Asilvestrados

Isabella Tree tells the story of the 'Knepp Experiment', a pioneering rewilding project in West Sussex using free-range grazing animals to create new habitats for wildlife. Forced to accept that intensive farming on the heavy clay on her land at Knepp was economically unsustainable, Tree and her husband decided to step back and let nature take over. With the introduction of free-ranging cattle, ponies, pigs and deer - the large animals that once roamed Britain - the 1,400-hectare project has seen an extraordinary increase in the number and diversity of wildlife in just over one of each. Extremely rare species such as turtle doves, nightingales, peregrine falcons, lesser woodpeckers, and purple emperor butterflies now breed there, and populations of other species are soaring. The Burrells' degraded farmland has been converted back into a functioning ecosystem teeming with life. Intimate and inspiring, Wilderness is an astonishing account of the beauty and power of nature when set free.