Farmers and landowners will be able to bid for funding for “rewilding” the countryside, as part of payments for landscape-scale nature schemes. Up to 15 pilot projects will be awarded funding under the first wave of the “landscape recovery” scheme, which will eventually be worth £800 million a year as part of the programme replacing the EU farming subsidies regime. Under the scheme, land managers can bid to receive funding for large-scale, long-term projects for establishing woodlands, restoring peatlands, wetlands and other habitats and creating new nature reserves. The first pilot projects, which could include rewilding schemes that reinstate natural processes in the landscape, will focus on restoring England’s rivers and streams and helping threatened native species recover, officials said. A sapling on former arable farmland in Norfolk which is part of a large-scale rewilding and regenerative farming project (Emily Beament/PA) Successful bids, which will cover landscapes of between 500 …