Free-ranging longhorn cattle at Knepp Wildland

Knepp Wildland is the first major lowland

rewilding Rewilding may refer to: *Rewilding (conservation biology), the return of habitats to a natural state **Rewilding Europe Rewilding Europe is a non-profit organisation based in Nijmegen, Netherlands, working to create rewilded landscapes through ...

project in England. It comprises of former arable and dairy farmland in the grounds of

Knepp Castle The medieval Knepp Castle (sometimes referred to as 'Old Knepp Castle', to distinguish it from the nearby 19th-century mansion) is to the west of the village of West Grinstead, West Sussex, England near the River Adur and the A24 (). The castle ...

, in

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

, England. Since 2000 when the conversion from intensive agriculture started the land now supports an 'extraordinary abundance' of many rare species including turtle doves,

barbastelle bat The western barbastelle (''Barbastella barbastellus''), also known as the barbastelle or barbastelle bat, is a European bat in the genus ''Barbastella''. This species is found from Portugal to Azerbaijan and from Sweden to Canary Islands, wher ...

slow-worm The slow worm (''Anguis fragilis'') is a reptile native to western Eurasia. It is also called a deaf adder, a slowworm, a blindworm, or regionally, a long-cripple and hazelworm. These legless lizards are also sometimes called common slowworms. Th ...

s and

grass snake The grass snake (''Natrix natrix''), sometimes called the ringed snake or water snake, is a Eurasian non-venomous colubrid snake. It is often found near water and feeds almost exclusively on amphibians. Subspecies Many subspecies are recogniz ...

s; it has become a major nesting site for

nightingale The common nightingale, rufous nightingale or simply nightingale (''Luscinia megarhynchos''), is a small passerine bird best known for its powerful and beautiful song. It was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is no ...

s; a breeding hotspot for purple emperor butterflies; the site of the first

white stork The white stork (''Ciconia ciconia'') is a large bird in the stork family, Ciconiidae. Its plumage is mainly white, with black on the bird's wings. Adults have long red legs and long pointed red beaks, and measure on average from beak tip to en ...

chicks raised in the wild in England for 600 years, and is home to the first

beavers Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers a ...

living in the wild in Sussex for 400 years. On 17 November 2021 the very rare Vagrant Emperor dragonfly (''Anax ephippiger'') was discovered in Pond Field.

History

After inheriting the 3,500 acre farm from his grandparents at the age of 21 in 1987, Sir Charles Burrell, 10th Baronet tried to run the farm profitably for 17 years. In 2000 he reluctantly decided to sell the dairy herd and farm equipment to clear mounting debts rather than take on even more debt in yet another attempt to increase the productivity. The turning-point came in 2001, when he received

Countryside Stewardship The Countryside Stewardship Scheme was originally an agri-environment scheme run by the United Kingdom Government set up in 1991. In its original form it expired in 2014. It was relaunched for the Rural Development Programme England (RDPE) 2014-2020 ...

funding to restore the 350 acre

Repton Repton is a village and civil parish in the South Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England, located on the edge of the River Trent floodplain, about north of Swadlincote. The population taken at the 2001 Census was 2,707, increasing to 2,8 ...

-designed parkland around the mansion; parkland that had been ploughed since

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In 2001 the Repton park around the old castle was seeded with grass seed and a local wild meadow seed mix; by the end of the year all the internal fences had been removed from the park and deer from

Petworth House Petworth House in the parish of Petworth, West Sussex, England, is a late 17th-century Grade I listed country house, rebuilt in 1688 by Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, and altered in the 1870s to the design of the architect Anthony Sa ...

had been introduced. Further inspired by a visit to the Oostvaardersplassen nature reserve in the Netherlands in 2002 and by the

work Work may refer to: * Work (human activity), intentional activity people perform to support themselves, others, or the community ** Manual labour, physical work done by humans ** House work, housework, or homemaking ** Working animal, an animal t ...

of Dutch ecologist Dr Frans Vera, Burrell set about establishing a 'hands-off', naturalistic grazing system across the entire estate. He used free-roaming herds of old English longhorns, Exmoor ponies and Tamworth pigs as proxies for the

aurochs The aurochs (''Bos primigenius'') ( or ) is an extinct cattle species, considered to be the wild ancestor of modern domestic cattle. With a shoulder height of up to in bulls and in cows, it was one of the largest herbivores in the Holocen ...

tarpan The term tarpan (''Equus ferus ferus'') refers to free-ranging horses of the Russian steppe from the 18th to the 20th century. It is generally unknown whether those horses represented genuine wild horses, feral domestic horses or hybrids. The las ...

and wild boar that would once have roamed the British countryside, as well as red and fallow deer. In 2003 the project received additional funding from the

Countryside Stewardship Scheme The Countryside Stewardship Scheme was originally an agri-environment scheme run by the United Kingdom Government set up in 1991. In its original form it expired in 2014. It was relaunched for the Rural Development Programme England (RDPE) 2014-2020 ...

to extend the park restoration to all of the Middle Block and also the Northern Block. English Long Horn Cattle were added in the same year. along with 6 Exmoor ponies. Two Tamworth sows followed, along with a further 23 Longhorn Cattle in the Northern Block in 2004. By 2006 of the Southern Block had been left completely unmanaged for between 1 and 6 years. The first meeting of the steering group was held the same year. In 2009 Ravens nested at Knepp for the first time in hundreds of years; 13 out of a total of 18 UK bat species were recorded that summer along with 15 ‘ UK Biodiversity Action Plan Priority Species' (4 bats and 11 birds) and 60 invertebrate species of conservation importance and 76 additional species of moths. By March 2009 a 9-mile-long perimeter fence around the Southern Block had been completed and 53 Longhorn Cattle were introduced to the area, followed shortly afterwards by 23 Exmoor Ponies, 20 Tamworth pigs and 42 Fallow deer. Purple Emperor Butterflies were spotted for the first time at Knepp that year, and by 2015 it had become the largest breeding colony of Purple Emperors in the country. In 2010 the project received Higher Level Environmental Stewardship funding, by which time Knepp was supporting some 1% of all nesting nightingales in the UK, only 9 years into the project. By 2011 there were eleven singing male turtle doves at Knepp. 2016 saw the first pair of breeding falcons. In the same year, work was carried out on the

River Adur The Adur ( or ) is a river in Sussex, England; it gives its name to the Adur district of West Sussex. The river, which is long, was once navigable for large vessels up as far as Steyning, where there was a large Saxon port, but by the 11th ce ...

within the project boundaries to remove the artificial banks and allow the river to flood the surrounding meadows in a more natural way. In 2012 the

Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...

removed the largest weir and disabled the rest, and within a year Sea Trout were spotted migrating up the river. In 2016 a

black stork The black stork (''Ciconia nigra'') is a large bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. Measuring on average from beak tip to end of tail with a wingspan, t ...

, one of the rarest birds in Western Europe, was spotted, and 441 species of moth were recorded. Between 2015 and 2016 experts recorded 62 species of bee and 30 species of wasp, including 7 bee and 4 wasp species of national conservation importance.

White stork The white stork (''Ciconia ciconia'') is a large bird in the stork family, Ciconiidae. Its plumage is mainly white, with black on the bird's wings. Adults have long red legs and long pointed red beaks, and measure on average from beak tip to en ...

were observed raising chicks in UK for the first time in 600 years at Knepp in 2020.

Beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...

were re-introduced to Knepp in February 2020, having been absent from Sussex for several hundred years. One of the beavers escaped in December that year.

Description

The project uses herds of free-roaming animals including Old English longhorn cattle,

Exmoor ponies The Exmoor pony is one of the mountain and moorland pony breeds native to the British Isles. Some still roam as semi-feral livestock on Exmoor, a large area of moorland in Devon and Somerset in southwest England. The Exmoor has been given "P ...

Tamworth pig The Tamworth, also known as Sandy Back and Tam, is a breed of domestic pig originating in its namesake Tamworth, Staffordshire, United Kingdom. It is among the oldest of pig breeds, but as with many older breeds of livestock, it is not well sui ...

red deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of wes ...

and

fallow deer ''Dama'' is a genus of deer in the subfamily Cervinae, commonly referred to as fallow deer. Name The name fallow is derived from the deer's pale brown colour. The Latin word ''dāma'' or ''damma'', used for roe deer, gazelles, and antelopes, ...

to drive habitat generation and focuses on restoring dynamic natural processes. The project has witnessed an 'extraordinary abundance' of many rare species, including turtle doves,

s and

s; and is now a breeding hotspot for purple emperor butterflies and

s. A reintroduction programme of white storks to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

is in its early stages on the estate, with juvenile birds being kept in a six and a half acre pen until maturity, when they will be released. Sussex was chosen for its strong historical associations with the stork. The programme aims to establish a breeding population in Britain for the first time since 1416. The estate is still farming, albeit far more extensively, producing 75 tonnes of low-input, organic, pasture-fed meat per annum from its free-roaming herds. Wildlife tourism provides another significant income stream. On safari at Knepp Wildland

Knepp offers camping, safaris and holiday accommodation. There are 16 miles of public and permissive footpaths and 5 viewing platforms on the estate. The Knepp Wildland Advisory Board consists of some thirty ecologists, including Dr Frans Vera, and Prof Sir John Lawton, author of the 2010 'Making Space for Nature' report. The story of the Knepp Wildland project is told in the 2018 book ''Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm'' which is written by Isabella Tree, who lives at Knepp and is married to Charles Burrell and helped create the Wildland project.

Awards and recognition

* 2015 People Environment Achievement (PEA) award for Nature * 2015 Innovative & Novel Project award in the UK River Prize for th
River Adur restoration project
ref name=recognition/> * 2017 Anders Wall Award for special contribution to the rural environment in the European Union * 2017 Gold, Best Guided Tour of the Year, Beautiful South Awards * The Knepp Wildland project is recognised as a Verified Conservation Area (VCA) and is a member of the

Rewilding Europe Rewilding Europe is a non-profit organisation based in Nijmegen, Netherlands, working to create rewilded landscapes throughout Europe. Their goal is to maintain and expand areas of wildlife, in a manner that has a positive impact on climate and e ...

Network. * Outstanding example of landscape-scale restoration in the UK Government's 25 Year Environment Plan. * Organic certification from the

Soil Association The Soil Association is a British registered charity. The organisation activities include campaigning – against intensive farming, for local purchasing and public education on nutrition – and certification of organic foods. It was establ ...

* Sir Charles Burrell is Chair of the Beaver Advisory Committee for England and Foundation Conservation Carpathia, vice-chair for

Rewilding Britain Rewilding Britain is an organisation founded in 2015 that aims to promote the rewilding of Great Britain. It is a registered charity in England and Wales, and also in Scotland. History One of the people involved in setting up the charity was Guar ...

and on the board of The Arcadia Fund, Ingleby Farms Environment Committee, the Endangered Landscapes Programme and the Bronze Oak Project.

Criticism

*According to Isabella Tree, early on the project received letters "complaining that rewilding was an immoral waste of land, an affront to cultural values, that we’d turned our home Knepp into an eyesore of noxious weeds and brambles."

Gallery

File:Camping at Knepp Wildland.jpg, Knepp Wildland camping field File:Monarch of the Southern grass fields - geograph.org.uk - 1158274.jpg, A fallow deer buck at Knepp File:Knepp Wildland Hammer Pond.jpg, View of part of Hammer Pond at Knepp Wildland File:Viewing platform at Knepp Wildland.jpg, Viewing platform at Knepp Wildland File:Longhorn cattle at Knepp Wildland.jpg, Longhorn cattle at Knepp Wildland File:Longhorn_cattle_freeranging_at_Knepp_Wildland.jpg, Longhorn cattle at Knepp Wildland File:Watching longhorn cattle from footpath.jpg, Watching longhorn cattle from footpath File:Longhorn cattle at Knepp Wildland.jpg, Longhorn cattle at Knepp Wildland

References

External links

* Knepp Wildland Project Homepage https://knepp.co.uk/home

Sources

* {{coord, 50.97578, N, 0.34482, W, region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(TQ163209), display=title Nature reserves in England Nature reserves in West Sussex Rewilding Environmentalism in England