Latest news with #KneppEstate
The Independent
a day ago
- Science
- The Independent
Return of white storks to the UK described as 'emblem' for nature recovery
White storks, once common in Britain, disappeared centuries ago due to hunting and habitat loss, but conservationists are working to reintroduce them. A reintroduction project in southern England, started in 2016, uses rescued storks to establish breeding colonies and attract wild birds. The Knepp Estate in West Sussex, which has been "rewilded" since 2000, provides a habitat where storks thrive due to healthy soils, diverse insect life, and suitable nesting trees. The first chicks were born in 2020, and in 2024, at least six birds born at Knepp returned from migration to nest in the colony, indicating a healthy ecosystem. The success at Knepp demonstrates that habitat restoration can lead to the return of species, with white storks serving as an "emblem for nature recovery" and positively impacting other wildlife.
The Independent
2 days ago
- General
- The Independent
Conservationists celebrate as long-vanished bird returns to the UK
Conservationists have hailed the white stork as "an emblem for nature recovery" as they work to reintroduce the long-vanished breeding bird to the UK. Once a common sight in Britain, with their large nests adorning rooftops, buildings, and trees, the birds disappeared centuries ago due to hunting and habitat loss. While migratory storks still visit from the continent, conservationists say that the lack of existing colonies prevents them from settling to breed. Since 2016, a reintroduction project in southern England has been underway, aiming to establish new colonies using rehabilitated injured storks. These colonies are intended to act as a "magnet," attracting other wild birds to settle and breed. The scheme has enabled a wild population of breeding storks re-establish itself for the first time in centuries and delivered unexpected benefits for other birds and wildlife, conservationists say. The white stork project uses rescued non-flying birds from Warsaw Zoo, Poland, some of which are kept at Cotswold Wildlife Park where they breed, with their young released from Knepp Estate, in West Sussex and Wadhurst Park in East Sussex, to encourage them to come back there to nest. Other Polish birds, some of which have injuries that mean they can fly short distances but not migrate, live in or around pens on the estates, breeding and establishing the founding colonies that will attract other storks. At Knepp, the storks are in a landscape that has been 'rewilded' since 2000, with former agricultural land turned over to natural processes using animals including longhorn cattle, red and fallow deer and pigs, whose grazing and foraging help create a mosaic of scrub, disturbed ground and grassland. There are also areas of woodland, the river has been restored to a more natural state and in just a few years, beavers in an enclosure have turned a small stream into wetlands rich in dragonflies, damselflies and other insects. Walking through the scrub and grassland punctuated by large trees, it is hard to miss the metre-tall storks soaring through the skies or stalking through the grass, while the distinctive bill 'clattering' they make echoes through the landscape. White stork project officer Laura Vaughan-Hirsch said they 'love it' at Knepp, where the rewilding process has created healthy soils and habitat and an abundance and diversity of insect life. While they are primarily wetland birds, 'they love mixed habitats, grasslands, woodlands and lovely big trees to nest in, anything that's insect-rich, worm-rich, that's their thing', she said. The first chicks were born to birds nesting in the trees in 2020, and non-flying storks produced their first young in ground nests in the fox-proof enclosure in 2023. This year Ms Vaughan-Hirsch said at least six birds born at Knepp have returned after an annual migration to Africa to nest in the colony, including one who has set up home in the same tree as her parents, and has been stealing nesting material from them. The team are expecting around 40 fledglings in 2025, including youngsters from the ground-nesting storks which are hand-fed pieces of fish to supplement food their parents can source in the pen. The storks' success at Knepp shows that 'sort the habitat out, the soils, insects, healthy water systems, and then your storks will come eventually,' she said. 'We all see the white stork as a big charismatic species but what it really is, is an emblem for nature recovery,' she said. With each chick needing 35kg of food, such as crickets or worms, between hatching and fledging, their survival in the landscape is an indicator of how healthy the ecosystem is. And in turn the storks' nests – which can weigh up to a tonne – in trees or even on roofs attract an array of insects, while wrens, collared doves, house sparrows and, this year for the first time, blue tits have been seen nesting in the vast structures. Isabella Tree, who owns Knepp with her husband Charlie Burrell, said their impact on other species was an 'unexpected outcome' of the reintroduction. 'What are we are seeing is that even species that don't have a reputation as being keystone species have an effect on ecosystems. 'They are doing extraordinary things that we had never really known about.' And she said: 'We think we know what impact a species will have on the landscape, but how can we when our landscape is so fragmented and so depleted. The only way to find out is to try it.' It is ever more important as climate change pushes species to find new habitat to boost populations of even birds with naturally big ranges, she suggests. She said the scheme had naysayers in the beginning – including conservationists who did not think it should be attempted or would work. But she said: 'The absolute joy and excitement is that they are now flying to Morocco on migration and coming back and nesting and having chicks and interacting with wild birds and bringing wild birds back with them as pairs.' And the storks are a 'totem' for wider river catchment restoration and a way of connecting people with nature, she said. 'We have such a long relationship with these birds, from thousands of years ago, from Egyptians, and ancient Greeks and ancient Islam these birds have been cherished, and they're somehow in our DNA. 'We recognise ourselves in them, they kind of walk like us, they look like brigadiers on a parade ground when they're walking across the fields, and when they're flying they look like pterodactyls,' she said. Further projects to reintroduce storks are under way in Cornwall and Devon. And at Knepp it is hoped the birds will spread out from the estate and start nesting away from the current colony, raising the possibility that, in some areas at least, they will become a familiar sight in the skies, trees and on rooftops again.
ABC News
27-05-2025
- Health
- ABC News
Wilding, based on Isabella Tree's book, shows how one failing farm tried something new, and changed everything
In a tiny corner of southern England, there's a small pocket of paradise. There's not a hedge or lawn in sight: ethereal deer wander peacefully through clouds of blossoms; dark-haired, stocky horses amble through abundant green scrub. What: A peaceful documentary about the huge successes of an enormous rewilding project on English farming land. Directed by: David Allen Starring: Isabella Tree, Charlie Burrell and a menagerie of incredible animals Likely to make you feel: Like ripping up your lawn The air is full of birdsong — even the lilting call of the turtle dove, that beloved bird from Christmas songs past, which has lost 98 per cent of its population in England and is on its way to extinction. This is Knepp Estate, a resplendent tract of land passed down through generations of a farming family to Charlie Burrell and his partner, Isabella Tree. But when they took over the farm in the late 80s, it was a muddy wreck where nothing would grow. "We're on this terrible land, heavy clay soil, 320 metres of the stuff. And, you know, in the winter, it's just like porridge," Tree explains to ABC Entertainment. "You can't get heavy machinery onto it, so you can't sow spring crops, you can't do the maintenance, you can't be competitive. No matter what we tried, we couldn't make farming work." Millions of pounds in debt and running out of options, the couple made the decision to stop farming, selling their equipment and stock. They were heartbroken. But after a fortuitous meeting, a light appeared at the end of the tunnel: they could 'rewild' Knepp estate. This spur-of-the-moment decision changed everything, as shown in a new documentary, Wilding. Rewilding can look quite different to traditional conservation, according to Doctor Sally Hawkins, a lecturer at Central Queensland University and a leading rewilding scientist and educator. Where conservation is about protecting a certain species or habitat, rewilding is about allowing nature to restore "without trying to control what it looks like". Rewilding is a step away from "colonial attitudes towards natural resources", says Dr Hawkins. Using government subsidies to fund the initial transition, the Knepp project pulled down the farm's fences and released populations of Old English longhorn cattle; Exmoor ponies and Tamworth pigs — mammals that would have roamed in this area centuries before. The animals did what machines couldn't: turned over the soil, spread around seed, created hollows and habitats that bugs and plants thrive in. When a particularly stubborn thistle threatened to take over, a breed of butterflies that hadn't been seen for years appeared in droves and ate it all. The lack of pesticides and machine ploughing allowed mycelium networks to reconnect and plants became healthier. In short, it was working. "Ironically, we used to travel the world to see nature, to see wildlife," says Tree. "We never once wondered why we didn't have it in our own backyard because of what we were doing to our landscape. Then we thought, 'My God, we might actually get nature back here.'" After only about five years, the scale of wildlife returning brought other income streams to Knepp, largely in ecotourism. They now have a restaurant, a café and a shop, and employ more than 100 people. "People often assume that rewilding is about excluding people from nature, but it's actually about bringing more people in," says Tree. "Suddenly, you've got a vibrant community. Nature has brought all this back to life. "What we didn't really anticipate was how healing it would be for us as well because we hadn't realised how stressful it had been trying to force the land to do something it didn't want to do." The damp, verdantly green world of Knepp might be light-years away from Australian wilderness but Dr Hawkins says the principles of rewilding stay the same. "There's a lot of degraded land [in Australia], whether that's been through mining or whether it's been through intensive agriculture," she explains. But what works in rural England won't fly in the Australian outback; the strategy must be adapted to what the nature here needs. We don't have native mega herbivores like they do in Europe and North America, but traditional burning practices can fill that role of disturbance, says Dr Hawkins. "In many places in Europe, we don't remember how we sustainably managed our land in the past, but here we have first-hand knowledge. So it's really a big advantage." In Australia there are already many "very valuable" protected areas, and rewilding could help connect those together across the country, creating healthy migratory corridors. Wilding, the 2018 book by Tree on which it was based, and the whole Knepp project, in its essence is about the joy of nature. The film is full of dreamlike wilderness montages and Tree's gentle but excited storytelling. It isn't wagging the finger, it's celebrating the power of change. "You know, we have what, 40, 50, harvests left? So we have to change, and we have to do that now," says Tree. She says rewilding and regenerative farming work "hand-in-glove": wild spaces threading through and alongside farmland can help make the land healthier. "It's providing the life-support system that is going to enable ourselves to feed ourselves." Dr Hawkins says while legislation is key to protecting what we still have, the rewilding process has to start from the ground up. Tree is a happy poster child for the huge impacts that small, local steps can have. "It's that old mantra, you know, 'Think globally, act locally': we can restore even the tiny ecosystem in our garden [and then] it's cooler, it holds onto moisture … and then you might notice more birds coming to your garden." There's one more point she says people should know about rewilding. "It's also tremendous fun."
