In 1988, an English farmer stopped cultivating his entire 377-acre wheat farm

Bedfordshire farm was saved through public donations after a successful £1.5m crowdfunding campaign An English farmer who stopped intensive wheat farming in 1988 has unintentionally helped create one of central England's largest young woodland nature reserves, reports the Guardian. Strawberry Hill, a 377-acre site near Knotting in Bedfordshire, has now been permanently protected after the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire (BCN) officially purchased the land. The purchase followed a public fundraising campaign that reached its £1.5 million target. For 35 years, the land was left largely untouched after landowner Hugh White stopped farming there in protest against government agricultural policies. Over time, the former fields naturally changed into a mix of hawthorn bushes, scrubland, grassland and young woodland. According to ecological surveys by the BCN Wildlife Trust, the site now provides important habitat for threatened birds. It is home to around half of all breeding nightingales recorded across Bedfordshire.From wheat farm to wildlife sanctuaryUntil the late 1980s, Strawberry Hill was an intensive wheat farm. The land depended on fertilizers...