{"podcast":{"title":"Wilder Podcast","slug":"wilder-podcast-6446398","podcast_index_feed_id":6446398,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/wilder-podcast/","website_url":"https://www.grangeproject.co.uk/wilder-podcast","image_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/ccf0843a-c305-4861-bfa7-bc581db486e3/CB9C92SZxcDje7YTXgykn7Ne.jpg","author":"Grange Project","episode_count":56,"summary":"Chloe is a clinical psychologist. Tom is a former British Army officer. In 2023 they bought 80 acres of intensive farmland in rural Monmouthshire and started rewilding it. The Wilder Podcast is the conversation that came next, and it has grown beyond the land. Every fortnight, we talk to the people thinking seriously about the systems we have built, and the ones we need next. Rewilding scientists and conservation founders. Regenerative farmers and food security experts. Economists, ecologists, psychologists, community builders, the occasional well-placed contrarian. The connecting thread is simple: a culture disconnected from nature is at the root of the polycrisis, and reconnection is the foundation for almost everything else. Alongside the interviews we share the honest version of our own journey at the Grange Project. The wins, the false starts, and the muddy reality of trying to turn a former silage farm into a mosaic of habitats, with no formal background in ecology. Topics range across rewilding and nature recovery, food systems and resilience, the economics of land, community and connection, and the mental health case for time spent wilder. Chloe brings a clinical psycholog…","last_synced_at":"2026-06-12T00:17:40.448358+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/wilder-podcast-6446398"},"episode":{"title":"Ep. 054: The Psychology of Species Reintroductions with Pete Cairns","slug":"ep-054-the-psychology-of-species-reintroductions-with-pete-cairns","published_at":"2026-05-26T10:15:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/wilder-podcast-6446398/ep-054-the-psychology-of-species-reintroductions-with-pete-cairns","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/wilder-podcast-6446398","url":"https://www.grangeproject.co.uk/wilder-podcast","audio_url":"https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/fe187570-e1ab-4221-9118-bdeee9598f09.mp3","summary":"Episode summary We see Pete Cairns as rewilding royalty. Thirty years in the conservation conversation, co-founder and former CEO of SCOTLAND: The Big Picture, and now host of the new podcast At the Edge. In this episode Tom and Chloe sit down with Pete to dig into the one thing every species reintroduction in the UK has in common, and it is not the species. Wildcats, sea eagles, red kites, beavers, lynx. The practical side of bringing animals back is largely solved. What is not solved is the human side. The consultation, the fear, the bureaucracy, the politics, and the deep emotional and economic stakes for the rural communities living on the front line. We talk about the 11 million domestic cats in the UK and the 100 million wild animals they kill each year. The mysterious lynx release in the Cairngorms in January 2025. Whether \"beaver bombers\" should be celebrated or condemned. And what Pete would do if he had a magic wand to fix the system. The post-interview chat between Tom and Chloe gets properly unpacked on the moral case for reintroductions, the sheep farmer's perspective, and whether logic or culture should lead. About the guest Pete Cairns has spent thirty years working on rewilding communications and engagement, with a particular focus on the human-wildlife fault line. He co-founded SCOTLAND: The Big Picture and served as its CEO until 2025. He now works independently and hosts the podcast At the Edge , a deep dive into our relationship with wild nature and each other. Find Pete on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/petercairnsphoto Listen to At the Edge : attheedge.org.uk Chapters 00:00 - Welcome and what is the Wilder Podcast 01:55 - Project update: the community day 04:22 - Thanks to Katya and Hannah in the market garden 05:09 - Pigs escaping again 06:38 - Why we…","meta_description":"Episode summary We see Pete Cairns as rewilding royalty. Thirty years in the conservation conversation, co-founder and former CEO of SCOTLAND: The Big Pic…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3698,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/wilder-podcast-6446398/episodes/ep-054-the-psychology-of-species-reintroductions-with-pete-cairns/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/wilder-podcast-6446398/ep-054-the-psychology-of-species-reintroductions-with-pete-cairns.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}