The story of Knepp: A rewilding success | Field Studies

The UK is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world, but the Knepp Estate in southern England is trying to change that. Over the past 20 years they have set about rewilding the estate, turning it from a degraded farm to a thriving wildlife habitat.

Find out how they are doing this, and why it is helping in the fight against the biodiversity crisis.

#NaturalHistoryMuseum #Nature #Wildlife
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The Natural History Museum in London is home to more than 80 million objects, including meteorites, dinosaur bones and a giant squid. Our channel brings the Museum to you, from what goes on behind the scenes to surprising science and stories from our scientists.

00:00 Intro
1:50 What is the Knepp rewilding project?
3:03 Is rewilding successful at Knepp?
4:18 Reintroducing white storks and beavers to the UK countryside
5:36 Why is rewilding important?
7:02 What is the future of rewilding?

[andrewst]

Congratulations!
"Rewilding" is a highly noble cause!
We need to reduce the population of humans around the world and re-establish natural eco systems.
Little by little - the more land and water, the better.
It's incredibly important!
And probably the best way to address our manifold crises!

[huskytail]

This IS how it should be indeed. All projects of rewilding in Europe are amazing! Good luck to Knepp

[hollyjensen]

so exciting Knepp. Mother earth wants to heal, and she will do so aggressively just given the chance. Thank you for giving her the chance. wish I could be in the UK to help all the wonderful projects I see going on there. Blessings on all your work.

[synappticuser]

It absolutely delights my heart, that people are beginning to restore our natural landscapes, and recreate their wildness! The recovery of Knepp is beautiful, the sights and sounds deeply healing. This is what we are supposed to do, and what we are supposed to be about - thank you!

[piccolo]

What I still find shocking is the impact of removing exotic plants and replacing them with native ones in our yard. We also installed bee hotels and other ways for insects to hibernate. For reference, we have a tiny yard 33 square meter that's fully tiled (though does not have anti rooting fabric under the tiles, which allows for movement of all manner of soil animals from pot to pot and for plants to root where we don't walk. In our case, Campanula has taken over every nook and cranny) in a rowhouse in the Netherlands. Granted, there are hanging pots everywhere and every spot that can be covered with plants is, but it's still tiny.
In 2 years time, we now have 5 times the bees we had and at least 12 species as well as up to 8 species of bumblebees. We have had more butterflies than we've had in years, at least 7 or 8 spider hatchings (read hundreds of baby spiders) and dozens of ladybugs.

Even small changes can have massive effects. Please consider investing in a native flower yard.

[HughWaters]

Just started reading Isabella's book, 'Wilding', it's all about the Knepp project. I'm finding the details she reveals about the history of land use over hundreds of years absolutely fascinating. Recommended read.

[NorrisHistoryCorner]

The footage of the vehicle starting at 7:01 was filmed just over 6 years ago. My, then girlfriend, and I were there, we're sitting on the right at the back of the vehicle. She'd won tickets to see the project and it was one of the first trips we did together. I'm happy to say that we got married 2 years ago. She's the photographer with the blonde-ish hair that appears a few seconds later and is possibly the only British naturalist who has never been to the natural history museum... yet. I didn't expect us to pop up on the museums social media but a nice surprise nonetheless. Knepp is beautiful and the venison sausages are very nice.

[marcusmartinez]

Such a good feel good story. I’m hopeful that more of this type of work gain momentum across governments, towns, cities and nations. Thanks for sharing…

[CM-dhpy]

Ayy, I’ve actually been to Knepp. It’s absolutely incredible to see in real life and so comforting to see that we Han achieve rewiliding on a fairly short order of time. Camping there is so lovely and their open air shower stalls among the trees are magical. Oh, and those venison burgers were the best burgers I’ve ever had.

I wish Knepp all the best in their truly inspirational project.

[RussTillling]

I went in May 22 and loved it. Just hearing the storks beak clattering in greeting mates, and seeing them wheel high overhead was super in itself. It is a lot of walking though, as there are about 4 walks of about 4-10 miles each, so consider the bus tour.

[tracya.schneider]

How could this be started on the USA? I just moved to Missouri and I am dismayed by so much building as well as no replanting of trees or conservation expectations when developing. It's depressing me.

[THE_ECONNORGIST]

Will need to visit Knepp one day. I’ve read Wilding, very inspirational story and one more that British farmers should learn lessons from.

[Kasn]

Love Knepp. Has been my favourite nature escape for about 5 years now, although it’s a bit too wet without a dry suit in December. ;D Keep it up lovely people! Looking forward to seeing the NHM wildlife garden’s evolution.

[JPLamoureuxsTravels]

Knepp is a true vision and how it should be done hopefully others will follow suit ❤ respect to all that work so hard to do what’s right for our countryside ❤

[gavinspiby]

What an amazing project fills my heart with joy ❤️

[volkerbosch]

What a wonderful Project. We need so many more. It’s very difficult in Germany.

[friendoftellus]

How lovely !!! This really look like a very successful rewilding project !!!

[SC-bgwf]

We need a thousand more projects based on what they've done at Knepp. This is proved to work incredibly well and it hugely cheaper to implement than other conservation initiatives.

[johnlowe]

Live really close to Knepp in Horsham and love taking the children here, also ordered our first lot of meat from them which was delicious and will be ordering again soon, great to see this.

[jollyjokress]

Reintroduction of Ursus would be great. In Poland, they are cutting down old growth trees threatening one of the last bear habitats in Europe.