Each one covers a different aspect of wildlife on the farm – from wild ponies to Purple Emperor butterflies. From here, Isabella and her husband Charlie set out on a journey to restore the biodiversity on the farm.

This happened when an experienced tree warden named Ted Green pointed out that their ancient oaks were suffering because the soil had been damaged. Isabella Tree then recounts the history of the Knepp estate and the moment when they started to see the land differently. 97 per cent of our wildflower meadows have been lost since the war.’ 80 per cent of Britain’s lowland heathland has been lost since 1800 a quarter of the acreage in the last fifty years. Up to 90 per cent of wetland has disappeared in England since the Industrial Revolution. ‘Between the beginning of the war and the 1990s we lost 75,000 miles of hedgerows. The introduction plunges you into the cold reality of nature decline throughout the British Isles. On screen, this doesn’t seem like an enticing blend, but the combination of all these elements reveals a startling and hopeful picture. It combines stark facts with history, ecology and farming terminology. You have to hold your nerve when reading Wilding.

The Burrells’ degraded agricultural land has become a functioning ecosystem again, heaving with life – all by itself. Thanks to the introduction of free-roaming cattle, ponies, pigs and deer – proxies of the large animals that once roamed Britain – the 3,500 acre project has seen extraordinary increases in wildlife numbers and diversity in little over a decade.Įxtremely rare species, including turtle doves, nightingales, peregrine falcons, lesse hir spotted woodpeckers and purple emperor butterflies, are now breeding at Knepp, and populations of other species are rocketing. Part gripping memoir, part fascinating account of the ecology of our countryside, Wilding is, above all, an inspiring story of hope.įorced to accept that intensive farming on the heavy clay of their land at Knepp was economically unsustainable, Isabella Tree and her husband Charlie Burrell made a spectacular leap of faith: they decided to step back and let nature take over.

In Wilding, Isabella Tree tells the story of the ‘Knepp experiment’, a pioneering rewilding project in West Sussex, using free-roaming grazing animals to create new habitats for wildlife. It makes you see nature in a completely different light. Although I wouldn’t exactly call this an easy read, I can see why it’s created such a ripple effect among conservationists and wildlife-lovers. We try to live sustainably so it was a book I really wanted to read but I didn’t get around to it until someone handed us a copy this year. Wilding by Isabella Tree took the British nature writing scene by storm in 2018.