Isabella Tree’s wonderful book brings together science, natural history, a fair bit of drama, and-ultimately-hope. At a time of looming environmental disaster, Wilding is an inspiring story of a farm, a couple, and a community transformed. Isabella Tree and her partner, environmentalist Charlie Burrell, own the 3,500-acre property known as Knepp Castle Estate. In Wilding, Isabella Tree tells the story of the ‘Knepp experiment’, a pioneering rewilding project in West Sussex, using free-roaming grazing animals to create new habitats for wildlife.Part gripping memoir, part fascinating account of the ecology of our countryside, Wilding is, above all, an inspiring story of hope. Reviewed by: Tracy Mehlin on Catalog record. The fabled English nightingale sings again. Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm by Isabella Tree, 2018. New life flooded into Knepp, now a breeding hotspot for rare and threatened species like turtle doves, peregrine falcons, and purple emperor butterflies. In the face of considerable opposition the couple persisted with their experiment and soon witnessed an extraordinary change. Review: Wilding: The Return of Nature to an English Farm by Isabella Tree an experiment in letting nature take over May 06 2018, 12.01am Review by Helen Davies The lady of the manor was. But what would the neighbors say, in the manicured countryside of modern England where a blade of grass out of place is considered an affront? Using herds of free-roaming animals to mimic the actions of the megafauna of the past, they hoped to bring nature back to their depleted land.

They would restore Knepp’s 3,500 acres to the wild. By 2000, with the farm facing bankruptcy, they decided to try something radical. In Wilding, Isabella Tree tells the story of the ‘Knepp experiment’, a pioneering rewilding project in West Sussex, using free-roaming grazing animals to create new habitats for wildlife. An inspiring story about what happens when 3,500 acres of land, farmed for centuries, is left to return to the wild, and about the wilder, richer future a natural landscape can bring.įor years Charlie Burrell and his wife, Isabella Tree, farmed Knepp Castle Estate and struggled to turn a profit.

Wilding isabella tree review