Anglia. He has run workshops to encourage writing on nature and landscape and is the author of Out of Essex: Re-Imagining a Literary Landscape, which was inspired by rural wanderings in the county.

Reviews

[Stephen the Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Renaturing- Small Ways to Wild the World is a beautiful and thought provoking read.

James Canton acquires a field in north Essex and over an 18 month period takes us on his journey exploring how to give this piece of land back to nature … it’s not as easy as it would seem.

Told in a diary entry form with interspersed sections focussing on key issues, the book comprehensively explores the challenges and successes that James encountered. The seasonal changes bring a closer view of the natural natural and many of its rural wonders

Taking land management “back to basics” with the use of the mattock and the ever resourceful scythe, you can actually feel the physical endurance encountered in particular against the ever invasive bramble

Identifying the species found and the sowing of wild flowers, the knowledge and wisdom is excellent - interspersed with advice from friends and experts and terminology that broadens understanding …bioblitz, wild washing , scarification ,rewilding the mind

This is “a call to arms” to make us consider how from window box, to back garden to large areas we can help save and renature our world and lives.

A great read that charms but more importantly makes us consider what we are doing to the fragile ecosystems around us.

A great companion read to Richard Mabey’s -The Accidental Gardener

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Renaturing – Small Ways to Wild the World, we enter the world of a field, with the man determined to return it to nature. Written with a deep sensitivity to all living things, we learn with Canton about the flowers, grasses and insects of a meadow; pause to watch a bird, and reflect that all we need to do is leave space for nature. But we also learn that renaturing to enhance biodiversity involves active participation, and join the author as he follows the seasonal rhythms of the field and learns when to intervene, by scything, sowing, and through backbreaking battle with brambles to give space for other life to thrive. Renaturing, it seems, is a balance between managing and stepping back.

Canton’s exploration of renaturing takes him far from the field - we join him as his visits a river renatured with beavers, whose river management provides the best possible defence against flooding, and as he considers agro-forestry - the use of trees in farming to help revitalise tired soil. He invites us to share his distaste for ‘wildwashing’ and the importance of democratising nature recovery, emphasising the collective impact of thousands of individual efforts.

The author’s allegiance to all wild things shines through the pages of this book. The lives of the field are observed with joyful attention, even down to the smallest of insects - we wait anxiously with Canton as he gives bugs time to crawl clear of wild flower seed before it is stored for winter. This reverence for life is evident in all his dealings with the natural world, alive and dead - the body of a muntjac fawn is lifted onto a board for excarnation, its life respected in this simple ritual of death.

Renaturing is a deft interweaving of field, thought and exploration that inspires the reader to action, with the knowledge that even a window box and a bowl of water can make a difference to nature.

[Haxxunne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lyrical and personal odyssey in renaturing
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In a lyrical and personal odyssey, Canton shows how an individual can take responsibility for renaturing (rather than rewilding) their own bit of the earth. Following him on a year of discovery and graft, Canton explores the theory, practice and (small p) politics of renaturing/wilding/rewilding. He meets locals who also live in a rural economy, as well as experts in the rewilding movement/industry, and presents some solutions, both on the ground and grandly panoramic, to the climate emergency, where there is no action too small.

The result is an uneven book that tries to do a lot of things inconsistently: Canton is clearly passionate about his own plot and it’s through his hard work and imagination that he makes sweeping changes to the makeup of the former grassy field. In these short journal entries, you can feel the connection he has to his land and to the life that he’s stewarding. As charming as these are, there is no sense of tension or anticipation, which might be because these pieces reflect the pace and power of nature and natural processes. In high contrast to the journal entries are Canton’s calls to arms, where he gives us more theory, introduces us to climate scientists and activist farmers and growers, and expands on the vast places and resources needed for true rewilding, as opposed to his more individualised renaturing.

I really enjoyed the book but I’m not sure which audience this is for, one interested in rural life, another in the climate emergency, or a third audience looking for ways to renature their own lives. For me, it fell a little short on all three.

Three and a half stars

[Hazel · Rating 5 out of 5]

“At times, we humans can be crass, bumbling oafs, but when we think and deliberately act to carve out whole worlds from the lands for other living beings … we become something more”

A reflective journey into how each one of us can go about helping to restore nature in the midst of a biodiversity crisis. I enjoyed the immersive journaling of Canton’s own efforts at renaturing his field but also learned lots as he widened this out to explore large scale rewilding, regenerative farming and urban window boxes through conversations with a wide range of people working in these areas.

[Lucy F · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gentle absorbing read following the author’s journey of hard graft and learning how to most benefit the biodiversity of his modest piece of land. I loved the sense of community and sharing of knowledge from local people, friends and ‘experts’.
It often feels defeating to be an environmentalist against the huge scale of the problems. I found James’s simple assertion that we can all make a difference whatever the scale, and his sharing of how much positive will and action exists, to be a welcome message of hope and call to action.

[Susan Sanderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Renaturing is written in the form of a diary. It is well written and includes illustrations of plants. I found it to be a page-turner. The author relates meetings both in person and online with a good number of experts from a variety of backgrounds. The notes provide links to relevant websites.