Huge engineering projects like those that took place at Watchtree in 2001 do not always end up as positive and sensitive sites like nature reserves. Fortunately, ecological consultants were involved in the post Foot and Mouth restoration process and by working with other agencies and the local community, managed to turn a negative landscape feature into a positive wildlife and community asset.
Watchtree was declared a nature reserve in 2003 though much of the ecological restoration began immediately following Foot and Mouth: Water storage lagoons, used to store surface water were designed with wildlife in mind by creating shallow margins and scalloped edges; A species rich grass mix was used to reseed large areas of soil following burials; Hedgerows were planted on top of the burial pits which in years to come will attract a variety of farmland birds and other fauna, and; over eighty thousand broadleaved and coniferous trees have been planted to enhance the existing woodland in addition to creating habitat for endangered species including the Red Squirrel.