A Welsh conservation charity is pressing ahead with an ambitious bid to restore wildlife across a stretch of the Cambrian Mountains after a public fundraising drive helped secure what is being described as Wales’ largest rewilding site. Tir Natur said it bought 1,195 acres at Cwm Doethïe in Ceredigion after raising about half of the £2.2 million purchase price, with the rest covered through a philanthropic bridging loan. Fundraising is still continuing to pay for early restoration work and community projects on the land.
The site sits within the Mynydd Mallaen/Cwm Doethïe Site of Special Scientific Interest and includes rivers, peat bogs, and remnants of ancient woodland. Tir Natur says the plan is to let natural processes do more of the heavy lifting again, using hardy cattle, Welsh mountain ponies, and ancient pig breeds to reshape the land in ways that create better habitat for native species. The charity says that over time the area could support recovering populations of water voles, red squirrels, pine martens and hen harriers, while also improving water quality, soil health, carbon storage and downstream flood resilience.
It’s a big idea, and not a cheap one. But supporters say that’s exactly the point. Tir Natur chair Tash Reilly said the project would show “what’s possible when we allow nature to take the lead and work for people again,” framing it as a practical model rather than a romantic one. Broadcaster and naturalist Iolo Williams, who backs the charity, called the purchase an important chance to demonstrate that rewilding can benefit wildlife, farming, communities and Welsh culture at the same time.
The fundraising pitch has leaned hard into that sense of urgency. On its campaign page, Tir Natur says nature in Wales is “in freefall” and argues the country has lagged behind other parts of the UK in developing large-scale rewilding projects. The charity says the money is needed not just to hold the land “for nature forever,” but to get the first phase of restoration moving quickly, including peatland repair, habitat recovery and public involvement from the start.
That urgency is backed up by official evidence. Natural Resources Wales said in January that many of Wales’ most important habitats and species remain in poor condition. In its latest national assessment, only two of 61 habitats were found to be in favorable condition across Wales, while nearly 80% were classed as “unfavorable-bad.” The Welsh government’s 2026 Nature Recovery Action Plan also says biodiversity decline is weakening ecosystems and undermining long-term resilience.
Still, not everyone is cheering. The Farmers’ Union of Wales has criticised the project, warning about what it says are ecological risks and economic harm to rural communities if rewilding is pursued at scale without enough transparency or active land management. Tir Natur, for its part, says it wants to work with local communities and tradespeople, and argues that healthier upland habitats can bring wider public benefits, from cleaner rivers to lower flood risk for farmland downstream. That tension — between restoration and rural livelihoods, between promise and suspicion — is likely to shape the next phase of the project as much as the fundraising total itself.
For now, though, the charity has done the hardest part: it has turned a campaign into ownership. What happens next will decide whether this becomes a feel-good conservation story, or something more lasting — a test case for whether public-backed rewilding can really bring missing wildlife back to the Welsh landscape.
