Knepp Wilding

13/10/2026

What does everyone need to live a decent life, and how far can we push the planet before we put life itself at risk?

In ‘Doughnut Economics’, Kate Raworth reimagined the economy: instead of endless growth, a safe and just space where human wellbeing and planetary limits meet. Her ideas have shaped policy from Amsterdam to Copenhagen.

Now she joins Isabella Tree to describe how these new ideas are being put into practice, where people, policies and institutions are building an economy that thrives with the planet, not at its expense. Join her for a stimulating update on Doughnut Economics as it charts a new path in the world and enjoy a delicious dinner after the talk at the Wilding Kitchen.

📅: Thursday 5 November

🕐: 6pm-9pm

🎟️: £65, link to book in bio

10/10/2026

Today is UK Fungus Day, and there’s no better time to celebrate them at Knepp. After a long, hot summer followed by rain, conditions have been ideal for fungi, with plenty of rotting deadwood and damp soil for them to grow in.

Since the rewilding project began, the number of fungi species recorded here has increased to almost 500. Among them are some of the rarest fungi in the UK, including the ‘robust bracket’. This is found at only six other sites in the country and grows on living veteran oaks, of which Knepp has plenty.

Fungi are strange and mysterious organisms. The mushrooms and brackets we see pushing up through leaf litter and old timber are only the fruiting bodies, and they’re just the tip of the iceberg. The real organism is a vast network of thread-like mycelium, working invisibly through soil and rotting wood and sometimes stretching for miles.

It’s this hidden network that does the heavy lifting. Fungi break down tough material that almost nothing else can touch, such as wood and dead leaves, and return the nutrients to the soil. Without them, the land would quickly be buried under its own debris.

Do enjoy this autumn’s wonderful display, but please keep to the footpaths and resist the temptation to pick. Our fungi are doing a vital job, and they’re food for many other creatures too.

‘Jelly ear’ taken by Collette Holloway
‘Wrinkled peach’, ‘robust bracket’ and ‘parasol’ taken by Matt Phelps
‘Chicken of the woods’ by Nicky Dawes
‘Zoned Rossetti’ and ‘oak mazegill’ by Steve Webster
‘Dryad’s saddle’ by Neil Lindsay-Stewart

07/10/2026

The saying ‘build it and they will come’ takes on new meaning in this month's episode of The Knepp Wilding Podcast.

Isabella Tree is joined by raptor reintroduction specialist Tim Mackrill, to talk about his ambitious vision for bringing ospreys back to Britain. Isabella grabbed the opportunity to witness Tim and his team as they built an osprey nest at Knepp. But don't ospreys build their own nests? Tim takes us into his world of ‘thinking like an osprey’ and explains why these pioneering birds sometimes need a helping hand.

The episode is out now. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

05/10/2026

Every year, the gardening team and some helpful volunteers harvest the apples ripening in our orchard. However, not all apple harvests are equal. After two amazing mast years, the trees in the orchard have now gone into a ‘rest’ year.

A mast year is when trees produce an unusually large crop of fruit, nuts or seeds all at once. Producing such a heavy crop uses up a lot of the tree’s energy, so it’s common for a bumper year to be followed by a quieter one while the tree recovers.

As a result, there are fewer apples this year. While this is perfectly normal, the trees have also been under extra pressure from this summer’s scorching temperatures and drought. The trees bearing the most fruit were those in sheltered but well-ventilated corners of the orchard.

A lighter harvest doesn’t mean a quiet orchard, though. As our trees age, they develop hollows, cavities, deadwood and loose bark, creating vital habitat for insects, fungi, lichens, birds and bats. Beneath them, the grassland supports wildflowers, pollinators and other invertebrates. These layers of life take decades to develop, which is why old orchards like ours are so valuable for biodiversity.

If you’d like to see the orchard for yourself, October is your last chance to visit the Rewilded Walled Garden in 2026. Book your garden tour via the link in our bio.

02/10/2026

Can nature have rights? Can a river be defended in a court of law?

In ‘A Barrister for the Earth’, award-winning barrister Monica Feria-Tinta makes the case for an eco-centric approach to protecting the natural world. Monica’s acted in landmark climate and rights-of-nature cases globally, and for nearly two years she advised on a pioneering Charter of Rights for the River Ouse, right here in Sussex. It’s a first for England, and it has sparked a nationwide ‘riverlution’.

Monica joins host Isabella Tree to explore how moving beyond a human-centred view is transforming the legal defence of Britain’s wild places.

📅: Thursday 15 October

🕐: 6pm-9pm

🎟️: £65, book here: https://knepp.co.uk/view/events/author-suppers/inside-the-riverlution-the-ascent-of-the-rights-of-nature-in-the-uk/

01/10/2026

Imagine waking to birdsong drifting across the Wildland, stepping out onto dew-soaked grass as the morning mist lifts, and spending your days among free-roaming herds, soaring storks and the quiet hum of a landscape coming back to life.

Bookings are now open for spring stays at our campsite. Curl up in a snug shepherd's hut, sleep beneath the canopy in our treehouse, or settle into a yurt warmed by a log burner.

However you choose to stay, it's a chance to slow down and reconnect with nature, and we'd love to welcome you.

Click the link to book your stay: https://knepp.co.uk/stay/availability-calendar

29/09/2026

The clacking of white storks, galloping Exmoor ponies, the roar of red stags and the hooting of owls. Seeing the creatures here is only half the joy. The sound they bring to the landscape is magical to take in.

There’s nothing quite like hearing the chorus in person. Visit us this October. Link in the bio.

27/09/2026

The nights get longer but the creatures of the Wildland don't stop for October.

Join us for our end of season hurrah...

25/09/2026

Our lead ecologist Matt Phelps featured this week in The Guardian, talking about this summer's extraordinary wave of new insect arrivals to the UK.

On a stifling July evening, Matt heard a piercing trill he couldn't place. Returning with entomologist Graeme Lyons, he spent three hours tracking the sound, only to find its source hiding in a crack in the parched clay beneath their feet: the first Verge (or Bordeaux) cricket ever recorded in the British Isles.

Once news broke, other sightings poured in, coinciding with huge wildfires in Bordeaux and raising the question of whether some had fled the flames of southern Europe.
It's one of many firsts this year, from praying mantises breeding on the UK mainland to a moth genus never before seen in Britain, all linked to our warming climate.

Read the full article here:

Britain has seen an explosion of migrating insects – in some cases from as far as northern Africa

25/09/2026

We have seen an astonishing resurgence of the lovely amber-winged wall brown butterfly at Knepp. Before 2025, there'd been just one record of this rare butterfly in the Wildland this century. It gets its name from its habit of basking on walls and rocks, where it opens its wings to soak up the sun. It loves big open spaces with a variety of grasses to lay its eggs on, but because of the widespread loss of this habitat, it's been pushed to the fringes, existing only in small, fragmented populations.

We saw some in late June and early July last year, but nothing like the numbers we're seeing this September. Typically, this butterfly has two broods, but our resident butterfly expert Neil Hulme suspects it could be breeding as many as three times at Knepp, taking advantage of the perfect conditions here and giving rise to these amazing numbers. Provided the current spell of good weather continues, we can expect to see these butterflies until mid-October.

Photo credit: Steve Norris