It’s Episode 24 and I’m joined by the brilliant artist, Hazel Reeves, to hear how she has been inspired by the Knepp soundscape to extend her artistic practice beyond her studio. Hours before many of our alarms go off Hazel can be found sitting quietly in the Knepp Wildland taking sound recordings of the dawn chorus and one of her favourite birds in particular: the Nightingale. We talk about aberrant Nightingale songs, the joy of clattering White Stork bills and how soundscape ecology can give us hope as we hear how the health of a landscape can be detected through the richness of sound.

It’s Episode 24 and I’m joined by the brilliant artist, Hazel Reeves, to hear how she has been inspired by the Knepp soundscape to extend her artistic practice beyond her studio. Hours before many of our alarms go off Hazel can be found sitting quietly in the Knepp Wildland taking sound recordings of the dawn chorus and one of her favourite birds in particular: the Nightingale. We talk about aberrant Nightingale songs, the joy of clattering White Stork bills and how soundscape ecology can give us hope as we hear how the health of a landscape can be detected through the richness of sound.

The Soundscape

To celebrate 10,000 downloads of our first ever episode, The Nightingale, I'm delighted to be able to offer you a bite-size version of it!It seems apt to be able to release this at this time of year as the Nightingale is back at Knepp in brilliant numbers and is singing away in the scrubland. Many thanks indeed go to Rob Burns for distilling the magical essence of the Nightingale in to a short podcast. Enjoy!

To celebrate 10,000 downloads of our first ever episode, The Nightingale, I'm delighted to be able to offer you a bite-size version of it! It seems apt to be able to release this at this time of year as the Nightingale is back at Knepp in brilliant numbers and is singing away in the scrubland.  Many thanks indeed go to Rob Burns for distilling the magical essence of the Nightingale in to a short podcast. Enjoy!

The Nightingale Bite-size

It’s episode 23 and we are taking a blustery walk with some fascinating researchers from Oxford Archaeology and Historic England… we are stepping back in time! We discuss an innovative and collaborative research project called ‘Rewilding Later Prehistory’ exploring Bronze Age and Iron Age ecology from around 4,500yrs ago to 2,000yrs ago. Where the focus of this period is usually based around human progress, this project aims to discover more about the wildlife that would have been found in our landscape around this time. From this research the hope is that we can use archaeology to link in with current nature recovery practices – thinking about restoring landscapes and bringing back lost species.

It’s episode 23 and we are taking a blustery walk with some fascinating researchers from Oxford Archaeology and Historic England… we are stepping back in time! We discuss an innovative and collaborative research project called ‘Rewilding Later Prehistory’ exploring Bronze Age and Iron Age ecology from around 4,500yrs ago to 2,000yrs ago.  Where the focus of this period is usually based around human progress, this project aims to discover more about the wildlife that would have been found in our landscape around this time. From this research the hope is that we can use archaeology to link in with current nature recovery practices – thinking about restoring landscapes and bringing back lost species.

The Archaeologists

It’s a wet and wild episode 22! We’re joined by national beaver specialist, Mark Elliott, down in the Knepp beaver pen after a night of heavy rain. We marvel at the amazing work of the beavers - how they’re creating the most wonderful wetland area that’s holding on to water during winter floods and providing an oasis for life during droughts. We tap into Mark’s encyclopaedic knowledge of the natural history of beavers in Britain: why they became extinct, how they’re making an incredible come-back and the amazing benefits they bring to wildlife and us humans too. 

It’s a wet and wild episode 22! We’re joined by national beaver specialist, Mark Elliott, down in the Knepp beaver pen after a night of heavy rain. We marvel at the amazing work of the beavers - how they’re creating the most wonderful wetland area that’s holding on to water during winter floods and providing an oasis for life during droughts. We tap into Mark’s encyclopaedic knowledge of the natural history of beavers in Britain: why they became extinct, how they’re making an incredible come-back and the amazing benefits they bring to wildlife and us humans too.

The Beavers

Episode 21 finds us at an uplifting event surrounded by a hundred young people: a youth rewilding summit held at Knepp in September in collaboration with Heal Rewilding and Young Wilders. The event was created by young people to connect and inspire other young people with a passion for rewilding, and to give the next generation of rewilders a platform and an opportunity to drive change. Join us to hear more about the day from the brilliant people who organised it, and some of the enthusiastic bunch who came along for the day.

Episode 21 finds us at an uplifting event surrounded by a hundred young people: a youth rewilding summit held at Knepp in September in collaboration with Heal Rewilding and Young Wilders.  The event was created by young people to connect and inspire other young people with a passion for rewilding, and to give the next generation of rewilders a platform and an opportunity to drive change. Join us to hear more about the day from the brilliant people who organised it, and some of the enthusiastic bunch who came along for the day.

The Youth Rewilding Summit

Episode 20 takes us on an early morning mission to catch a Cuckoo or two with the brilliant Lee Barber, from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). With a special net configuration and lure set up to entice the birds in, we waited like coiled springs to jump in to action if we saw one come into the nets. Tune in to hear if we were successful (we may have struck lucky otherwise this would have been a very short podcast!) and to learn more about this African migrant’s story, and why satellite tagging contributes to integral research to learn more about why these long-distance migrants are facing difficulty on their journeys.

Episode 20 takes us on an early morning mission to catch a Cuckoo or two with the brilliant Lee Barber, from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). With a special net configuration and lure set up to entice the birds in, we waited like coiled springs to jump in to action if we saw one come into the nets.  Tune in to hear if we were successful (we may have struck lucky otherwise this would have been a very short podcast!) and to learn more about this African migrant’s story, and why satellite tagging contributes to integral research to learn more about why these long-distance migrants are facing difficulty on their journeys.

The Cuckoo

Episode 19 finds us in a newly rewilded location at Knepp – the garden! Charlie Harpur, Suzi Turner and Moy Fierheller are our keystone species, or garden team, in the 1.3-acre Victorian walled garden and have kick-started natural processes to make the garden more sustainable and buzz with biodiversity. We talk about how this horticultural experiment is challenging traditional gardening and how we can all do something to rewild our gardens and window boxes too.

Episode 19 finds us in a newly rewilded location at Knepp – the garden! Charlie Harpur, Suzi Turner and Moy Fierheller are our keystone species, or garden team, in the 1.3-acre Victorian walled garden and have kick-started natural processes to make the garden more sustainable and buzz with biodiversity. We talk about how this horticultural experiment is challenging traditional gardening and how we can all do something to rewild our gardens and window boxes too.

The Rewilded Garden

It’s episode 18 so it’s about time we go underground, delving well below the surface to unearth the life cycle of a rather brilliant ecosystem engineer: the earthworm. We join a survey session at Knepp with four brilliant scientists: Emma Sherlock from the Natural History Museum, Inez Januszczak and Chris Fletcher from the Darwin Tree of Life Project, and Keiron Brown from the Field Studies Council. They teach us about the different groups, or eco-types, of worms; how they recover in rewilded landscapes; and how they are quite picky when on the look-out for a mate. 

It’s episode 18 so it’s about time we go underground, delving well below the surface to unearth the life cycle of a rather brilliant ecosystem engineer: the earthworm. We join a survey session at Knepp with four brilliant scientists: Emma Sherlock from the Natural History Museum, Inez Januszczak and Chris Fletcher from the Darwin Tree of Life Project, and Keiron Brown from the Field Studies Council. They teach us about the different groups, or eco-types, of worms; how they recover in rewilded landscapes; and how they are quite picky when on the look-out for a mate.

The Earthworm

Episode 17 takes me and my brilliant team-mate, Ivan de Klee, outside of the Knepp Estate boundaries. Ivan is our rainbow chaser and helps us imagine what a wilder landscape might look like as we explore the idea of the Weald to Waves corridor. We talk about how such collaborative landscape scale projects, and new rewilding projects, could be funded by new agri-environment schemes, biodiversity net gain and carbon sequestration – and how these markets might work. Ivan explains what natural capital is and how rewarding landowners for ecosystem services, such a biodiversity and soil restoration, could pave the future for nature conservation in the UK. 

Episode 17 takes me and my brilliant team-mate, Ivan de Klee, outside of the Knepp Estate boundaries. Ivan is our rainbow chaser and helps us imagine what a wilder landscape might look like as we explore the idea of the Weald to Waves corridor. We talk about how such collaborative landscape scale projects, and new rewilding projects, could be funded by new agri-environment schemes, biodiversity net gain and carbon sequestration – and how these markets might work. Ivan explains what natural capital is and how rewarding landowners for ecosystem services, such a biodiversity and soil restoration, could pave the future for nature conservation in the UK.

The Rainbow Chaser

Isabella Tree

Isabella Tree is joint owner of Knepp, and author of the best-seller Wilding book, and has been a long-awaited guest on the podcast. In episode 16 Issy and I go for a lovely wintery walk and chinwag in the scrubland, where we talk about the importance of scrub for wildlife. We explore many facets of the scrub, including the influence of the large herbivores, ‘Vera’ oak saplings, the role of the Jay and what the Knepp landscape might look like in the future. The hot topic of tree-planting comes up, as does the local development that’s been proposed on Knepp’s neighbouring land.

Isabella Tree is joint owner of Knepp, and author of the best-seller Wilding book, and has been a long-awaited guest on the podcast. In episode 16 Issy and I go for a lovely wintery walk and chinwag in the scrubland, where we talk about the importance of scrub for wildlife. We explore many facets of the scrub, including the influence of the large herbivores, ‘Vera’ oak saplings, the role of the Jay and what the Knepp landscape might look like in the future. The hot topic of tree-planting comes up, as does the local development that’s been proposed on Knepp’s neighbouring land.

The Scrubland with Isabella Tree

Join Knepp ecologist, Penny Green, and experience some of the wildlife wonders encountered, the secrets uncovered and the remarkable people who are part of the Knepp Wildland project.

It’s episode 15 and we’re exploring a different part of the Knepp Estate! Join me as I find out more about our new regenerative farm from farm manager Russ Carrington. We visit the grazing herd of Sussex cattle, learn about mob-grazing and NoFence collars, and talk about the plans for this exciting new venture, sitting alongside the Knepp Rewilding Project. 

It’s episode 15 and we’re exploring a different part of the Knepp Estate! Join me as I find out more about our new regenerative farm from farm manager Russ Carrington. We visit the grazing herd of Sussex cattle, learn about mob-grazing and NoFence collars, and talk about the plans for this exciting new venture, sitting alongside the Knepp Rewilding Project.

The Regenerative Farm

Join Matt Wainhouse, Geoff Liddell and myself for episode 14, as we take a deep dive in to one of Knepp’s magnificent oak trees. Matt is carrying out research on the heart-rot communities found in oak to get an idea of how communities of fungi assemble in living trees, and try to relate this to their function as ecosystem engineers. With the aid of a tree-corer, and Matt’s in-depth knowledge, we learn a lot more about what’s going on with fungi inside the tree, and not just from the fruiting bodies on the outside of the tree. Apologies for the mobile phone interference in the middle of the podcast.

Join Matt Wainhouse, Geoff Liddell and myself for episode 14, as we take a deep dive in to one of Knepp’s magnificent oak trees. Matt is carrying out research on the heart-rot communities found in oak to get an idea of how communities of fungi assemble in living trees, and try to relate this to their function as ecosystem engineers. With the aid of a tree-corer, and Matt’s in-depth knowledge, we learn a lot more about what’s going on with fungi inside the tree, and not just from the fruiting bodies on the outside of the tree. Apologies for the mobile phone interference in the middle of the podcast.

The Tree-corer

Episode 13 finds us at Knepp Wildland at dawn, which is a pretty early start in the middle of May! I’m joined by Sideshow Dave to find some of the star songsters of the Wildland. We listen out for our iconic bird species and enjoy listening to their songs, we talk about some of the successes of the scrub but also some of the bird species we are now missing from our landscape and what sounds they would have bought to the dawn chorus in the past.

Episode 13 finds us at Knepp Wildland at dawn, which is a pretty early start in the middle of May! I’m joined by Sideshow Dave to find some of the star songsters of the Wildland. We listen out for our iconic bird species and enjoy listening to their songs, we talk about some of the successes of the scrub but also some of the bird species we are now missing from our landscape and what sounds they would have bought to the dawn chorus in the past.

The Dawn Chorus

Episode 12 is a bonus episode with Matthew Oates, we take the opportunity to have a catch-up about the forthcoming Purple Emperor season, weird weather and what our summer butterfly season might look like!This podcast wouldn’t have been possible without the support of some very talented people so many thanks go to: Lia Brazier for the beautiful artwork, Mat Davidson for the wonderful music and the fantastic Ian Bunn for his patient editing skills. For more information about Matthew and his publications please take a look at his websiteFollow Matthew on Twitter @MatthewOates76

Episode 12 is a bonus episode with Matthew Oates, we take the opportunity to have a catch-up about the forthcoming Purple Emperor season, weird weather and what our summer butterfly season might look like!This podcast wouldn’t have been possible without the support of some very talented people so many thanks go to: <a href="https://www.liabrazier.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Lia Brazier</a> for the beautiful artwork, <a href="http://www.matdavidson.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mat Davidson</a> for the wonderful music and the fantastic Ian Bunn for his patient editing skills. For more information about Matthew and his publications please take a look at his <a href="http://www.matthew-oates.co.uk/home/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">website</a>Follow Matthew on Twitter @MatthewOates76

The Purple Emperor Update

Episode 11 finds us on a bright spring day sitting by a stream with Matthew Oates. Matthew, a remarkable field naturalist and author, has spent his lockdown winter dreaming of springtime at Knepp and the first glimpse he might have of the exotic-looking orange-tip butterfly. We talk about this heart-lifting harbinger of spring, its life-cycle and foodplants, and why Matthew would pick the orange-tip over gramophone records as a desert island companion.This podcast wouldn’t have been possible without the support of some very talented people so many thanks go to: Lia Brazier for the beautiful artwork, Mat Davidson for the wonderful music and the fantastic Ian Bunn for his patient editing skills. 

Episode 11 finds us on a bright spring day sitting by a stream with Matthew Oates. Matthew, a remarkable field naturalist and author, has spent his lockdown winter dreaming of springtime at Knepp and the first glimpse he might have of the exotic-looking orange-tip butterfly. We talk about this heart-lifting harbinger of spring, its life-cycle and foodplants, and why Matthew would pick the orange-tip over gramophone records as a desert island companion.This podcast wouldn’t have been possible without the support of some very talented people so many thanks go to: <a href="https://www.liabrazier.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Lia Brazier</a> for the beautiful artwork, <a href="http://www.matdavidson.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mat Davidson</a> for the wonderful music and the fantastic Ian Bunn for his patient editing skills.

The Orange-tip

Episode 10 finds us in the rewilding project at springtime during our old English longhorn cattle calving season, with Knepp’s splendid stockman, Patrick Toe. We discuss everything from habitat creation and animal behaviour to dung, cattle round-ups and animal health. And Pat’s desire for a big ship’s bell.Tune in on your usual podcast platform or via our website: https://knepp.co.uk/knepp-wildland-podcastHuge thanks go to Pat for taking time out of his busy calving season to talk to us about his beloved herds. This podcast wouldn’t have been possible without the support of some very talented people so many thanks go to: Lia Brazier for the beautiful artwork, Mat Davidson for the wonderful music and the fantastic Ian Bunn for his patient editing skills. And many thanks, as always, go to Sideshow Dave for his ideas, support and ongoing enthusiasm!

Episode 10 finds us in the rewilding project at springtime during our old English longhorn cattle calving season, with Knepp’s splendid stockman, Patrick Toe. We discuss everything from habitat creation and animal behaviour to dung, cattle round-ups and animal health. And Pat’s desire for a big ship’s bell. Tune in on your usual podcast platform or via our website: <a href="https://knepp.co.uk/knepp-wildland-podcast" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://knepp.co.uk/knepp-wildland-podcast</a>Huge thanks go to Pat for taking time out of his busy calving season to talk to us about his beloved herds. This podcast wouldn’t have been possible without the support of some very talented people so many thanks go to: <a href="https://www.liabrazier.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Lia Brazier</a> for the beautiful artwork, <a href="http://www.matdavidson.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mat Davidson</a> for the wonderful music and the fantastic Ian Bunn for his patient editing skills. And many thanks, as always, go to Sideshow Dave for his ideas, support and ongoing enthusiasm!

The Stockman

Episode 9 brings us something a little bit different to usual as we meet an incredibly wild musician! Richard Durrant has drawn inspiration from Knepp and his love of nature to create his latest album ‘Rewilding’ which includes bird song recorded at Knepp. It all started with a duet between Richard, playing his 5,000-year-old bog oak guitar, and a nightingale in a Knepp hedgerow and has resulted in a beautiful album which celebrates the return of nature both above and below ground.Tune in on your usual podcast platform or via our website: https://knepp.co.uk/knepp-wildland-podcastThis podcast wouldn’t have been possible without the support of some very talented people so many thanks go to: Lia Brazier for the beautiful podcast artwork, Richard Durrant for his wonderful music (including the intro/outro music) and the fantastic Ian Bunn for his super editing skills.

Episode 9 brings us something a little bit different to usual as we meet an incredibly wild musician! Richard Durrant has drawn inspiration from Knepp and his love of nature to create his latest album ‘Rewilding’ which includes bird song recorded at Knepp. It all started with a duet between Richard, playing his 5,000-year-old bog oak guitar, and a nightingale in a Knepp hedgerow and has resulted in a beautiful album which celebrates the return of nature both above and below ground.Tune in on your usual podcast platform or via our website: <a href="https://knepp.co.uk/knepp-wildland-podcast" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://knepp.co.uk/knepp-wildland-podcast</a>This podcast wouldn’t have been possible without the support of some very talented people so many thanks go to: <a href="https://www.liabrazier.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Lia Brazier</a> for the beautiful podcast artwork, <a href="https://www.richarddurrant.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Richard Durrant </a>for his wonderful music (including the intro/outro music) and the fantastic Ian Bunn for his super editing skills.

The Musician

It's Episode 8 and I’m joined by Side-show Dave! We go ringing at a noisy redwing roost in the Wildland scrub, and back at home we enjoy a glass of wine and reflect on some of the marvellous wildlife encounters we've had at Knepp in 2020. Tune in for a relaxing bit of blethering as we take stock of the crazy year that was 2020 and share how Knepp provided an oasis in our landscape for wildlife and people alike.Tune in on your usual podcast platform or via our website:https://knepp.co.uk/knepp-wildland-podcastThis podcast wouldn’t have been possible without the support of some very talented people so many thanks go to: Lia Brazier for the beautiful artwork, Mat Davidson for the wonderful music and the fantastic Ian Bunn for his super editing skills.

It's Episode 8 and I’m joined by Side-show Dave! We go ringing at a noisy redwing roost in the Wildland scrub, and back at home we enjoy a glass of wine and reflect on some of the marvellous wildlife encounters we've had at Knepp in 2020. Tune in for a relaxing bit of blethering as we take stock of the crazy year that was 2020 and share how Knepp provided an oasis in our landscape for wildlife and people alike.Tune in on your usual podcast platform or via our website: <a href="https://knepp.co.uk/knepp-wildland-podcast" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://knepp.co.uk/knepp-wildland-podcast</a>This podcast wouldn’t have been possible without the support of some very talented people so many thanks go to: <a href="https://www.liabrazier.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Lia Brazier</a> for the beautiful artwork, <a href="http://www.matdavidson.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mat Davidson</a> for the wonderful music and the fantastic Ian Bunn for his super editing skills.

The Lock-down Round-up

Episode 7 takes us back in time as we learn about fallow deer: what their ancestors would have looked like and how they would have behaved. We also enjoy some of the sounds that we hear at Knepp Wildland during present day, as we take a front row seat at the deer rut lek, a display ground where the bucks (males) show off their impressive bellowing and scenting to onlooking does (females). We watch the deer in the woodland through a thermal imaging camera to see what they’re really getting up to when we can’t see them..Many thanks to Mollie Mills for sharing her experience of paleobiology, Darren Rolfe for his knowledge about the Knepp fallow deer and to Sideshow Dave for his technical support and enthusiasm for exploring nature in unusual ways…This podcast wouldn’t have been possible without the support of some very talented people so many thanks go to: Lia Brazier for the beautiful artwork, Mat Davidson for the wonderful music and the fantastic Ian Bunn for his patient editing skills.

Episode 7 takes us back in time as we learn about fallow deer: what their ancestors would have looked like and how they would have behaved. We also enjoy some of the sounds that we hear at Knepp Wildland during present day, as we take a front row seat at the deer rut lek, a display ground where the bucks (males) show off their impressive bellowing and scenting to onlooking does (females). We watch the deer in the woodland through a thermal imaging camera to see what they’re really getting up to when we can’t see them..Many thanks to Mollie Mills for sharing her experience of paleobiology, Darren Rolfe for his knowledge about the Knepp fallow deer and to Sideshow Dave for his technical support and enthusiasm for exploring nature in unusual ways…This podcast wouldn’t have been possible without the support of some very talented people so many thanks go to: <a href="https://www.liabrazier.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Lia Brazier</a> for the beautiful artwork, <a href="http://www.matdavidson.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mat Davidson</a> for the wonderful music and the fantastic Ian Bunn for his patient editing skills.

The Fallow Deer

Our sixth episode is dedicated to some of the world’s most wonderful ecosystem engineers: dung beetles. As well as being funky little insects they punch well above their weight in the ecosystem services they provide. I join scarab fanatics Darren &amp; Ceri Mann as they delve in to some Knepp dung, and chat to Rob Howe, a livestock vet who is working with farmers to promote healthy on-farm ecology through the power of dung beetles.To keep up to date with dung beetle news check out the British Scarabs websiteThis podcast wouldn’t have been possible without the support of some very talented people so many thanks go to: Lia Brazier for the beautiful artwork, Mat Davidson for the wonderful music and the fantastic Ian Bunn for his patient editing skills.

Our sixth episode is dedicated to some of the world’s most wonderful ecosystem engineers: dung beetles. As well as being funky little insects they punch well above their weight in the ecosystem services they provide. I join scarab fanatics Darren &amp; Ceri Mann as they delve in to some Knepp dung, and chat to Rob Howe, a livestock vet who is working with farmers to promote healthy on-farm ecology through the power of dung beetles.To keep up to date with dung beetle news check out the <a href="https://britishscarabs.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">British Scarabs website</a>This podcast wouldn’t have been possible without the support of some very talented people so many thanks go to: <a href="https://www.liabrazier.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Lia Brazier</a> for the beautiful artwork, <a href="http://www.matdavidson.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mat Davidson</a> for the wonderful music and the fantastic Ian Bunn for his patient editing skills.

The Dung Beetles

The Knepp Wildland Podcast

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