'Make every day Earth Day or face destruction'

Simon Barnes has rewilded acres of his own land and can see the benefits as new species arrive

A nature writer and conservationist has used Earth Day to speak of the importance of "spending time in nature and learning to love it".

Simon Barnes has rewilded about nine acres (about 3.5 hectares) of his land at Heckingham, Norfolk, and said he had seen the benefits to the area's wildlife.

Earth Day is a global event which takes place each year on 22 April and aims to highlight the importance of protecting the environment.

"Make every day Earth Day, because if we don't make every day Earth Day we're heading for destruction," Mr Barnes said.

The former sports journalist said he first became enamoured with plants when he visited Orford Ness [a secret military test site during the Cold War] in Suffolk - "an extraordinary place where military and natural history collide".

He had been looking at the casing of an atom bomb, and thinking about the destruction one caused in Hiroshima, and admitted his "brain was completely scrambled".

"I found myself sitting on the shingle, looking out at the sea trying to make sense," he said.

"And then I noticed there were some plants growing in the shingle, and I thought this is the worst place in the world to be a plant - the air's full of salt, there's no water - but there they were, growing.

"I wanted to call them brave, but that's not right - it's about life making life wherever it possibly can.

"The plants told me that story, and from that moment on, plants became a personal matter. They're not the backdrop or the soft furnishings of the wild world. That's where it all starts."

Mr Barnes's reed beds have been rewilded

Rewilding his own land had allowed it to "fill with all kinds of life that loves this wild, wet countryside", said Mr Barnes.

He has particularly noticed it with his reed beds.

"You can see the young ones coming up. This area that was once mostly grasses seems to want to become a reed bed - and that will bring a whole suite of different species in there."

Mr Barnes stressed the importance of getting out and appreciating nature

Speaking of his passion on Earth Day, he said: "First off, make every day Earth Day... or we are heading for destruction.

"Look after your own land and let it go a little bit wilder and invite more nature in."

He also stressed the importance of spending more time in nature.

"You don't have to reach for Attenborough-esque expertise on all this. You'll just find the more you know, the more you'll enjoy," he said.

"The best PR person for nature is nature itself."