This week I'm heading back to Embercombe for the final The Rewilding Training residential of our nine-month course.

It’s exciting to be gathering once again with my amazing course mates and inspiring teachers, but it’s bittersweet as we come to the end of the program!

I decided to join The Rewilding Training, a unique program co-created and facilitated by Laura Fairs, to deepen my understanding of the ecological situation we’re in, explore the ways in which rewilding offers solutions to the crises we face, feel into what roles might be for me in support of nature restoration, and make friends on the way.

It’s been fascinating, challenging and also very hopeful, learning about the historical, political and commercial factors that have shaped the circumstances in which we find ourselves, our land and wildlife, studying the nitty gritty of nature restoration with some practical work on the land as well as ecological surveying and monitoring.

We’ve learned about mapping, about centring equitable access to nature, about approaches to community and stakeholder engagement, revenue possibilities for projects, financing and funding streams, how to create a vision and a plan for a project and more.

It takes place partly in online classes, and in person at the three residentials. Every class has been so rich and full of information and stories, followed by the Q&A calls where even more mind expanding, perspective shifting conversations happen.

There is a lot to learn and I have a looong list of links to research, projects, organisations and resources to check out in my own time. 😅

This years course has brought 50 of us together to connect over our shared love of the natural world, our desire to do something about restoring it and be better equipped to rewild.

We have also met one another in our grief over the devastating condition of our land and wildlife, as the scale of the problems on our planet and our country become ever more evident and existential.

Meeting my fellow course mates in person have been some of the most meaningful moments of my year. I am incredibly privileged to have been part of this.

Some of my pals on the course own or manage land; their participation in the course is to put into practice what we are learning and be the best stewards they can be. Others came to the course with the view to make a career change, or weave the themes of rewilding into their current nature-based work. Some of us are following a curiosity and a calling to deepen into this field of study with an openness about where it goes next.

It’s been a brilliant journey and I’m so very grateful to have been part of the 2026 cohort.

I brought my camera along on both of the last residentials to make a few photos of our time there, and below are some from the first one.

As a student of the course, it’s important for me to not be in ‘photographer mode’!! I’m obviously there to be present with learning and participating, so I only took a few photos on a couple of occasions. The photos below are not a full representation of the resi at all.

The snaps are from our time on the Embercombe site, including our final afternoon once the residential had officially ended and a few of us went off to the woods in search of a Firecrest some pals had heard. (The search was a success!)

Booking is now open for 2027 cohort of The Rewilding Training, so if this speaks to you, you might like to check it out.

If you’d be curious to hear more about it from people who have been on the course, you can watch previous years Zoom call recordings where past students have shared their experience of the course. I am also very happy to chat with you about it.

Photography from The Rewilding Training at Embercombe, Devon