This interview is part of a series on David Beckham's countryside champions, as featured in the October 22, 2025 edition of Country Life. Read part 1 with stockman Trevor Kirk, part 2 with milliner Barnaby Horn and part 3 with gardener Poppy Okotcha..
'As a child, I loved to escape the confines of Walsall, where I lived with my family. The Girl Guides, which I joined at five, helped to feed my passion for the great outdoors, as did my parents, who would take me walking, camping and to a raft of National Trust properties.
'At the age of 18, I headed to the University of Reading to study zoology and, in my spare time, I became involved with a number of organisations with countryside links. The countryside brings me happiness and peace, but I’ve long been concerned by the climate crisis and I deal with it by taking action and trying to inspire others to get involved, too. For example, I’m a spokesperson and organiser for UK Youth 4 Nature and, having been a birdwatcher since I was very young, I’m a youth representative for the British Trust for Ornithology for Birmingham/Berkshire.
'I’m also a trustee of the Birmingham & Black Country Wildlife Trust, as well as being an organiser of Generation Nature, a youth-led podcast that encourages people to speak out and share their own stories of Nature, and I was one of the 200 young people who helped to make the 20-minute film Our Beautiful Wild, a Young Voices for Nature project. All these roles stemmed from my time at university, when I co-founded the Hedgehog Society.
"I know that I will always want to help others connect to the natural world."
'As a result of all my projects, but, unbeknown to me, I was nominated by the university’s Sara Lovejoy for the 2024 Countryfile Young Countryside Champion, which I won. It was a surprise and an honour during a year that also included my placement at Global Rewilding Alliance, a catalyst organisation that brings rewilders together. My experience as an intern there has been truly life-changing. Seeing the work that people are doing all around the world to rewild and protect the planet has given me hope for the future.
'My final year at the University of Reading has just begun and I’m planning to write my dissertation on rewilding. What the future will hold after I graduate I’m not sure, but I know that I will always want to help others connect to the natural world.'
Interview by Julie Harding. SEe more aout Ramandeep's work at the globalrewilding.earth website.
This feature originally appeared in the October 22, 2025 issue of Country Life. Click here for more information on how to subscribe.
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