This is my first marathon and I'm running it for Rewilding Britain. Why? Read on...

I grew up in the Cambridgeshire fens and one of the biggest joys of my childhood was exploring the natural world around me. It was magical. I loved watching marsh harriers swoop over the reed beds, barn owls' ghostly flights at dusk, hearing virtuosic song thrushes, sirening lapwings and snuffling hedgehogs, stumbling upon kingdoms of anthills and molehills, cowslip and bullrushes, frogspawn and orchids.

As I moved through my childhood I saw that wildlife slip away. Fewer summer evenings of flitting bats and shuffling hedgehogs. No more tadpoles in the nearby pond. An absence of insects pasted to the numberplate of my parents' car.

Older, I learnt that the UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries on earth. And sadly, despite decades-old national expertise in genuinely effective conservation, and despite being an island of nature-lovers, our wildlife continues to decline. In 2023 the UK Government released a 'state of nature' report detailing the changes since 1970. I urge you to read it here: https://stateofnature.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/TP25999-State-of-Nature-main-report_2023_FULL-DOC-v12.pdf

Reversing this should be a top priority. Not just because wildlife is beautiful, extraordinary and proven to benefit human happiness; nor because there's a real moral question about our right to drive species with which we share this planet to decline and extinction. But because it's in our long-term selfish interest. Healthy ecosystems are vital for long-term food production. They give us clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, quality materials to use and new routes to developing lifesaving drugs. And healthy ecosystems mitigate and improve our resilience to climate change, capturing carbon while doing handy things like bearing the brunt of storm surges, reducing flood risk, or cooling local air temperatures.

There are lots of amazing conservation charities out there and I'd recommend looking into what's going on near you. But for my first ever marathon, I have chosen to support Rewilding Britain. Why? They support a national network of rewilding projects through connection, grant-funding and lobbying. They have championed the concept of rewilding and brought it to the public domain. And they challenge us to resist our ever-falling baseline of what 'natural' looks like for the ecosystems around us and ask: how do we allow nature to support itself at scale; and what would ambitious really look like?

Thank you for reading this far and, if you choose to support me, for your donation. Running 26.2 miles is very daunting and your support means that every ankle twinge, exhausted afternoon, experiment with a dangerous new gel, and panic about how to get to Brighton in time for the race is worth something. Thank you for helping me and for helping rebuild the natural world so many of us deeply deeply love.