num_pages: 384
description: Forced to accept that intensive farming on the heavy clay of their land at Knepp in West Sussex was economically unsustainable Isabella Tree and her husband Charlie Burrell made a spectacular leap of faith: they decided to step back and let nature take over. Thanks to the introduction of free-roaming cattle ponies pigs and deer  proxies of the large animals that once roamed Britain  the 3500 acre project has seen extraordinary increases in wildlife numbers and diversity in little over a decade.Once-common species including turtle doves nightingales peregrine falcons lesser spotted woodpeckers and purple emperor butterflies are now breeding at Knepp and populations of other species are rocketing. The Burrells degraded agricultural land has become a functioning ecosystem again heaving with life  all by itself.This recovery has taken place against a backdrop of catastrophic loss elsewhere. According to the 2016 State of Nature report the UK is ranked 29th in the world for biodiversity loss: 56% of species in the UK are in decline and 15% are threatened with extinction. We are living in a desert compared with our gloriously wild past.In Wilding Isabella Tree tells the story of the Knepp experiment and what it reveals of the ways in which we might regain that wilder richer country. It shows how rewilding works across Europe; that it has multiple benefits for the land; that it can generate economic activity and employment; how it can benefit both nature and us  and that all of this can happen astonishingly quickly. Part gripping memoir part fascinating account of the ecology of our countryside Wilding is above all an inspiring story of hope.
language: English
title: Wilding
publisher: Picador