can stand 6ft tall and is now roaming around britain for the first time in 6,000 years? it is quite scary. the answer is the european bison, and we re hopefully going to see a few this morning. gareth barlow is in canterbury and can tell us more. good morning. where are they? a little bit of way. we hopefully will get to them in the next couple of hours. this is the kent countryside, a beautiful morning. this is not typical woodland. the cctv, fencing, massive metal barriers will attest to the fact that there is a small herd of bison in the woodland. the first arrived at this time a year ago today. they were then joined by ago today. they were then joined by a surprise arrival a few months later. we will tell you more about that later. and then the rest of the
is in kent finding out more. good morning. it is a beautiful morning here in the kent countryside. behind these massive fences are some bison. we can actually see them on the gps tracking. we are here, roughly where my thumb is, and they are where my index finger is. there are about they are about 150 metres away inside the woodland. it is helpful the sound of bbc breakfast or will draw them out closer. this story started a year ago today at this very site. the bbc sjustin rowlatt, who this morning was in spain talking to us about the heatwave, was right here following the beginning of this remarkable venture. thousands of years after the last one was killed, presumably by an ancient briton, and bison are back. this time around, they re being celebrated as ecosystem engineers, as i discovered more
female family heard. we found the older female from scotland. two young females female from scotland. two young females from ireland. we brought the ball in females from ireland. we brought the ball in from females from ireland. we brought the ball in from germany to bring the strong ball in from germany to bring the strong genetic herd together. why bison? why strong genetic herd together. twig bison? why not native strong genetic herd together. tfa iy bison? why not native british strong genetic herd together. my bison? why not native british cattle species? the bison? why not native british cattle secies? ., , , ., . , species? the oy of this pro ect is we are species? the oy of this pro ect is we doing h species? the joy of this pro ect is we are doing both. species? the joy of this pro ect is we are doing both. there h species? the joy of this project is we are doing both. there is - species? the joy of this project is we are doing both. there is an i species? the j
than a year ago. how would you expect the bison to transform this landscape? so, by being the sheer size that they are, they will roam through the woodlands. they will just take trees down, creating open areas. they will allow more light to come to the woodland floor, which is going to help dispersal, more native species will be able to grow. and they also like taking dust baths, or sand baths, so they like rolling from one side to another, creating these sandpits, which again are very valuable for borrowing invertebrates. so exactly a year after the bison were brought in, how have they been getting on? they ve just had this absolutely amazing impact, and they ve just blown us away, not only by how quickly this happened, but by their impact already on this reserve. she says all the bark stripping, tree stomping and dust bathing is transforming the woodland, creating new clearings and thinning out fast growing species. this is fantastic for a range
strict rules on dangerous animals mean bison can t be let loose in the uk. but the kent wildlife trust is hoping other reserves will recruit their own bison to help create more diverse woodland ecosystems across the uk. justin rowlatt did have success in finding the bison. as yet, no site or sound of them this morning. i am joined by two people who know these animals very well, work with them on animals very well, work with them on a daily basis. paul whitfield, director of the wildlife trust, you are the person charged with sourcing and bringing these bison to kent. i had to go about it? it and bringing these bison to kent. i had to go about it? had to go about it? it was a complicated had to go about it? it was a complicated job. had to go about it? it was a complicated job. we - had to go about it? it was a| complicated job. we wanted had to go about it? it was a . complicated job. we wanted to had to go about it? it was a complicated job. we wanted to create a small complic