Knepp Rewilded - a short film

A 15 minute film about the trailblazing Knepp rewilding project and some of the wildlife successes.
Knepp’s dynamic, rebounding ecosystem is a story of hope, showing how nature can bounce back if we let it.

[@davidwilson1043]

Beautiful and promising, this really should be used to educate the next generation and politicians

[@jonathanclutton2813]

What you've achieved at Knepp is spectacularly impressive, and now I think a beacon of inspiration for many others the world over. Thank you, and long may it continue!

[@stonemarten1400]

Hugely inspiring project for me as a rural land manager, I absolutely love it and it’s a great testament to the positive outcome of letting nature take its course. I can’t wait to visit Knepp for ideas on how to take some of this forward on our estate here in Scotland.

[@TC-dy4zr]

Best of luck!!!

[@susanr5546]

This is so inspiring. I have a relative who is a PhD agriculturist who has been studying soil health for decades. Rewinding is probably the best thing many areas in our struggling world could use to lasting benefit. We all need a bit of the wild in our experience. This lifts my heart today with hope that we can start caring for our environment rather than destroying it.

[@andrewhatcher8936]

I'm not a conservationist by trade but I've been coming to Knepp for the last 5 years regularly. I love the environment there. It feels pure, peaceful and respectful. A healing environment for humans and wildlife. In the summer I regularly stay in the beautiful campsite, swim in the lake and get some delicious meat from the farm shop. Many thanks to all involved with the project! I hope you go from strength to strength and that other landowners follow your example!

[@tjzp]

If I wanted to visit for half a day, can I just turn up and wander around? Is there an entrance fee or anything of the sorts? Thanks!

[@andrewhatcher8936]

@@tjzp You need to pay for car park use but that's it.

[@tjzp]

@@andrewhatcher8936 cool, thank you! Happy to pay for parking!

[@pauldurkee4764]

It shows what a change of thinking can achieve in a relatively short space of time. When you see the return and rapid increase of species such as Nightingale and Turtle Dove, you wonder what the large well known conservation bodies have been doing all these years, there must be millions of nature lovers like myself, who have never heard a nightingale or seen a turtle dove.

[@gabrielg.2401]

The beauty of it all is that human beings made this happen. Absolutely stunning. Knepp may be THE most profound rewilding effort of our time in terms of how it evolved into what it is today. Brilliant that they are now taking people on safaris; this spectacular project deserves ALL our support!

[@Ottawajames]

I think the whole message was that humans *didn't* make this happen.... Nature took over when humans stepped back and let it.

[@gabrielg.2401]

@@Ottawajames With all due respect, I think you need to rethink everything you've ever been told about human beings' relationship with this planet as people have had a *very* long history of enhancing wildland habitats for other forms of life in a multitude of different ways. Knepp is but one example of this although it is quite another world from what I'm about to mention. It is a modern effort in the face of intense corruption wherein dedicated individuals put their time and energy into an extremely important project of land revitalization. But for THOUSANDS of years, the native tribes of California physically managed woodland environments for maximum productivity for both people and wildlife. Their perspective was far more aligned with actual reality than the bulk of so-called environmentalists today in that they had a deep understanding of the critical role of disturbance in maintaining the health and fecundity of woodland and grassland ecosystems. It was their controlled burning that literally created the many ancient oak groves throughout the state and helped the vast hills of wildflowers to grow in such abundance. I highly recommend the book Tending The Wild by M. Kat Anderson; it is all about just how profoundly the indigenous people of California stewarded their lands and teaches a vital lesson to the consciousness of today. It is an absolute must-read for those who are truly serious about improving their understanding of real ecology. You'll find that most if not all indigenous perspectives consistently look upon the Earth as a garden to be tended to, *never* as a separate world that would be better off without people.

[@terrielburrell5545]

Looking forward to a visit while I research my Burrell roots!

[@humblewell]

Wow! This was very inspiring. I am going to borrow the ideals in this video for my backyard in northwest Missouri. 🏡🌳🌻

[@ecosharon8443]

Watching this over and over again and it's a constant source of rewilding hope and inspiration - thank you Kneppfolks ❤🙏🌏🌿

[@GreenLight11111]

Wouldnt it be amazing if rewilding routes from top to bottom left to right were allowed to flourish like Knepp has done so nature could be again there to be and us humans could walk it again from top to bottom a route of pure wild again. Good for the soul.

[@traindriver35]

I love Knepp and walk there quite often, to sit quietly and watch the flocks of birds and hear the hum of insects is so satisfying. I find it a huge comfort to know there's this refuge for wildlife free from nasty chemicals where things are allowed to take there natural course.

[@hobi1kenobi112]

It's great, a testament to hard work and simple, achievable ethics. Let Nature run and manage sensibly. Wild, natural Britain is the Britain we know and love best. It is truly as itself. ❤❤

[@DuncanPepper]

It's an impressive turn around in wild life. It's not the only model for Rewilding and maybe more suited to the lowlands than the uplands. However, it's excellent work and so hope - filling. It might be as far into rewilding as the south of England could stomach, but we can do more. Best of luck to knepp. 💚🌳🐛

[@jamesrattray8548]

Brilliant to see what Charlie and Isabel have achieved at Knep. It takes real guts to break away from the expected norms of society. The UK is in the bottom 10% of the world for biodiversity. We have a long long way to go. We talk about Africa where grew up, I would encourage you to look at India and what they are doing with their wild spaces. They build natural around core areas where there is absolutely no human interference

[@stephenscaife9993]

These people are spectacular human beings.

[@georgeandmontyexplores8414]

😂

[@rosyarmitage8164]

Wow that is so inspiring and gives me back some hope for the future in poor nature-depleted UK.

[@nicolanoller9264]

Love love love ❤

[@mikemellor759]

A great introduction to the wonderful work being done at Knepp 😊👏👏

[@haydnjones2232]

Fascinating. As was mentioned, on pockets of marginal land this possibly makes sense and offers a potentially positive way forward where there is an opportunity to restore some biodiversity on a wider scale. However, we still need to produce food and what Knepp produces in the form of restored and enhanced plant and species diversity, commendable though it is, will not feed us. We still need efficient and, hard though it is for many to accept, intensive agriculture.

[@michaelanderson-jones8009]

Absolutely amazing. I truly love what you are doing and will share and share this should be rolled out nationwide with our a doubt

[@leighricketts4898]

... amazing story of hope and what is possible.

[@mikemellor759]

Great video - wonderful project

[@sil8127]

These animals are the most accurate ecological thermometers.

[@THE_ECONNORGIST]

Looking forward to visiting Knepp one day.

[@grampamix21]

👏

[@user-sp3wd2nn3e]

Obviously the grazers are not behaving exactly in the same way they would have done centuries ago, because there is an absence of predators to keep them on their toes. Once you return lynx, bears and wolves to the landscape then you'd see some differences for sure.

[@coffeeman2079]

Just read the book after my daughter gave it to me for Christmas. More than a few times I was close to tears with hope that this kind of amazing project is taken up by landowners who are trying to farm areas of the Uk that require constant intervention and expense. Love the fact that the Jays bury acorns in scrub which protects the saplings that grow until they become mature trees - no expensive plastic protection or fencing needed. This project is so inspiring and we are hoping to visit this year.

[@Anderzander]

Inspiring …

[@davebloggs]

Glad to see it all coming together.

[@RaniVeluNachar-kx4lu]

Natural selection of the more durable and adapted types of plants and animals. Because we all know that with climate changing fast, this decades peatlands may well be next decades deciduous forests followed by someday semi-tropical forests in a mere two decades and maybe back to deciduous or even evergreen forests in 50 or 60 years as temperature and rainfall amounts migrate around the world. Most important is to find ways to hold water longer on the land. Regardless of the temperature ranges and the soil types, water vs no water is the life or death criteria of a wilderness.

[@ridleyscurry2480]

Is Knepp going to add more land to their territory?

[@davidblake8612]

Great story. What about exotic weeds? I have a farm in New Zealand and I could do this on small bits of it. But the weeds that come up are terrible! And they're from the UK and other places: Gorse, thistles, invasive grasses and shrubs. And the control of them is time consuming and expensive. Is this a problem at Knepp?

[@dankeener3307]

I’m asking the same question. How do I sit on my hands and let Japanese hops, porcelain berry, Chinese silver grass, etc, etc take over our native plant species here in PA, USA. They don’t play fair and will soon become a monoculture. I like what Knepp has done; glad it works and is a gift to nature and all of us.

[@cjbarthvdm]

Amazing!

[@spijkerpoes]

Loving it.. would like to visit but.. the sea the sea between england and me

[@S.Trades]

Absolutely love what they are doing! Congratulations! Have you had any big cats reported on the estate?

[@zafiri_]

"Taking our hands off the steering wheel"

[@rogersimeons2781]

I've read the book and am very impressed and inspired, though it is hypocritical to allow foxhunting on your land, surely you of all people would understand the importance of predators.

[@kdhawes7999]

Thank you. I am interested if you have any beaver ponds?

[@rogersimeons2781]

They don't, but devon is home to quite a few places

[@Ottawajames]

Wouldn't it be nice to reintroduce wolves to Britain? They're just the Apex predator you need.

[@S.Trades]

We already have puma, panther and lynx...

[@rishabhwatts1676]

Yes definitely! Especially up in the Scottish highlands where the deer population is completely out of control and causes the landscape to be barren and dead in many areas

[@andrewharris1837]

Students searching cowpats 😅

[@johnwalsh5483]

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