Ep. 028: People and Technology in Rewilding with Simon Roper

·47 min·3 clips

Simon says AI can show a landowner future versions of their site before any change happens.

1. Wilder Podcast episode 28 focuses on technology in rewilding with Simon Roper and the Ambios team. 2. Simon Roper is a director at Ambios, and Tom and Chloe host the Wilder Podcast from the Grange Project in Monmouthshire. 3. The episode asks where GPS, drones, camera traps, Merlin, and AI help nature recovery, and where boots-on-the-ground knowledge still matters. 4. Chloe describes the Grange Project as 80 acres in rural Monmouthshire, where the team is documenting their own rewilding journey. 5. A nearly ancient oak fell on the land after a loud crack at around 2 o'clock in the morning, and the team decided to leave the dead wood in place. 6. Tom and Chloe link that fallen oak to biodiversity, saying decomposing oak wood creates habitat for animals over time. 7. Chloe also reports two nesting pairs of barn owls on the land, plus tawnies, bats, and a barn owl bathing in the pig wallow. 8. Simon says Ambios was formed about 20 years ago to help people get the skills needed for nature conservation jobs. 9. He says the organisation started by noticing that university knowledge was not matched by practical field skills. 10. Simon describes Ambios as a not-for-profit company in Devon that provides residential training and also rewilds part of the Sharpham Estate. 11. He gives GPS and GIS as an early example of technology changing nature conservation training about 10 years ago. 12. He says trainees used handheld GPS units to map woodland edges, gates, styles, and wildflower meadow areas, then transferred the data into QGIS. 13. Simon says current drone work can create repeatable flyovers linked to GPS, so year-on-year visual change can be overlaid. 14. He says drones are also useful for sharing images through YouTube, Vimeo, and live presentations to people who may not otherwise engage with nature. 15. Chloe raises biodiversity net gain, and Simon says he would be cautious about drones replacing detailed ecological judgement. 16. Simon says camera traps are useful for badgers and other protected species, but they are not a replacement for field skill. 17. He says Merlin can point people in the right direction for birds like firecrest or whitethroat, but he does not fully trust it in a survey context. 18. Simon says a snowshoe hare seen in Canada remains vivid because he chose not to raise the camera and only kept the memory. 19. The episode has an interview format with a conversational, reflective tone, and Tom and Chloe often push Simon toward practical examples. 20. People interested in rewilding, conservation training, and field ecology will get the most from it, while listeners wanting a fast tech demo may skip it.

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