It's known as one of the 'European Stork Villages' of the UK and is widely considered as the poster child for rewilding. But what is Knepp Wildland, and how have the owners transformed it?
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What is Knepp?
Knepp Wildland is England's first major rewilding project. Taking inspiration from a Dutch site called Oostvardersplassen, over a period of some 15 years, Knepp's owners Charlie and Isabella have stopped farming the land in any conventional sense and let nature take its course.
Where is Knepp?
Knepp Wildland is part of the wider Knepp Estate, in West Sussex. Knepp Wildland's eastern border is located just a few hundred metres from the busy A24 that links London to Worthing.
Who owns Knepp?
Charlie Burrell and Isabella Tree are the current owners of Knepp. Sir Charles Burrell, 10th Baronet, inherited the Knepp Estate from his grandparents in 1987.
How large is Knepp?
Knepp Wildland is 1,400-hectares.
Why did Knepp's owners start to rewild it?
Speaking as part of a press pack for the film Wilding, Isabella Tree said: "Knepp was already a failing farm, business-wise, it wasn't profitable. But Charlie thought he could make it work. So for 17 years, he tried to farm it. But after 17 years, in about 1999, he realised that we were one and a half million pounds in debt, and it was just not viable. So we looked at how we could use the estate radically differently, working with the land rather than pushing against it."
What influenced the decision to rewild?
Isabella Tree has previously said: "We were very influenced by rewilding projects kicking off in Europe, and in particular, a wonderful Dutch ecologist called Frans Vera, who has become very influential in how we recover biodiversity, how we get wildlife back onto land.
"And one of the key aspects of that is using large free-roaming animals as drivers of the system, so imagining all the huge herds of aurochs, tarpon, elk, boar, beavers, by the millions, which would have been in Europe before human impact, and how they would have created a much more open, diverse, dynamic matrix of habitats, which is rocket fuel for wildlife. If you want to recover nature, one of the ways to do that is to use these large free roaming animals – and modern proxies of them, if you've hunted them to extinction. You can use their domesticated descendants to drive habitat recreation. We thought it would be a really interesting experiment."
Can you visit Knepp?
You can visit Knepp Wildland through booking a tour or workshop. There are also 16 miles of public footpath that run throughout the rewilding estate, with tree viewing-platforms. You can find more information about these on Knepp's website.
Which animals have been brought back to Knepp?
Charlie and Isabella have brought back longhorn cattle, Tamworth pigs, Exmoor ponies, wild boar and red deer to recreate the wood pasture found before humans arrived in Britain. Beavers have also been reintroduced to the rivers.
What other wildlife can be found there?
Cuckoos, nightingales, whitethroats and dunnocks sing from almost every available perch, of which there were plenty. It has become the best place in Britain to see the famed purple emperor butterfly. Barn owls, kestrels and sparrowhawks patrol rich hunting grounds, while the rare harvest mouse has also found the untamed grasslands to its liking.
- Red deer - After committing to rewilding, Knepp brought back red deer. Along with domesticated herbivores, such as longhorn cattle (which act as substitutes for extinct aurochs) and Tamworth pigs (wild boar), grazing and browsing help drive natural regeneration.
- Turtle doves - The gentle churr of the turtle dove – once common in lowland Britain – has disappeared in the past 30–40 years. Knepp is the only place in the country that bucks the declining trend, with numbers increasing from three pairs in 1999 to 16 pairs in 2017.
- White storks - This dramatic, beautiful wading bird could become a common sight in Knepp and the rest of West Sussex over the next decade. Conservationists hope local communities will volunteer village-hall roofs and other buildings as nest sites.
- Purple emperor butterfly - The sallow or pussy willow scrub that has proliferated here since Knepp stopped arable farming has been a boon for Britain’s second largest butterfly, the purple emperor. None at all were recorded in 2010, while on 21 June 2017, 148 individuals were counted – a UK record. The adult butterflies like Knepp’s mature oak trees.
- Barn owls - Knepp’s determination to let wildlife come back under natural processes is slightly compromised when it comes to barn owls: nestboxes have been put up for them throughout the estate. Rough field margins provide ample vole and mouse prey for these silent hunters.
Where can I watch Knepp's Wilding film?
A film about Knepp, Wilding, was released in 2023. The film was based upon a book of the same name, by Isabella Tree, about the project. You can watch the film on BFI Player.
How does Knepp make money?
Knepp Wildland runs safari tours and workshops, as well as garden tours and workshops. You can also stay at Knepp in accommodation such as camping, glamping and shepherd's huts. There is also a restaurant on site, and you can buy organic produce grown in their market garden and meat from their rewilding project in person or online.
Can you get married at Knepp?
Knepp offers outdoor weddings from June-September.
Discover more wildlife stories from around the UK
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Main image: the modern Knepp Castle on the Knepp Estate in a still from Wilding. Credit: MetFilm
