How This Depleted Land Was Transformed into Wilderness - Rewilding Britain

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[@MossyEarth]

Amazing video Rob 👏 Knepp is such an exciting example of what rewilding can achieve :)

[@LeaveCurious]

So awesome! Thanks Mossy Earth, been loving your videos recently! 🌿🌍

[@truthandfreedom9849]

Yeah but where does the food come from you Muppets??

[@wolfenstein6676]

The real agenda hidden behind this 'rewilding' scam is actually called, "United Nations Agenda 21". It's the elevation of nature above mankind which provides the self-serving elitists with the legislation they need in order to rob the population of our basic human rights. Here's a warning from 13 years ago: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iquodpqqhKt5oq8 "The road to hell is paved with good intentions.", as the old saying goes. In this instance, though, it'll be a "hell on Earth" for the average family.

[@Czarhay]

@@truthandfreedom9849 i guess you missed the part where they harvest ethically sourced meat and poultry.

[@nickelroof6727]

Loooved this video. I wish more of the UK countryside was like this so more of us can live a life more bucolic

[@LeaveCurious]

Oh agreed!! Thank you :)

[@louislamonte334]

I am always thrilled when land is turned back into the natural state! Especially when it was formerly non-sustainable suburbia!

[@LeaveCurious]

Ahh me too! Very rewarding to see what’s possible

[@truthandfreedom9849]

Will you be so thrilled when there is no food cos it's all been rewilded ?

[@louislamonte334]

@@truthandfreedom9849 If you think that would ever happen you're truly stupid.

[@Arrica101]

No one is saying everything has to go back to wilderness so cut the crap. Without wild animals humans will die off. Insects pollinate just about all the plants we eat and they can't live on mass production farms

[@blackbeard1988]

@@truthandfreedom9849 It's called regenerative agriculture and you should look up what people all over the world are doing with it. Allan Savory does some amazing things using cattle, though I don't think he likes calling it regenerative, but it is what it is. Anyways, ugly monoculture fields are becoming a thing of the past.

[@lawn38]

I love watching something positive about our beautiful countryside! Intensive farming is so damaging but I understand the land has to be productive and profits have to be made.

[@pipertripp]

I've seen a bit about this story before, but I found your programme amazing. It's such a great story about the power of creativity and working with nature, not against it. As you say, it's not something that can be replicated everywhere, but it shows a sustainable path forward. Very cool!

[@pierrehenry8208]

Is the estate profitable just with selling meat ? Because if such management of land is widespread, the eco tourism will stop working because it is so common. So it is important that the estate make a profit with only farming activities (selling meat, may be harvesting honey or selling wood).

[@LeaveCurious]

thats a good point. i believe knepp does diversify its income never relying upon one or two. i think knepp will forever have a pull for eco-tourism, because it was the first. remember its not just the animals that draw people, but the complete experience. i'd love to do some rewilded honey!!!!

[@knoll9812]

Nothing pays like people

[@grond21]

I love this example for meat production. Do we have a similar example for grains?

[@LeaveCurious]

Regenerative farming, which i'll be making a video on soon

[@thesecondhat4717]

You have way too few subs for the quality of videos you make. I will share them when relevant. Btw, can you do a video of establishing a full food chain from scratch, like if you had a barren artificial island? From what grass and vegetation to use to alpha predator.

[@LeaveCurious]

Thank you very much! Yes sounds like an interesting idea 🤔

[@Captainval28]

This was an amazing video for those curious 😁 at learning more about knepp and the how they learnt through both trial and error and through exploring other project across Europe isabela has made a book about it called Wilding it was fantastic I learnt many new things cause of it I absolutely love seeing there estate getting attention what they done was amazing and I just wish to visit

[@LeaveCurious]

Its a brilliant book! Hope you get to see Knepp soon.

[@Captainval28]

@@LeaveCurious me too

[@huwtindall7096]

Brilliant!

[@Miamcoline]

Incredible. Thanks for that. I hope more places do very much the same

[@LeaveCurious]

You're welcome, i hope so too!

[@mrcheese3981]

Farming like this would inevitably imply us relying more heavily on a diet based on ethically produced meat rather than the currently popular plant-based agenda, touted by vegans and vegetarians alike in part as a "solution" to our ecological woes. Rather than trying to grow vast quantities of grain and leguminous crops in a supposedly ecological and sustainable way, we need to rethink our diet fundamentally, massively reducing our consumption of carbohydrate and plant-based protein and increasing our consumption of extensively raised meat as demonstrated at Knepp.

[@invivoik]

Knepp really looks as beautiful amazing working ecosystem. I wonder how do you manage a balance there.. because British Isles are known for deforested zones due to overgrazing and overpopulated grazers. Also there is a shortage of predators which would disturbed and limited the population of grazers and therefore limited the grazing. Do you still use fences there to limit animals to not go freely anywhere but only at certain area at a certain period?

[@tefinnegan5239]

It's a huge compliment to be called "unpatriotic".

[@musicandbooklover-p2o]

This wouldn't exactly be popular with the vegetarian/vegan brigade who seem to think that all large herbivores like cattle need to be removed totally from the ecosystems. And pointing them to videos showing how successful this is in other countries with totally dead/barren lands - especially in parts of India and some African countries - just gets you constant abuse in return. Great video and I'm glad it is also being done in the UK. Would be great if it could be done in Ireland as well.

[@joaosimoessilva]

I'm from Portugal and I always have a question about big carnivores in rewilding projects, mainly in Europe. Do they never existed in the continent? Where they always so sparse? As I almost never see any reintroduced, and when they are, it is lynxs, foxes, eagles, hawks, wolves... None of these are very big, comparing with lions, tigers, bears, etc... (besides wolves). Why is that?

[@jasonallen6081]

Now, if we could just get the sheep off of some of our Moorland and return it to nature. That would be wonderful.

[@blank.9301]

Let's use ecosia 👍🌱🌳

[@LeaveCurious]

:)

[@stephengurney1311]

What a shame to loose all that productive crop land.

[@chalkyness]

The point is that Knepp is NOT productive crop land! It’s heavy clay soil in West Sussex totally unsuited to crop farming but much better suited to low intensity pastoral farming and forestry. Public opinion and agricultural subsidies since World War Two gently pushed farming from the suitable to the unsuitable.

[@LeaveCurious]

Yes this type of land management isn't suitable for everywhere, of course, we must continue to produce food. rewilding such as this should take place on the fringes adjacent to motorways, railways, greenbelts & peripheries of larger areas

[@chalkyness]

@@LeaveCurious Rewilding or any other conservation measure cannot be successfully done on small pockets of land. Large tracts in the region of hundreds or thousands of contiguous acres are needed.

[@LeaveCurious]

@@chalkyness in an ideal world yes and we can do that in some our national parks. But I’m suggesting that we do what we can in other areas too.

[@nicks4934]

Isabela Tree? No its a bell

[@anniebooo]

Perfect, let 80% of the world hunger.

[@LeaveCurious]

Remember that this type of land management isn't for everywhere. Think fringe areas, adjacent to motorways, railways, green belts outside towns/cities, the margins of productive farms, larger proportions of unproductive farms.

[@PhilJonesIII]

The world has been overproducing for some decades. More people die from appalling diet than starvation and, where people are hungry (still far too many) then the fault lies with poor infrastructure/distribution, corruption and government indifference.

[@LeaveCurious]

@@PhilJonesIII extremley well said Philip

[@spiamistocazzo9113]

Random rant: I love whats dome here but I feel there is something always missing in this kimd of discourses: - how does this fare, and at what territorial % does this stop, without government incentives? I come from EU and we subsidize every sort of shit, so not against throwing govt momey at stuff like this per se. Just that sometimes politi cians are toooo eager to greenwash their images - how much (or mucj less) food production per square metre of land does this tecnoques output? - how much is the cost of said food? - generally, intensive is less ethical, but more efficient (at least in greenhouse emission) Like, the right amoumt of rewilding is nice to have, but unfortunately there is no infinite land. I would love to know if there is a higher, general vision plan, because despite how lovely they seem, they seem a bit "random", meaning they just happen cause local reasons. This is by no means fault of the projects, more like, lacking of a top down approach, but it would be nice to see more general approaches to systemic problems (agian, not responsibility of a youtube hannel)

[@LeaveCurious]

Well yes there must be a complete approach from the government down to the individual land owners, all working toward a common goal, which in an ideal world, would be to work with nature while ensuring food production & other services. Historically this has not been the case. UK is moving toward ELM scheme which will be very interesting. Remember with Knepp, the project in the video, this was pioneering in the UK the first of kind & somewhat extreme, but it demonstrated exactly what can be done. We can take that forward.

[@mbarker1958]

Herbivores are fine, but predators are also needed. Also, 50% of England is owned by a handful of people....

[@LeaveCurious]

Yes, ideally predators would take the roll of humans. But at Knepp, this system works for them.

[@RobertHorner-b7e]

You can on;ly do this in certain areas but you cannot feed an entire population that is growing daily with this method.

[@griffinontheslopes]

[@LeaveCurious]

🌿😌🙏

[@yellard6785]

This is still a highly managed land as grazers need to be controlled.. I appreciate the extra biodiversity but it's not a natural wildness.

[@rewild6134]

Lets be honest. Knepp isn't rewilding. Not really. There's nothing particularly wild about the landed gentry in the south east 'London bubble', frolicking around with glamping and extensive agriculture on their relatively small patch of land, with sponsored heritage breeds of domestic animals that are selected for docility etc, culled and used as boutique food. I've visited a few times. I'm less impressed by the people and the idea of the area, than I am by the ability of wildlife to rebound in arable areas. Not to say that its not worthwhile, its a return to Iron Age style pastoralism with a modern twist and fantastic for wildlife, but I'm slightly sick of the hyperbole over the place. There are far better, wilder places on mainland Europe and the beginnings of them in the Highlands of Scotland. The UK is, as usual, largely lagging decades behind.

[@LeaveCurious]

I think we need to celebrate good work and Knepp is very good rewilding. For that part of the UK, that’s kind of as good as it gets, the standard that most land areas should be aiming to achieve where possible. It’s not a competition between different areas. It’s about doing what’s possible with any given area. But I agree that the UK on a whole is lagging behind.

[@stachmantel5593]

Why does his accent feel dutch

[@LeaveCurious]

South east UK - Essex actually, although I don’t sound typical Essex

[@Siegfried5846]

There is no healthy meat. Read Dr. Michael Greger's "How Not to Die".

[@LeaveCurious]

Oh I have read that book, i try and get my "daily dozen" - i believe i meant in the context of the animal leading a healthy and fulfilling life

[@vossejongk]

So now, instead of 20k people, it can provide food for 10. Nice. Biodiverse farming is nice, but it can only provide a fraction of the food farming the usual way does. And with 1,5 billion people already living with hunger, you must accept we have to sacrifice parts of the land for mass production of food. If you don't like it don't have kids and be part of the solution.

[@LeaveCurious]

Yeah its all about balance throughout the landscape, both how we manage it and share its resources.

[@gillianbooth6574]

We loved our visit to Knepp last year and felt it gave us such confidence in what we do on our own patch of 135 acres. We can’t have large numbers of free roaming animals of course but we can do many other things. Just a couple of pensioners in Northumberland trying to do our bit. ❤

[@LeaveCurious]

Ah awesome, 125 acres is plenty of space for your to enjoy and do your bit!!

[@YanaTokar-v1j]

Даже один человек может сделать очень много,я на пенсии по состоянию здоровья,разбираю восьмую свалку, молоденькой девушкой увидела сюжет о пожилой женщине которая купила домик с участком который заканчивался свалкой;до своего ухода она не прекращала работу -садила цветы на месте свалки! кто то посмеётся,а я скажу -подвиг, поэтому что похоже самое трудное в добром деле это постоянство! кстати, соседи этой женщины в память о ней продолжили её труд! спасибо всем добрым" чудакам"успехов вам!

[@AlexP1-y4g]

Great video. Other encouraging news from here on the Isle of Wight, the results of the public consultation survey have been released. Out of the 4,883 people who took part 89% said they welcome the re establishment of Beavers.

[@LeaveCurious]

That is brilliant news Alex. The Isle of Wight has had some good success stories over the years.

[@charlieneilson1239]

Great vid. To me, this method of land restoration - leaving it to nature - is been blindingly obvious. What I think is doubly-awesome is that the custodians make money. Surely a win win for large landowners. Vive this movement. Rob, you’re a breath of fresh air!! I salute you 👏🏼

[@LeaveCurious]

Nice one Charlie - yes it does seem obvious, especially now we see it working. I know we'll see more rewilding & regenerative farming techniques over the next 20 years

[@georgethompson1460]

@@LeaveCurious Probably limited to unprofitable low quality land, we can probably introduce more efficient technological farming like the dutch for the higher quality land.

[@someblokecalleddave1]

The key is it also creates jobs and work for a wider community that's essential as that'll contribute to the message spreading. Good videos these.

[@btudrus]

"To me, this method of land restoration - leaving it to nature - is been blindingly obvious" But you need big herbivores like cows and sheeps to be grazing that land. If you just leave that land without animals the soil and the whole ecosystem will degrade. You should really listen to Allan Savory and Wather Jehne...

[@davidmills4643]

Hi its Tina, thank you for doing an update on knepp, I only have an acre of land but I try to encourage as much wildlife in, I don't use any pestaside and haven't for years, about a 1/3 of an acre does its own thing for almost the whole of the year, I just cut a path so I can get to the other end and sit on a bench to watch the world go by, the rest of the land is part orchard and part woodland with a small area that I use to grow fruit and veg, no dig of course, we also have 5 ponds over the property, we harvest our grey water into underground tanks, and have a well, we hope to get solar panels as our next project keep up the good work best wishes

[@LeaveCurious]

Awesome! Sounds like you’re doing loads of great work Tina! I’m looking to do try out no-dig veg myself. Keep me updated

[@fion1flatout]

I have use of about 2 acres, it was pony pasture abandoned for 30 years. Was 4ft high brambles and 4ft low branches but me and ponies carefully opening it up. Got wild deer coming in (even though this is suburban Sheffield) .. difficulty is fencing and idiots lighting fires, cos I don't live there. Main worry is ponies escaping onto the golf course :-D

[@LeaveCurious]

@@fion1flatout ponies on the golf course would be no bad thing… have you done any surveys or setting up camera traps, always fun to see what’s using it :)

[@simonbarrow479]

Great video! Knepp is inspirational. Let’s hope others follow in different parts of the UK, so the regional variation in biodiversity can be studied. And experienced by those living there and spreading the word locally.

[@LeaveCurious]

Yes that would be very interesting to see, I’d love to know what would happen in my area in the south east 🤔

[@thepeopleplaceandnaturepod8344]

It's truly remarkable to see how restoring ecosystems can have a positive impact not just on the environment, but also on our own well-being! Thanks for sharing Rob! 👏

[@simoncollins1385]

Hi Rob. Great video. I am working as a volunteer ranger at Doddington Hall in Lincolnshire and we are right at the beginning of rewinding the entire estate. Can't wait to see it develop over the next 20 years.

[@LeaveCurious]

Thats awesome Simon, what have you been getting up to? I'd have to take a visit soon

[@simoncollins1385]

@@LeaveCurious Hi Rob We are right at the beginning of the journey. Ive just finished taking reference pictures from 135 points around the estate so we can see where we started from and can then monitor the changes over time, We are now beginning to train up volunteers in wildlife recognition and various other skills

[@LeaveCurious]

@@simoncollins1385 thats really cool, have you taken some soil samples too, might interesting to see how that changes. keep me updated on what goes on, might be worth a video in the future!

[@simoncollins1385]

@@LeaveCurious Thats all underway at the moment. A lot of the soil is heavy clay so the estate was finding it difficult to grow cereal crops hence the move to rewilding. There has been new perimeter fencing put up and the current idea is to let cattle, pigs, deer and ponies have access to all areas so they can start to reshape the landscape.

[@mjh5437]

@@simoncollins1385 Well done you,great work!

[@timurozkurt5239]

Great video, Knepp is definitely inspiring! It’d be great to see how other farms following in their footsteps are doing.

[@LeaveCurious]

Yes I hope to see many more!

[@Togher01]

Can't wait to see Ireland try some of this. Ireland is general 20 years behind the UK. Hopefully I'll get to see it.

[@guydudedudeguy9030]

You can always be the one who starts it.

[@natesmith3844]

This is some amazing work! Thank you for being letting us know about it :)

[@LeaveCurious]

No worries Nate, it’s what I’m here to do

[@DuartedeZ]

Amazing video Rob! Knepp is such an exciting example for others to follow :)

[@LeaveCurious]

Thanks man! It is indeed and I’m sure many will follow 🌿

[@DuartedeZ]

@@LeaveCurious hopefully they will. It is a big part of the puzzle to get more of this.

[@LeaveCurious]

@@DuartedeZ the UK seriously needs it! We could see some great improvements over the next 20 years

[@truthandfreedom9849]

It will be so amazing when it's all rewilded and there's no food eh ... Amazing

[@Gamer-Rex]

Do you think they’d reintroduce a lynx it would definitely make them more money, also naturally cull the herbivores, it would also be the closest thing to true wilderness that Britain hasn’t seen for a long time

[@LeaveCurious]

Hmmm maybe in the short term. But I don’t think Knepp would ever go for it. Not at the moment. I think they rely upon selling the meat. Also I think more importantly, it’s not a particularly large space & it’s got to where it is without natural predators. I’m not even sure how many Lynx one could release to Knepp. Would love to get their thoughts on it though

[@palomagal1]

I love love love your site. It is so inspirational and has encouraged me to do more locally. Keep up the good work.

[@LeaveCurious]

Ah awesome! Keep it up!!

[@tonym480]

I have lived close to Knepp all my life. Now in my mid 70's I grew up in a small village not far away. Being a lifelong lover of wildlife, birds especially, I watched the change as 'improved' intensive farming methods changed the landscape, with the loss of hedge rows and small copses, and heavy use of artificial fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides, and the affect it had on the natural wildlife. Once common species of plants and animals disappeared, even things like the once ubiquitous Sparrow became a rare sight. Over the past 20 years though there has been the start of a change. Some farmers have begun to leave strips of seed crops at the margins of their fields and restore hedges. Buzzards, Kestrels, Peregrines and even Red Kites can be seen on the South Downs. Knepp is the jewel in the crown, showing what can be done if the will is there. I never expected to see White Storks, absent from West Sussex for over 600 years, but thanks to Knepp they are back and breeding. Other projects that give me hope for the future are the White Tail Eagles on the Isle of Wight and the Ospreys at Poole Harbour. Thank you for promoting projects such as Knepp though your channel. The more people who become aware and supportive the better chance these projects have to survive.

[@IlQSTO]

where are the predators? or are they killing grazing animals to keep them from overrunning the plants?

[@LeaveCurious]

yes, they cull the grazers

[@IlQSTO]

@@LeaveCurious Great, thanks

[@elliotlane3225]

Another great video and you hit the nail on the head here, Knepp is managed its not 'wild', but follows sustainable principles. The same applies when we as individuals look to garden for wildlife. If you just stip gardenning you will be overrun with ivy and brambles, defeating the object, but uf you allow ivy and brambles but manage them sympathetically (i.e. garden) it benefits wildlife and allows you to also create different habitats. Isabella Tree's book 'wilding' is a great read.

[@davidwheatcroft2797]

Love your videos. They bring tears to my eyes. Man is NOT bad. Well done!

[@americanoworldwide]

Sustainable Ethically Harvested Meat… In other words: Hunting… let’s not beat around the bush… Rewilding and hunting go hand in hand and hunters have done most of the heavy lifting in Rewilding to date. Let’s give credit where it is due… It’s important to speak without fear on this issue. Hunters, Preservationists, Conservationists, Rewilders… our goals are pretty much the same. More animals. We can do so much more if we support one another.

[@LeaveCurious]

You're spot on, anyone who works on the land is contributing to making it wilder or not - in the case of game keepers and shooters, they play a really important role in the UK in managing deer.

[@evancombs5159]

Unfortunately, this isn't sustainable at scale. Modern human population sizes would hunt everything to extinction if that was the method used for gathering all of our meat.

[@gauriblomeyer1835]

We in Germany have the problem many years that hunting deer does not do the job. Wolfs do it to some extent and you will have difficulties to get them in, providing compensation for losses by the community and the securities as electric fences and trained dogs and donkeys. It can be done and should be done and will be done in the next 50 years, I think.😊

[@btudrus]

There are other means of managing a livestock sustainably. See the "Holistic management" of Allan Savory. What needs to be done is to eliminate plant-agriculture all together. This is what is destroying the biodiversity and degrades the soil which translates into a desertification and climate change. Which means plant-food must be banned in the first place (it makes you sick anyway)...

[@Spacey7]

Hunters are nothing to do with it unless it's a natural preditor!!

[@Ragdoll00]

Love this, so good to see places going back to their natural state

[@LeaveCurious]

and so quickly too!

[@rosemarielee7775]

Glad you acknowledged the necessity of culling.

[@LeaveCurious]

Oh for sure, without it Knepp wouldn’t be what it is today

[@topgrafter2007]

It's great to see some farms doing this, from a business point of view they will make more profit from less work over time which is it always good, but if 50% of farms in the UK did this we would probably starve to death, there has to be a balance and while we are allowing our population to expand at the rate it is and we are losing Farmland at the rate we are through building houses and infrastructure to support the increasing population this rewilding on a large scale will never support us sadly

[@HoffaFett]

This is one of my favorite videos from your team! What an amazing concept!

[@klaasdeboer8106]

How about the diversity of earthworms? I guess that was rather poor when they ploughed that clay.

[@Sunabe77]

Great, now introduce carnivores instead of killing them for meat. Complete the circle

[@Hamishtarah]

Lovely and very instructive video. thank you very much!! :)

[@morrisonreed1]

or if you like tinkering and dont want to wait 20 years you can add compost to the soil surface and plant trees where you like and speed it up

[@ginojaco]

Yes... very beautiful, but these sort of videos never address either food miles or food cost or food security. Just as a starter, Knepp couldn't make a profit because it had a huge house to keep in good repair and its management practices weren't the best. Right, I'm a farmer and I'm 'greener' than the vast majority here in the UK. Here are some home-truths: If you want biodiversity - and who doesn't? - you can't duck the fact that these islands have a huge population now, where is their food coming from? If it's not from these islands, at least in great part, you are just passing the buck to somewhere else, probably much poorer, that can be exploited to our benefit. Or to somewhere such as the US that has what people who like rewilding would probably regard as 'dodgy' practices. These are the real choices of food not grown / raised here = we get biodiversity while others don't, or we buy stuff from people who don't farm as we would prefer. They get 'stewardship' and sell beef at 20% profit, great, translated = they are subsidised and they charge far more for their meant than most people can afford. The narrator mentions small and struggling farms, the smaller the farm the more efficient it needs to be. The people at Knepp could afford to do this BECAUSE they're titled gentry who inherited a huge estate. Small areas on most farms can certainly - I think SHOULD certainly - be left to go wild, but these are small corners and edges. They will, nationally, add up to a great deal of land-area and they will, nationally, mean a vast number of wild 'islands'. That's all good, and I can't see any disagreeing with that. But, people need to recognise that to have AFFORDABLE, secure food with low mileage, that neither exploits the poor of the World nor allows in foodstuffs which aren't 'approved', this country can't be rewilded from top to bottom.

[@LeaveCurious]

Managing the landscape is no simple thing. I do agree with you, food production is a priority. So that being said, rewilding like a Knepp cannot and should not happen everywhere. But as you say, a more sympathetic approach to managing the land, incorporating rewilding where it can be is very important. The video was highlighting how fast nature can return itself to depleted land. The circumstances at Knepp did facilitate this, but this doesn't mean that inspiration cannot be taken from what they've done for other farmers, no matter how small. I'd be good to get your thoughts on the video of regenerative agriculture!

[@stavrospartheniou8563]

So how much money do they make off the land now and what percentage of it comes from government subsidies? In numbers please.

[@LeaveCurious]

Good question. Can't remember off the top of my head if this has been published anywhere, but I"m fairly certain in one if Charlie or Isabella's presentations they get into it a little bit.

[@oliviapeel8558]

Great video as always! 🦋

[@LeaveCurious]

Thank you Olivia pleased you enjoyed it 🌿

[@moiragoldsmith7052]

Hallelujah! Love and Mother Nature wins the day. Thank you for being brave enough to implement this ' back to nature' initiative.

[@LeaveCurious]

Knepp were incredibly brave to do this for a number of reasons and just look at how its paying off!

[@stuartmartin7259]

How about persistence spear hunting or bow hunting as an attraction?. Butcher the beast and have a massive bonfire and BBQ. Rewilding at its best.

[@LeaveCurious]

Hmmm interesting idea, there might be one or two rules on animal welfare/culling methods to overcome!

[@knoll9812]

Might be frowned upon in UK. However I like the idea of killing and butchering in the field and huge BBQ

[@johngates3844]

Excellent video. Well narrated and with beautiful photography. Thx.

[@LeaveCurious]

Appreciate you're welcome

[@williammcduff6531]

Great video and loads of u.k. farms could operate in this fashion in a profitable and ecological basis. Just go a bit heavier on some food forest plantings also to supplement the income. Such as fruit and nut trees and maybe a bit of exotic timber mixed in for added variety and profit.

[@LeaveCurious]

Yes agreed, we must embrace regenerative agriculture & really become locally self-sufficient

[@movieviewing]

I’m all for rewinding British lands returning it back to nature. Sounds like the estate now doing well. However what does this do to food production in the uk as a total. I would be more comfortable not importing so much food. Cities and town have for too big and now destroying more of the countryside

[@LeaveCurious]

The UK needs areas like this to stay healthy, while still producing food on our most productive lands.

[@michaelhicks3030]

This estate re-wilding, with less suitable farming land, is fantastic. But this cannot be conducted in too many places as food production is vital, seemingly, even more this year and onwards than in previous years. I think it would help to point out that this is a wonderful exception, but an exception none the less to farming norms. To do more re-wilding, we need better, more sustainable but more productive farming on the best land. Now is there improvements on the hills farms, so they can be equally productive as they currently are, for the farmers sake, but be more natural?

[@LeaveCurious]

Agreed Michael, i think all land whether productive agriculture, or the town park, it can all be more natural.

[@christinecollins6389]

If only more areas could follow this model

[@sigspearthumb9574]

I think the best thing to take away from this is that it works and is profitable. Perhaps something that should be done in the farms around national parks. Expanding conservation area into private profitable areas

[@markosullivan6444]

Another great video! Knepp is definitely on my list of places to visit.

[@LeaveCurious]

Cheers Mark!

[@richardmuskett931]

I was watching a video the other day that said .....that if we all went vegan , it would free up an area of agricultural land THE SIZE OF AFRICA ( yes ALL of it ! ) which could be rewilded . I haven't checked the arithmetic of that claim ..... and wouldn't really know how to . But if its true , it might be worth chewing that idea over as one is chewing up ones next steak . It might mean giving up a small pleasure in order to really hit the jackpot ....... a handsome profit margin in my eyes !

[@GriffinHistorical]

I've done a couple of events at Knepp, lovely site. Both were medieval themed weddings and putting up period tents by the lake looks fantastic. On one occasion, as the bridge and groom were having some informal pics the swans landed on the lake, just magical!

[@jeffswann3457]

Thankyou. To add, to this amazing work, can we talk about wild food production such as honey/fish(in beaver pond)? Berries and hazel nuts?. I now they do this in Slovenia. Thankyou

[@janoginski5557]

In what respect is it depleted? It may present some problems trying to work heavy clay soils but there are many farms in the UK that have clay soils. What is the ultimate focus of this remodelling? This cannot be rolled out as a Land use alternative in the Real World. Food production has to be the priority over and above any other considerations. Pursuing this policy of Re wilding is all fair & good on a small scale. But pushing for using ever more productive land to accommodate various forms of Wildlife could have one rather unwanted result, the Wildlife will thrive & you will starve.

[@chapmangeorge1]

Enjoyed this video until you mentioned that 'culling' animals was 'ethical' and then I realised that nothing had truly been learnt. It is through our consumption of animals that these lands became so ill. Crops were grown to feed to animals, so that we could eat the animals, without understanding that this is incredibly wasteful and that eating crops directly, and leaving out the middle man so to speak, would be a much better use of resources (not that animals should be perceived as mere 'resources' for humans). It would make more sense to reintroduce predators of cattle and deer, such as wolves, that play a hugely important role in restoring the land themselves. Again, the reason why this doesn't happen is to protect farmers' interests who do not want to see such animals reintroduced for fear that they'll be invasive to their land and eat their livestock. So, predators are made extinct by hunters and livestock owners seeing them as status symbols or invasive respectively, and then environmental destruction occurs as a result of a lack of biodiversity but then farmers refuse to enable the reintroduction of predators native to the land, with vested interests at heart. Over 80% of UK farmland is used for animal farming (despite only providing a mere 18% of our calories) and this is a similar statistic across the world. 86% of Amazon deforestation is due to soya production, which is of course predominantly consumed by livestock across the globe. Animal farming is unethical, immoral and a complete waste of resources and encouraging it and by reframing animals as sentient beings and not food is the ultimate problem we are facing. We need to stop pushing the agenda that there is an ethical and sustainable way to produce animal products. Environmental restoration would be possible on a large-scale level if we turned to plant-based diets, thereby causing farmers to resort to the growing of crops and therefore leaving them without incentive to prevent the reintroduction of native species and stopping the huge environmental damage caused by animal farming. Anyway, don't form your opinions based on KZbin comments and refer to these more authoritative sources: wwf.panda.org/discover/knowledge_hub/where_we_work/amazon/amazon_threats/unsustainable_cattle_ranching/ www.greenpeace.org.uk/challenges/meat-and-dairy/ www.ox.ac.uk/news/2018-06-01-new-estimates-environmental-cost-food consult.environment-agency.gov.uk/++preview++/environment-and-business/challenges-and-choices/user_uploads/agricultural-and-rural-land-management-challenge-rbmp-2021.pdf www.amazon.co.uk/This-Vegan-Propaganda-Other-Industry/dp/1785043765 www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/31/avoiding-meat-and-dairy-is-single-biggest-way-to-reduce-your-impact-on-earth

[@AprilJMoon]

I'd like to see ditch and hedgerow replace fencing as they provide wildlife corridors/food and homes for a wide variety of life. The ditches also help with flood alleviation. Perhaps something could be done via local byelaws, a good hawthorn hedgerow is as good as barbed-wire and more environmentally beneficial than brick and concrete.

[@Gynra]

This is very interesting. I'm a vegetarian, but this sort of agriculture makes a case for eating some meat, as the animals need to be culled (I don't think introducing dangerous predators would be a great idea in these circumstances). It seems to me better than just growing vegetable crops in huge monocultures, but I'm no expert. While I don't personally intend to go back to eating meat, I think a debate is there to be had.

[@NowInAus]

Interesting but really just a cute model of land management for the wealthy. Love the ecological transformation but it’s not a financially viable way of switching out arable land, is it?

[@ajaxtelamonian5134]

It's so cool at Knepp. Chiddinglye which is nearby are going to start doing a similar project and my dissertation will be on a status quo survey of the water invertebrates pre Beaver reintroduction which is exciting.

[@LeaveCurious]

That will be an awesome dissertation! When are the beavers coming in?

[@ajaxtelamonian5134]

@@LeaveCurious maybe even as soon as Late summer early autumn this year they're just getting through the legalease of it all at the moment but very imminently. Feel like a pioneer in a way lol

[@LeaveCurious]

@@ajaxtelamonian5134 yeah, I’m sure it’ll be some very useful research getting more beavers in! Keep me updated with how it goes!

[@ianstewart7605]

I watched this just after seeing your New Forest video. What a contrast! This is just what the New Forest _could_ be.

[@Oleg50600]

they need to add jackals (or other small scavengers) to the ecosystem to "clean up" the animal gene pool from weak, sick and dead animals.

[@centurione6489]

The "perfect balance" entails large carnivores which are not present. It is a welll knon fact that their absence leads to overgrazing.

[@jase123111]

I wish they used wild boar instead of the pigs. The meat from organic and free-range wild boar would command a high price too when they needed to reduce the population.

[@Tao_Tology]

Another benefit to 'free-grazing' livestock is that it isn't meat fed on processed substances like soy that are grown in those vast areas of destroyed rainforest.

[@michaelnash5542]

The pigs swim down to the bottom of the lake to eat mussels?!?! Amazing! Someone should write that up in a scientific article

[@LeaveCurious]

Someone should put a gopro on that pig!

[@knoll9812]

In USA pigs swim and dive for water mocassin

[@deanfirnatine7814]

Proper ranching grazing is much less damaging to the environment than monoculture farming.

[@abarnybox]

I always like watching videos of places that are rewilding land that has previously been completely destroyed by agriculture. And there is no doubt in my mind that we all need to start doing a lot more to accommodate nature into our lives. Even in my own small garden I try my best to let the grass/wild flowers grow long and planted some fruit trees and vegetables to try and make the best of the small plot. With a large estate like this and your comment at the end of the video concerning the vast amount of the UK that is currently used for agriculture and the encouragement farmers are getting to rewild parts of it, I am left wondering: What about food production for the UK's enormous (over)population? The UK already imports vast volumes of food from other countries and I wonder if the desire to rewild our own country will lead to wilderness being demolished elsewhere to produce the food that ultimately ends up on our plates. You didn't mention any numbers but I would imagine the food output from the Knepp estate reduced drastically, what is the proposition of rewilding advocates (of which I generally consider myself on of) to cater to the needs of our ever growing population?

[@LeaveCurious]

Yes I agree we all need to do more, everywhere. That's fantastic that you're getting involved, it's so much fun. This type of rewilding is not for everywhere, how could it be? It is for smaller, fringe, unproductive lands that are not performing and producing food. Think of this type of rewilding applicable adjacent to our rivers, motorways/train lines, outer fields of landowners to adjoin to other areas. While of course still maintaining our most productive farms. Rewilding is not a threat to long term food production, intensive unsustainable practices, overproduction/ waste & our diets are the real problem. UK farms must adopt regenerative agriculture, not just for biodiversity, but for the longevity of our food production. It just so happens that working nature is better for us in the long run too. But always remember each and every section of land, whether if highly tuned land to produce food, a city park or an area such as Knepp - these spaces can always be wilder in one way or another. More can always be done. Remember I tend to use the term rewilding loosely - it doesn't always mean letting a section of land go completely to nature. It's more about working nature, sometimes to benefit humans. I hope that answered you question, i blasted it out quite fast - I am making a video on this topic :)

[@abarnybox]

@@LeaveCurious Thanks for replying! Looking forward to the video :)

[@thegiggler2]

Read 'Wilding' which is the book by the owners about their travails in getting Knepp back to nature.

[@LeaveCurious]

Great book 👍

[@aaronsanborn4291]

Lol I grew up on a dairy farm in Maine...we had fields of Timothy and Clover, Corn fields and mixed forest...however we have sandy, loamy, gravelly soil and we had springs and streams on and bordering our farm. It wasn't uncommon to see Whitetail Deer or even Moose grazing with our Holsteins. We've done this kind of thing for hundreds of years

[@sailordoc2818]

They cull the cattle and presumably deer as well but what about those exmoor ponies ?

[@deshaunbethea5254]

Wow 😮 Thanks for this update my friend! 😉 👍 ❤️ 🇬🇧

[@LeaveCurious]

You are welcome! 🌿🙏

[@deshaunbethea5254]

@@LeaveCurious One question, have you ever been to Knepp rewilding?

[@LeaveCurious]

@@deshaunbethea5254 I passed through a few years ago yes, going to head there soon to make another video, have you been?

[@deshaunbethea5254]

@@LeaveCurious No I haven’t been to Knepp. Also are you still gonna film the tamworth pigs there as the pannage pigs of the new forest in the autumn this year that I’ve ask earlier?

[@danf4447]

cool... so they sold their farm and make no money and let the land go back.....????

[@lucylane7397]

It’s amazing how quick the land can recover

[@uggali]

cool video and pretty visuals, but it's lying to call, even their meat, "ethical". Admittedly the animals that live on this farm have an exceedingly higher standard of living compared to animals farmed in conventional agriculture. But they're still commodities and their lives are not their own, nor do they have freedom of movement, and eventually they're brutally murdered for a luxury protein. So for these and many more reasons it's misinformation and immoral to call it ethical meat, if there truly is such a thing.

[@LeaveCurious]

Hmmm it’s a tricky thing to convey. It all depends on your stance. I try to be objective and take a diplomatic approach. In a world that consumes animals, like ours, and in a world that has some horribly cruel methods of producing it, by comparison this is more ethical.

[@nanwuamitofo]

No need to cram every second full of words. A few seconds of silence, some fast-paced, some slower bits will make it more pleasant to listen to.

[@LeaveCurious]

Ah yes, I've noticed this myself, thank you!

[@suryayechuri]

Please ask them to introduce fireflies as well

[@anniehill9909]

Now let's see what happens with the re-introduction of a couple of lynx: I don't suppose the estate is large enough to support a wolf pack.

[@LeaveCurious]

I doubt they ever would for predators, would be hugely interesting though

[@richardsmith8325]

Good video, I am reading Isabella Tree book at the moment so good timing 👍

[@LeaveCurious]

It’s a brilliant book. Goes into great detail and she’s a brilliant writer. I have a few chapters to finish

[@666bruv]

Ya gotta love a safari, in Britain, enter the Goodies

[@loreman7267]

This is such good news! I'm just a bit concerned about the levels of production from this farm. How much staple food crops are they producing? Because of the lockdowns and disruption of supply chains, there is a very real possibility of worldwide famine! Shouldn't we be upping production? With the loss of Ukrainian fertiliser imports and spiking petrol prices, is now really the time to be allowing land to go fallow?

[@LeaveCurious]

I think given it’s comparatively smaller size and it’s low agricultural productivity (when attempting to be a functioning farm) - Knepp is best suited to how it’s managed now…. There’s a lot to get into on this one. I think as a country we must look at our diets and then work back along the supply to make sure we’re getting right. I’ve been meaning to make a video around this topic. Cheers!

[@knockedoutloaded]

Yes it's all good and well to want to remove agricultural land but it seems the real aim is to reduce grain agriculture and replace it with low output, heavily subsidised meat production, probably until it's so unsustainable that we just stop producing meat altogether. I just wish people were honest about what the actual motives are

[@philiptaylor7902]

Auroch, good woody word! Tarpan, euch tinny! Caribou, caribou gorn.

[@LeaveCurious]

lol!

[@joojones4607]

I love all this nature. But can you tell me how we are going to provide food for the 7 bilion peoplo, if all the agricultor land turn like this? Like Sri Lanka the world start starving.

[@LeaveCurious]

Well, that's just it - this type of management is clearly not for everywhere. That being said, we must ensure that more core rewilded areas just like this are established & that better corridors are established throughout the landscape. We can still produce food and rewild the landscape, I'm making a video on it :)

[@joojones4607]

@@LeaveCurious yes is just that. I have a 1ha litle farm in Portugal, and i like to see the nature take its place. But it only provides food for the family this way.