Julia Hailes MBE

Sustainability Pioneer

Have You Noticed an Insect Bonanza in 2025? (jul25)

Bugs are back – let’s fight to save them… Our garden is humming and buzzing with life this year – and it’s glorious. Every step through the wildflower meadows brings a flurry of movement. Bugs of all sorts dart between the grasses, butterflies spiral upward, bees bury into blooms. In the golden light of early […]

COME TO OUR WILDING WEEKEND ON 17TH & 18TH OF JUNE 2023

During the weekend there will be guided tours, talks, exhibitors and stalls with information and advice about wilding, as well as things to buy. Conservation experts will show you the wildflower meadows, ponds, and grasslands identifying the insects, birds, reptiles, and amphibians that they find. Julia will be telling visitors about the challenges and successes […]

Dorset Life interviews me! (Jun23)

I loved being described as ‘probably the most effective person you’ve never heard of’! I wondered if it was too flattering for me to post the article or promote it in any way. But I overcame my doubts, and here is the Dorset Life article about my life! It not only covers the forthcoming Wilding […]

Our Wilding Weekend in June 2023 (Mar Update)

On 17th and 18th June 2023, my husband Jamie Macdonald and I will be hosting the second Wilding Weekend at our home in Dorset. Find out more about it here. WE WILL BE SUPPORTING – THE NATIONAL GARDEN SCHEME Ticket sales will be donated to the National Garden Scheme (NGS) charities. Here’s a link to […]

Why is our MP not supporting the Dorset National Park? (May21)

Why hasn’t Chris Loder, Dorset MP, talked to the Dorset National Park supporters? Chris Loder contacted our Parish meeting in Hooke saying that he had significant reservations about a Dorset National Park, but without explaining why. He appeared to be soliciting opinion but failed to give any details of the pros and cons. I’ve now […]

Butterflies love this meadow

A wonderful place near me. It’s full of wild flowers. Butterflies and bees love it. It also have far reaching views over Dorset countryside right the way to the sea on one side. Heaven… Trying to decide whether to create wildflower meadows at home. The benefits are clear. The downside is that it means killing […]

I love electric bikes (Jun19)

Sailing through the countryside. Exploring hidden routes. Getting some much needed exercise…  It’s wonderful.   The strange thing is that when I say that I’ve taken up electric bikes, one of the most common reactions is for people to say that ‘it’s cheating’.  It’s as if I was doing something ‘synthetic’ rather than ‘natural’ – […]

Speaking at Lyme Regis fossil festival (May19)

I had to walk right round the Marine Theatre in Lyme Regis before finding the entrance, on the first evening of events for the Fossil Festival. I was rather surprised by the number of people in the audience – it was almost full. I started my speech with a video of waves of plastic washing […]

Watching ‘Blue’ made people angry (Dec18)

It was difficult to decide which part of the film made me more angry.  High on the the list were the scenes cutting the fins from living sharks and throwing them back into the sea. I think the film said that 60 million sharks are killed for their fins each year – but looking it […]

My Blog Returns Again… (Oct16)

  My blog life has been rather quiet for a long time.  There may be some people who have been checking my Blogspot and getting fed up with looking at Lidl lobsters, which was my last post or a photo of me getting married saying that my blog is coming alive again?!   Hopefully, it […]