Isabella Tree.
Wilding: the return of nature to a British farm.
Picador. 2018
Forced to accept that intensive farming of the heavy clay soils of their farm
at Knepp in West Sussex was driving it close to bankruptcy,
in 2000 Isabella Tree and her husband Charlie Burrell took a spectacular leap of faith
and handed their 3,500 acres back to nature.
With minimal human intervention, and with herds of freeroaming animals
stimulating new habitats, their land is now heaving with life.
Rare species such as turtle doves, peregrine falcons and
purple emperor butterflies are now breeding at Knepp and biodiversity has rocketed.
The Knepp project has become a leading light for conservation in the UK, demonstrating how letting nature take the driving seat can restore both the land and its wildlife in a dramatically short space of time, reversing the cataclysmic declines that have affected most species elsewhere in Britain over the past five decades. Part gripping memoir, part fascinating account of Britain’s rural ecology, Wilding is, above all, an inspiring story of hope.