Sir David Attenborough is backing a conservation bid to raise £30 million to buy the Rothbury Estate in Northumberland. The Wildlife Trusts and Northumberland Wildlife Trust aim to complete the purchase of the 15-square-mile site, a mix of former grouse moor, woodland, farmland, streams and rivers, with plans to boost wildlife, restore bogs and promote nature-friendly farming.

Experts describe Rothbury as part of a potential 40-mile “wild” corridor of protected landscapes stretching from the coast to Kielder and the Scottish border. In a video backing the appeal, Attenborough called the landscape a “huge, heart-shaped expanse of moorland, rivers, forest and upland in Northumberland.” He added: “People know and love the Simonside Hills that rise here, they walk the ridges and listen for the calls of the curlew, they watch for red squirrels and admire the views as they scramble among the crags. They walk along its remote paths and marvel at the astonishing rock carvings left by our distant ancestors, who once lived here,” he said. Attenborough also stated: “Please help us make this vision a reality.”

The partnership between the two wildlife trusts was given two years from October 2024 to raise the £30 million to buy the estate in full. About £8 million has already been raised, with donations ranging from £5 to £5 million. The estate is home to curlew, mountain bumblebees, lapwings, red squirrels, cuckoo and merlin, as well as Atlantic salmon and endangered eels, though organisers say nature could be richer still. The trusts outline a four-pillar plan to protect existing sites and wildlife, restore degraded habitats such as native woodland and peatland, rewild parts of the land and pursue regenerative farming. Plans include bringing in large herbivores to graze the land, such as ponies, hardy cattle and potentially even bison, with hopes that pine martens, beavers and golden eagles could recolonise. Local farmers would move to lower densities of sheep and use cattle and pigs to produce sustainable meat. The trusts expect greater public access, with new paths, a visitor and education centre and a dark skies centre, while aiming to boost the local economy and job opportunities. The Rothbury Estate sits in a nature corridor described as a potential “special area for nature recovery”.