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Welcome to the first blog in our Rewilding Safari series written by our Impact Manager Beatrice Jeavons, freshly returned from a research trip to learn from world-leading rewilding and regenerative agriculture projects across Europe and the UK. Bea's research is supporting FEAT.'s expansion into financing conservation and biodiversity in 2025, which we now consider to be a dual mandate alongside our clean energy mission.
Earlier this year, I visited the Knepp Rewilding project in Sussex in the U.K. I’m looking into Rewilding and Nature-Based Solutions - specifically, how the arts and cultural sector can use them to protect and restore nature. I’m visiting projects on the ground and asking: What does best practice look like? What funding is available? And how do they measure successes and challenges?
I received a George Alexander fellowship for this research and couldn’t wait to get stuck in. This research not only helps FEAT understand how we can support nature-based solutions but also forms part of a very exciting new project we are working on (more on that later)…
Nature Based Solutions ‘leverage nature and the power of healthy ecosystems to protect people and safeguard a stable and biodiverse future’. It’s a fancy term for supporting natural systems to do what they are designed to do (through policy, financing and hands-on work).
Restoring wetlands and mangroves, reforestation, greening Urban Infrastructure, Peatland Conservation and Establishing marine protected areas are all forms of Nature- Based Solutions. Top of the list is Rewilding, as it often encompasses all of these.
Rewilding restores healthy ecosystems, allowing natural processes to take over and form stable habitats. Rewilding draws down huge amounts of carbon, restores soil health, and increases biodiversity and resilience. Rewilding costs little, as nature does the heavy lifting. Humans can kick-start the process by planting native plants, reintroducing wild roaming herbivores and re-wiggling rivers (a term I especially love). After that, there’s minimal human intervention, and nature takes the lead.
Knepp intro
Knepp is a trailblazing 3,500-acre privately-owned rewilding project founded by Isabella Tree and Charlie Burrell. After setting off in the 2000s with the aim of restoring nature, they’ve turned a flogged-out, unviable industrial farm into a thriving biodiversity haven. There’s even been the return of endangered species such as nightingales, turtle doves and purple emperor butterflies.
Knepp is one of the most famous rewilding projects in Britain (ever, perhaps the world), and it’s become a poster child for a larger movement sweeping the U.K. Arriving on our first day on a balmy afternoon, I can see why.
Knepp is bursting with life, and it doesn’t take an ecologist or scientist to know that something incredible is going on. There’s an almost constant chorus of birds and insects buzzing, bursting wildflowers and native grasses, and tall old oak trees shading the walkways.
You can hardly tell there were once fields; now it’s one effervescent brush of shrubs and native woodland - filled with ragwort, fleabane, scarlet pimpernel, water pepper, and Toadflax. All plants I’d never heard of or even seen in the U.K. before. Usually a British field is all grass and hedgerows, with a few daisies if you're lucky. It’s hard to imagine what Knepp would have looked like only 20 years ago.
Our guide Kat explained the importance of Knepp’s free-roaming herds, as key ‘movers’ of the regeneration process. English longhorn cattle, Tamworth pigs, Exmoor Ponies and red and fallow deer trample and browse the vegetation, stopping overgrowth and creating a mosaic of wildlife habitats. These permanent pastures play a vital role in capturing and storing carbon - the shrubs and hedge rows that get munched on lockdown four times the amount of carbon as some trees! And their dung helps restore the soil health, storing even more carbon.
Arriving near a small stream and walking along the soggy banks, Kat excitedly pointed out the beaver enclosure.
Beavers are a recent introduction to Knepp, and they’ve been busy restoring natural water systems - the dam in front of us is an impressive construction site. Kat explained how beaver dams not only help alleviate floods by slowing rushing water, but they also help during drought by providing a steady flow all year round. The water gets cleaned, captures topsoil, and provides habitat for insects, which means more fish and more birds. A win-win!
Despite their critical role in healthy ecosystems, outdated laws don’t allow beavers to legally roam wild in the U.K., but Knepp are working hard to change this. Kat told us how people right across the UK have started ‘Beaver Bombing’ in a guerilla-style act to help bring wildlife and healthy rivers back.
As pigs rootle in the soil (snuffle around), they expose beneficial fungi, which 80% of plants need. Just one adult pig can turn over 50 acres a year. On the other hand, every time a farmer ploughs, they smash up these intricate microbial relationships and lose topsoil, which some sources say we only have 20 harvests left at this rate.
In the absence of apex predators like wolves, lynx, and bears, Knepp culls the animals to maintain healthy numbers. This provides regeneratively farmed meat that requires far less land use than conventional practices, no pesticides or herbicides, and no vet bills. You bewdy.
‘It’s not only far better for the animals but for us, too.’ Kat explains. Because the animals eat native plants, the meat is nutrient-packed.
The Wilding restaurant at Knepp serves dishes on a menu that celebrates the whole animal. As someone who limits my meat intake for environmental reasons, I definitely indulged in a sausso or two - and they were bloody good.
I read in one of the books in the camp kitchen that Australia has its own version of rootling pigs. Lyrebirds (ancestors of all the world's songbirds), plough 350 tonnes of leaf litter and soil in our native forests, every year. This keeps the ecosystem intact, absorbs moisture from the ocean and means Melbourne residents are gravity-fed clean and fresh mineral water from their taps. A nice circular system, eh? Sometimes, the tiny creatures we don’t even know about are the secret little heroes, providing life support for ecosystems.
Funding mechanisms and sustainable finances
Knepp isn’t only an exemplar of what true environmental custodianship can look like but sustainable finance, too. From being 1 million pounds in debt, Knepp now generates enough sustainable income to employ over 80 full-time staff. Income streams include nature-based tourism, wildlife safaris and regenerative agriculture, bolstered by some Government subsidies. They host a full calendar of workshops and events,year round and even have yoga classes and a sauna.
Knepp shows that it’s entirely possible to earn a living through the diversification of income streams and rethink our impact on the land and the distribution of resources. Knepp have also expanded into Nattergal, a company they co-founded that is buying up degraded land and seascapes to rewild and restore biodiversity—funded by a mix of tourism and nature-based credits (more on that later).
It’s clear that here at Knepp, nature is the priority, not farming. But, as Isabella Tree highlights in her best-selling book Wilding, farmers who are not yet using regenerative practices are not willful destroyers of nature. ‘They simply have no incentive to think about nature, no means by which to identify where it is, how deep it goes and what benefits it brings’ she explains, and being aware and engaged in possible alternatives is just one part of the puzzle. ‘Farmers and landowners can’t be expected to protect the environment just out of goodwill and moral intentions alone. They need to be compensated’. Isabella rightfully points out that, ‘No matter the public benefit, no one can be expected to turn their land over to nature out of altruism. It has to make financial sense’.
It’s also not to say if you have ‘productive farmland’ you should turn it all in. There needs to be a mix of solutions and income streams is key.
For Knepp, that mix is rewilding, tourism and regenerative farming. For others, it might be nature-based credits that incentivise biodiversity or transitioning industrial farming methods to regenerative. Whatever that mix, nature needs to be valued in financial terms so landowners can be paid accordingly.Knepp showcases that whilst there may be upfront capital to kick things off, Rewilding saves money in the long term.
As one landowner put it, ‘You can’t go green if you're in the red’. But being in the red could and perhaps should be an incentive to go green. Rewilding patches of land unfit for agriculture is farming's greatest ally. Not only will rewilding improve our precious soils and food system, but it’ll help farmers out of the ‘red’.
‘By halting and reversing land degradation, securing water resources and providing insects for crop pollination, Rewilding provides services vital to the long-term sustainability of agriculture’ Isabella says, pointing out that to make a real difference, the minimum area of land that needs to be rewilded in the UK is 300,000 hectares. “That’s about the same amount of land currently being used as golf courses in the UK. In the scheme of things, it’s tiny.” Compared to conventional conservation it’s also manifestly inexpensive.
Community engagement is key
One thing that Knepp continues to do well is tell their story. From Isabella’s popular book ‘Wilding’ to a documentary and a stack of events, they have engaged the community in the restoration process from the beginning.
There are 16 miles of public footpaths leading through the property, often full of walkers, birdwatchers, and camera-carrying folk of all ages. Their campsite and accommodation are booked months ahead, and their bustling cafe and restaurant are jam-packed every day.
Tourism provides an income but, most importantly, impact. For Rewilding to work, the community has to be a part of the process. Not only does Knepp educate and engage the local community on the importance of restoring nature, but they show it in real time.
It wasn't all rosy. There were plenty of mistakes, which they were honest about, as well as resistance in the early days. But most of that has turned around now - many locals who initially threw up their hands in protest are now regular walkers along Knepp's wild paths.
Nothing about what Charlie and Isabella are doing is preachy. ‘You want to tempt people by showing them how good things can be, not tell them how bad they are doing things currently’. Noted Isabella in Wilding. ‘There’s a danger of polarising people if you just point the finger,” she says. “It takes time to be convinced of it and see it working. I mean, we certainly weren’t brave enough to rewild all of Knepp in one go. We were quite tentative and did it in small stages: a field here, a block there. Just growing out the hedgerows and seeing what happened, then getting excited and doing a bit more. You get addicted. But, really, the best thing is to show people what happens here.’
Britain is one of the most nature-depleted places on the planet. I can see why people flock wide and far to visit Knepp. Just like the storks, nightingales, and robins that find refuge in an otherwise depleted landscape, humans can rest and restore through the experience of Knepp’s wildlife and biodiversity, along with everything else the project has to offer.
Creativity and the Arts: Where FEAT. comes in.
If you’ve made it this far, you might be wondering, ok, cool project, but what does this have to do with live music? We need to tell these stories of change more than ever. And this is where the arts come in. Anyone with a platform and a bit of creativity has the power to communicate solutions like Rewilding.
Stories shift and shape public perspectives. The arts have always led social movements to inspire cultural change, which can lead to systems change. As Brian Eno puts it, ‘Art and music make a difference by telling you what’s interesting and cool and promising, and what’s out of date.’
Artists can also be a part of this movement by supporting rewilding projects financially. Imagine if $1 from every ticket sold went directly towards conservation projects, protecting biodiversity and supporting farmers to transition to regenerative agriculture…
Conclusion
Rewilding offers a tangible solution to so many of the world's challenges. Land crisis, climate crisis, biodiversity crisis, food shortage and mental health crisis. The story of Knepp is one that we don’t hear about often., where the impact on nature is getting better. Not worse. And the best bit -is they aren’t alone. Knepp is part of a much larger picture and Rewilding is happening everywhere. From the savannahs of Africa to the wetlands of the Netherlands.
I left Knepp with a burst of pragmatic optimism. Not the wishful kind of thinking but the practical, tangible kind. Coupled with fresh air and nights under the stars, I was invigorated and completely inspired.
Knepp is the kind of initiative I love: Passionate people working together to restore balance of nature and breath life back into degraded ecosystems. Rolling up their sleeves, getting stuck in and inspiring others by showing what’s possible when we get out of the way and let nature thrive.
This blog will form part of a series as I visit projects and meet with some incredible folk at the forefront of conservation and biodiversity. Next month, I’ll be telling the story of my visit to Oostvaardersplassen, but in the meantime, if you want to learn more on Rewilding check out some of these resources below.
Extra resources and reading:
Rewilding the World Podcast with Ben Goldsmith
Weald to waves project.creating a corridor for nature
Thanks for following the trail with me,
x B
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