They transformed this dead land to wilderness

[@LeaveCurious]

Excuse me for how how sweaty I am in this, it was HOT - check out Ecology Training, do some learning impress your friends or land an awesome Rewilding job - ecologytraining.co.uk/course/rewilding/ - 10leavecurious will get you 10% all online course - cheers!!

[@roxyshow123]

Hello from America! We had a similar thing happen here. Back in the late 1950s in a part of the Appalachias, NW New Jersey and Pennsylvannia, the government decided to build a dam. To that end they paid the people in the designated area for their homes and land. The people left the area, the dam project fell through and the area has reverted to forest. Some buildings still remain and they are leased by the government. I've been to an arts and crafts village there. I can tell you the area is beautiful,, I cannot describe the biodiversity there: plenty of deer, black bears, woodchucks the size of golden retrievers, not to mention a star filled sky at night.

[@LeaveCurious]

Sounds great, if I’m ever that way, I’ll visit :)

[@AndrewNoFiction]

So we’re actually having our wedding reception at Knepp this year. It is a very special place and we hope by incorporating it into our celebrations we can inspire our guests to be a bit more curious at least of the potential of rewilding at any scale. For anyone who hasn’t been - do take the time to visit and try out one of the well marked footpaths. Each time I visit I’ve seen species that I haven’t spotted locally for years. No two visits have ever been the same for us but particular highlights have been barn owls and a little owl feeding a grass snake to its chicks.

[@LeaveCurious]

Oh awesome, what a venue. You're so right, theres always something to new see

[@datguynilf9793]

Always a joy seeing your enthusiasm for nature and rewilding both on your main channel and on Mossy Earth. Keep up the good work!

[@LeaveCurious]

Ahhh thank you, I love it and to share it too!

[@pauldurkee4764]

As soon as you described it as one of the countries most biodiverse places, I guessed straight away. It would have been great to have a longer film to include the rewilding of the watercourses on the estate. We should be aiming to have an estate like knepp in each county in Britain, to act as a nature nursery and maybe link them as much as possible with rewilded corridors.👍

[@LeaveCurious]

Oh I'm pleased you knew it! Yes I want to make many videos about Knepp and the river restoration is one of them. Yep you're spot on, not everywhere can be managed like Knepp, but we can sure allow for the creation of a few more and join them up!

[@davidleakenneyphotography]

Love Knepp, a couple of places here down in Cornwall have taken inspiration from them but on a smaller scale. Bodmin Moor has so much potential if they got rid of the bloody sheep! Hopefully we can restore the lost temeperate rainforests down here, not many left. Great video once again keep up the good work with your channel and Mossy Earth!

[@LeaveCurious]

Oh cool, I was just in Cornwall filming for Mossy. I'll have to go back and check out what else has been going on. Cheers Mate!

[@WildlifeWithCookie]

Awesome to meet you and show you the rare stuff! Great video ❤️

[@LeaveCurious]

You too mate, I really wouldn't of seen half of it without you dude! Cheers Cookie!!

[@louislamonte334]

Thank you for your tireless devotion, your wonderful boundless enthusiasm and your great inspiration!

[@LeaveCurious]

Ahh thanks again Louis. I’ll keep going!

[@31Blaize]

I was at Knepp last summer doing biodiversity surveys, it was bloody amazing! Saw purple emperors chasing birds out of trees, was even lucky enough to see a turtle dove being ringed 😁 Missed the Exmoors though, I need to go back to find them!

[@LeaveCurious]

Ahh thats awesome!! Unless you spend like a month camping there, you just wont see everything! Really cool you worked there!

[@31Blaize]

@@LeaveCurious Agreed, it needs a solid few weeks to get to see everything! Maybe as a future destination you could consider the Cairngorms Connect project, it'd be interesting to see what they've been up to as well 😁

[@LeaveCurious]

@@31Blaize Yeah thats on my radar!!

[@TheRewildlife]

Knepp is the gold standard! I’m trying the same with my land now.. much smaller though

[@carsforce8172]

I love videos like these so much. Nice shots, good explanations and an enthusiastic guy just vibing in nature. Me and my gf have been into nature a lot the past months. I gifted her a mossy earth membership a week ago. Keep up the good work. You wouldn't know, but in my eyes you're a hero of our planet!

[@LeaveCurious]

Dude amazing words, thank you so much. Its great to be building a community here of people such as yourselves who really care about nature!

[@voiceinthenoise3357]

This should be happening more across the country. The success is self evident, and so there's surely no excuse not to let other agricultural land rewild itself, even if only a little.

[@RobinWildlife]

Knepp really does sound amazing and I hope to visit one day. I was particularly thrilled to see the Long Horns. As a Volunteer Warden in Epping Forest I have had plenty of opportunity to work with these magnificent beasts and they are amazing. It is really interesting to see their impact on the landscape (including those wonderful cowpats!). You should come and say hello to them!

[@LeaveCurious]

I will come and say hello for sure, I love Epping forest, it’s now far from where I live!

[@MerryMoss]

I love your enthusiasm about these projects and locations 😊🌿

[@LeaveCurious]

Ah cheers Moss - I do my best to communicate it without seeming toooo crazy!

[@anniehill9909]

I'd give my eyeteeth to be able to experience Knepp. Unfortunately, it's never going to happen because although I was born in England, I now live in New Zealand. I've read about it, watched every video I have come across and was thrilled to see Leave Curious visiting. More please, Rob, for those of us who will never be able to experience it first hand. And if any other people are doing something similar, a series of before and after - like a visit every year to show us how it started and how it is progressing. Rewilding is one of the few things that gives me any hope.❤

[@LeaveCurious]

I will certainly do more, I have a few ideas of creating longer form content which would be more immersive. New Zealand is just about my favourite place, I visited the south island and the landscape was just beautiful, always something natural to see no matter where you go!

[@hobi1kenobi112]

England is very special. Try and get back to follow your dream if you can. ❤

[@righteouswild]

Great video and what an Amazing project! cant wait to visit. The courses also look brilliant, great to see how diverse yet specific each course is. Thanks for putting these and the venue on our radar! Keep up the good work.

[@LeaveCurious]

No worries, thanks for taking a look at them - I hope they're useful :) cheers!!

[@briankivuti]

I really love seeing this kind of transformations, and excitement around the way it's evolution. 😊

[@philiptaylor7902]

Great video Rob, great to see more of the work they are doing at Knepp

[@LeaveCurious]

Cheers Phil! Yeah theres honestly so much to show.

[@NATURALBEEKEEPERSCOLLECTIVE]

This is one of the most awesome rewilding videos ever. This is what rewilding is about. .We manage a few areas and thriving with bumble bees song birds butterflys etc Bramble patches are so important for wildlife. Protection for nesting birds food for bees and butterflies with nectar and pollen and food in the form of fruit for song birds and mamals including us lol My grandad aalways says how important grazing animals are for the environment. They stop the land turning to sand. Which happens on most crop farms after a few decades if manure is not added etc Top video!

[@LeaveCurious]

Oh yeah you're right and brambles are delicious, well the berries are at least! Yes it all about allowing space and having the right balance of grazing animals, which is easy when theres space! Cheers!

[@joygwin6673]

Binging all these videos..Each of us can plant native and be a part.. my backyard.. parks..encourage neighbors

[@solarpunkalana]

Amazing cinematography and storytelling Rob 🤩 really enjoyed this video, keep them coming!

[@LeaveCurious]

Hey Alana :) thank you, I’ve got a few more in the works

[@axelwalter4046]

Very inspirational, showing what "new" nature can look like if you just let it take care of itself. Some months ago, I was back, after 25 years (!), in the place where I was born (the Netherlands - the Eastern part), and I noticed how well nature was doing and how well it was conserved. But especially: it was so much wilder than in my youth, when forests were "too clean" as fallen trees would be taken out immediately, leaves were raked and taken out of the forest in autumn, etc. Now, fallen trees were just left to rot, some dead animals were not taken out (deep in the forest, not close to areas where people might walk), many meadows, or parts of grassland, were left to nature, and it was all so much richer. More wildlife, better water regulation through spreading of water instead of deep ditches for fast evacuation, there were all kinds of plants you wouldn't have seen before, etc. Great to see ! I couldn't stop admiring and touching the fantastic trees, just like you did in your video.

[@LeaveCurious]

Thats cool that you can see the changes :) humans really do like interfere to keep things looking or behaving in a certain way.... Knepp is that perfect example of not only what can happen when we stop, but also how fast! Cheers!

[@carlbushnell509]

You enthusiasm always makesfor such a great video. Thank you

[@LeaveCurious]

100%, no worries. thank you!

[@PromorteD]

Knepp was a wonderful place to visit, I'd love to visit again in 5 years or so to see how everything is coming along

[@LeaveCurious]

Yes definitely, its exciting to think of what will happen or show up next there!

[@debratakagawa4764]

A pleasure seeing land that has come back to be so healthy.

[@aye3678]

I'll be sure to visit this wonderful place in the near future. Thanks for sharing, pal :)

[@LeaveCurious]

You wont regret it. It'll only get better with time :) Cheers mate

[@sebstott3573]

Interesting video. Can you please explain why grazing is sometimes considered good and sometimes bad? Here in Scotland the only places with thriving young trees are where the sheep and deer are fenced out, and a report you referenced on this channel said we had at least double the deer numbers the land could support (plus five times as many sheep!).

[@LeaveCurious]

Yeah perhaps I should of got into this in the video. But its all about balance of herbivores within any given area. In Scotland theres waaay to many deer and sheep and the landscape cannot support them. Its why much of Scotland looks vast, open and without trees. Centuries of overgrazing by livestock and now deer populations. The reverse of this happens when there are no grazing animals, over time, the land would eventually revert to closed canopy woodland, which is arguably better than barren overgrazed lands, but its still not as dynamic or supportive of as many species that an area, such as Knepp, hosting just the right amount of disturbance from the grazers. Deer/sheep/grazing animals are not the problem, its just the way we've mismanaged them that is the problem.

[@sebstott3573]

@@LeaveCurious Thanks a lot for the reply. So are the herbivores at Knep actively managed to move them around to replicate the effect of predators? Or is it just more diversity of grazers and/or lower density if grazing?

[@LeaveCurious]

@@sebstott3573 theres no barriers to movement at Knepp, otherthan the ring fence around it, so animals naturally move and don't overgraze an area for too long - they are shot in order to keep the numbers down, so i assume this adds a certain element of fear

[@sebstott3573]

Thanks for the explanation 👍

[@knoll9812]

You need the large grazers line cattle and horses. Sheep and deer overpopulation is a problem

[@lemurkatta]

going next weekend to hopefully catch a glimpse of the purple emperors !!

[@LeaveCurious]

ah yeah, i didn't see any - good luck!!

[@AbdulSoomro-kj5lt]

Well done mate! Subscribed!

[@oopimms91oo44]

Wait.... IN BRITAIN!? I have seen stalks in the UK before but I didn't know they were nesting! 😍

[@jeromegerard3242]

I’m curious how they stop herbivores from overgrazing without an apex predator species keeping them in check.

[@alainbaatjies5943]

Greetings from South Africa. European wildlife is so exotic and beautiful to me. Good to see wildlife in the UK. Any update on lynx or wolf reintroduction?Mega Predators are needed too. Love your vids!

[@LeaveCurious]

You've got some pretty awesome and exotic wildlife too, but you're likely used to it... Lynx reintroduction hmmm I will try and find out the latest and see if its worth an update video!

[@jacobsukovaty520]

I always try to do my part in helping by picking up trash relocating trees like walnut trees and oak trees that are already growing and trying to get rid of invasive plants like pear trees and honeysuckle and trying to keep biodiversity where i live

[@Northcountry1926]

🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏼🙇🏻‍♂️… Ditto here, Cleaning up rubbish in 🇨🇦

[@LeaveCurious]

Relocating trees is an interesting one! Do you just move them to where they’ll have a better chance of growing?

[@jacobsukovaty520]

​yes there was a tree growing in my garden at one time so I dug it up and planted it out in an open field

[@mathisthewaycorner]

Thanks for showing us a different part of England. It took me a while to figure you that you worked with Mossy Earth. I tried to remember where I heard you voice before.

[@LeaveCurious]

No worries and yes I do :)

[@Nhkg17]

White storks are quite common in Central Europe. Their nests can often be seen in villages on old chimneys and poles. And if you drive near the rubbish dump not far from my house at the right time of year, you can see more than 20 of them perched on lampposts. I suppose they're hunting rodents around the dump... Black storks are rare here. But I don't think there are any in England at all.

[@LeaveCurious]

I'm no expert, but I think the black stork does visit the UK. Stork in disused chimneys and lamp posts is what I want to see more of here! Cheers !

[@alecity4877]

I find it so funny that you cut from talking about the thriving ecosystem that has recovered to you poking at a pile of sun baked manure with a stick.

[@alwaysfourfun1671]

Rewilding in combination with needs of farmers-families is the way forward to a healthy ecology for farmlands in the Netherlands. It will make living in the Netherlands absolutely a better place.

[@binaryteddybear8741]

Thanks for the video!

[@LeaveCurious]

You're welcome :) Thansk for the comment, always helps

[@kennethwoolard5910]

Awesome!

[@trottiscliffe]

That's the issue, herbivores eat young saplings. Prey also have no predator, which means they will breed eventually in an unsustainable manner. The UK was once largely covered in forest. The drone shot across the farm, one notices there is a distinct lack of trees. Most visible trees were probably in existence when the area was a farm.

[@LeaveCurious]

In natural landscapes as long as herbivores are present there will never be closed canopy woodland - the UK was certainly far more forested, but with the presence and natural abundances of herbivores, forming in large herds there would of been many open areas/ scrubland areas. It Its all about succession, the tranistion of the landscape over time and how animals influence it. Habitat diversity is key so we need open areas, we need closed canopy woodlands and the scrublands like at Knepp in a nice mixture, ideally

[@rridderbusch518]

@LeaveCurious 6:56 is *FINALLY* when I understood what you had been talking about. Why didn't you put that shot at the beginning? Even my [CC] was giving me *nap,* *net,* *nep,* etc.. *Define,* then discuss!

[@LeaveCurious]

I know - I need to change the CC and really add more text.

[@Nottherebutthere]

It always amazes me when I watch Timeline that you can find Roman ruins just inches under the ground. No topsoil generated in 2000 years. I would call that poor husbandry of the land and very shocking.

[@sonodiventataunalbero5576]

Hi, what about Mapperton? They have their own YT channel where they show their rewilding program. They even introduced beavers on their property. I like the fact that they do conservation work for the cultural heritage, too.

[@LeaveCurious]

Yeah they’re doing really good things!!

[@mountaingardening]

Loved the video! I enjoy seeing land where rewinding is taking place and see the before and after. I would love to do the same. Just trying to purchase some land to do so. Thanks again for the video!

[@LeaveCurious]

Where are you looking to buy land?

[@mountaingardening]

We’re in the states and are looking at buying land in Arizona since there is somewhat cheap land here. We’ve also looked at Montana. However I’ll take almost any land that I can work on and improve.

[@helloman1302]

How do they control deer and large herbivore numbers?

[@ronensamuel8959]

this video is SO COOL!!!!! I really love you channel a lot. btw did you touch an exmoor pony?

[@LeaveCurious]

ah thank you!! appreciate it and no no i didn't get close out of respect. i'd of probably got booted, it was very hot.

[@PatrikInNature]

I really liked this video mate. And what a transformation, it brings a smile to my face :D Patrik

[@LeaveCurious]

Cheers Patrik :)

[@MM-mq5uj]

very inspirational video, love it!

[@LeaveCurious]

Thanks so much!

[@someblokecalleddave1]

So the original owners recognised their conventional farming methods were going south. Then they let it go wild. The really important thing here for a lot of people is - how did they then derive income from the land? Later in the video it suggests that they have no connection with the land any more "Imagine if Charlie and Isabella could see it as it is now". Why can't they? Who owns the land now and how do they derive income from it these days?

[@LeaveCurious]

They still very much own it and they make an income in a diversity of ways now off the back of rewilding. I will cover all of this in a future video. And apologies for any confusion, that bit was meant to be like - imagine if they could of seen its transformation as they were struggling! :) Cheers!

[@someblokecalleddave1]

@@LeaveCurious Thanks for the super quick reply, but as someone who's fully onboard with the re-wilding agenda and someone who tries to engage others on the subject, I find I have to justify how it works in terms of loss of arable farm land and jobs, so some details on these aspects are useful to convince others as to how it fits into the economic framework of our country.

[@LeaveCurious]

@@someblokecalleddave1 you're not wrong. explaining how this kind of management fits into the context of the country is important and something I will do soon.

[@johndyda5673]

Fantastic example of what can be acheived. I think all the Royal lands should be given up for rewilding. Time they moved away from barbaric shooting estates which pretend to be valuable for wildlife, but which is actually nonsense.

[@dawidm08277]

I want to create something similar in Poland but i don't have money yet to buy land and i want to create eco-village, zoo and reserwe for plants and animals

[@robertocarbajal1121]

Dont forgetet the predators for the entire balance

[@drew609]

love it!

[@geo.m1639]

The fields near my house have been abandoned since the end of Ww2 however no large herbivores are present so the grass is extremely high. Is there anyway to help it?

[@LeaveCurious]

I don't think it needs any help, I'm sure its doing an awful lot of good for nature as it is :)

[@geo.m1639]

@@LeaveCurious great to hear, saw a Tawny Owl there early this morning

[@Moth94]

Is this the place with the wild boars

[@LeaveCurious]

They got tamworth pigs, so close!

[@troyclayton]

Great video, thanks! Sorry it took me so long to join.

[@LeaveCurious]

No worries, thanks so much for joining!!

[@Tsass0]

It looks way better than the New Forest

[@robertwhite9621]

Love the video butin future could you leave links to information on places/people/things covered in the description pls? Thanks again!

[@LeaveCurious]

knepp.co.uk/

[@fishonshay]

Have you checked out what they are doing at Mapperton?

[@LeaveCurious]

Yea! They’re doing good things there, will have to check and see what’s going on for the rest of the year.

[@lucy7b]

❤❤❤

[@samdumaquis2033]

Interesting

[@raphlvlogs271]

do turtle doves hybridise with other dove/ pigeon species in the UK considering that their distribution habitats often overlap

[@LeaveCurious]

Thats are great question! - from a quick google, it seems that can, but its very rare

[@damonchampion823]

💚

[@arthogof]

incredible video :D cheers for making it

[@HedgeWitch-st3yy]

Have you checked out the People's plan for Nature? What do you think of it? Seemed like an excellent piece of work to me, especially the way it was developed by a people's assembly. I'm encouraging everyone i can to have a look, sign up their support and ask their local politicians how they're going to implement it.

[@LeaveCurious]

I hadn't seen it actually, just watched a short video looks cool. I'll read through the report/ summary when I can!

[@snowstrobe]

Might be a nice place to intro lynx...

[@LeaveCurious]

Yeah it could work, but I doubt they will, even if were allowed.

[@jacobsukovaty520]

Could you do a rewilding africa or is that outside your range

[@LeaveCurious]

Africa is a huge place, where about you thinking? It’s not outside the range!

[@jacobsukovaty520]

You guys can pick a country in africa to rewild It doesn't matter to me wherever works for you guys

[@jakespensley2638]

How do they deal with potential overgrazing and lack of natural predators?

[@D0m3YT]

crazy

[@thecocktailian2091]

quite remarkable how it has transformed over only twenty years. Proof that if Humans just vanished, in one of our generations, things will have returned to a natural order.

[@outoftownr3906]

Then why aren’t Knepps neighbours doing the same if the same farmland soil types are unviable?

[@andyalder7910]

Took a while to realise it was Knepp rather than NEP.

[@LeaveCurious]

Oh damn is that from the subtitles? Or just a guess at the spelling.

[@andyalder7910]

@@LeaveCurious Just a guess, Bucks and MK NEP was a possibility although that's an organisation rather than a specific site.

[@andyalder7910]

@@LeaveCurious If your pinned comment said "it was HOT at Knepp"...

[@fiver_rabbit8444]

what are your thoughts about George Monbiot's recent criticism of the Knepp estate - that its use of land for 'organic' farm animal grazing is fine when done on miniscule scales, but impossible and / or harmful when taken as a large scale alternative to industrial farming (just type 'george monbiot Joe' into a YT search if you don't know what I mean).

[@LeaveCurious]

Unfortunately I can’t find the video, maybe you can comment the link here. I’m always interested to hear what George has to say

[@fiver_rabbit8444]

@@LeaveCurious Of course: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rpXOaZaYlJ19qqct==23:30

[@fiver_rabbit8444]

@@LeaveCurious apologies, linked the wrong bit of the video. The actual discussion on Knepp begins on the 12 minute mark.

[@laurelcaldwell7804]

So cool

[@amberdy12]

Good video

[@LeaveCurious]

Cheers amberdy!!!

[@microwavedcheetos]

We need more vids of you just exploring every habitat out there! ❤

[@LeaveCurious]

Noted, its actually a video format I want to do more and more :) Cheers!

[@oliviapeel8558]

🌿❤🌿

[@melissagibson4364]

What’s up!

[@LucyWilliams-i3s]

What’s up

[@nigelwylie01]

What’s up?

[@c.i.demann3069]

what's up

[@LeaveCurious]

Eyyyyy there you go. A buzzard.

[@pluffer96]

Amazing what you can do when you're a multi milionaire, imagine the whole world doing this to all the farmland, it would be fantastic for wildlife, until we all died of starvation???? This is the sort of thing that happens when to many people go to university, on micky mouse courses.

[@LeaveCurious]

Yeah, but many wealthy people do a whole lot less for the planet. Of course that would not be the thing to do. Theres certainly scope to create a few more areas like Knepp across the UK. Only on the least productive lands of course.

[@pluffer96]

@@LeaveCurious Total agree with that.

[@TheAndromeda1111]

"they did absolutely nothing" except introducing large grazers :p

[@lindasapiecha2515]

👍🥰

[@LeaveCurious]

Cheers Linda!

[@yellard6785]

I can understand how managed land may be more diverse in nature (especially in fauna/wild flowers) but it's not natural.. Naturally, surely grazing animals would have predators (wolves)..? That reduces the amount of grazing and means more forest..? Without humans would most of the UK be covered in forest.? .

[@jammiedodger7040]

The thing is that rewilding is a great thing but for it to succeed we need to find new ways to do things like livestock,agriculture and forestry.

[@barkershill]

Amazing how all the farms surrounding Knepp manage to grow crops quite successfully . Sounds like they did not know how to farm . This is OK if you inherit a massive amount of land , then you can’t go wrong , but if you rent your land and have a family to support you have to go down the conventional farming route

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

A true English savannah, if we are liberal with the term?

[@Tom_Wolf_]

Forgive my ignorance, but how does doing nothing with the land prevent you from "going under". Do the owners get government grants or how do they make money? And do you just get free money from owning land and doing nothing with it?

[@kerneywilliams632]

They don't have, fuel or fertilizer and several other costs. At the same time they still sell excess cattle etc, can have campers and special tours etc.

[@comradeweismann6947]

Comments for the Algorithm

[@LeaveCurious]

always appreciated thank you!!

[@deep-fried-zombie699]

It’ll be beautiful for apartment complexes, from all the immigrants over the next 20 years 👍🏻

[@Ghost-Mama]

We help everyone including ourselves by helping each other. Immigrant or not. People help people. We don’t exclude people from life just because they come from somewhere else. That’s not nice. We can all get along and help each other prosper.

[@Mouse_Metal]

Poop! It´s awesome! :D

[@LeaveCurious]

Gotta love it. The natural, grassy vegetative produced poop that is.

[@gavinrichards6601]

How to "save" the planet. Put some effort in and live with nature. Not by going along with net zero bs. Common sense

[@LeaveCurious]

Well said!!

[@ireview4006]

Pretty depressing that Knepp is one of the most biodiverse places in the UK. Its still a farm and most of it really isnt that great, i've been twice. Sure its not like a modern field, but it really isnt that diverse. This country is so depressing and ugly.

[@LeaveCurious]

Yeah, I mean you really would be pushed to find more diverse at the scale that Knepp is, sure theres probably pockets of habitat which hold more species. Hard thing to quantify. Don't lose hope, if you go looking for the natural spaces and people working for them, you will find them :)