**Longlisted for the 2019 Wainwright Golden Beer Book Prize for Nature Writing/b>b>/b>b>'A passionately personal, robustly argued and uplifting book . . . One of the landmark ecological books of the decade.' Sunday Times 'Books of the Year'/b>In Wilding, Isabella Tree tells the story of the 'Knepp experiment', a pioneering rewilding project in West Sussex, using free-roaming grazing animals to create new habitats for wildlife. Part gripping memoir, part fascinating account of the ecology of our countryside, Wilding is, above all, an inspiring story of hope.Forced to accept that intensive farming on the heavy clay of their land at Knepp was economically unsustainable, Isabella Tree and her husband Charlie Burrell made a spectacular leap of faith: they decided to step back and let nature take over. Thanks to the introduction of free-roaming cattle, ponies, pigs and deer - proxies of the large animals that once roamed Britain - the 3,500 acre project has seen extraordinary increases in wildlife numbers and diversity in little over a decade.Extremely rare species, including turtle doves, nightingales, peregrine falcons, lesser spotted woodpeckers and purple emperor butterflies, are now breeding at Knepp, and populations of other species are rocketing. The Burrells' degraded agricultural land has become a functioning ecosystem again, heaving with life - all by itself.Personal and inspirational, Wilding is an astonishing account of the beauty and strength of nature, when it is given as much freedom as possible.

This inspiring and encouraging book demonstrates how nature can shake off the ravages of industrial farming and heal itself.

Vorwort
Wilding tells the story of a remarkable experiment: the rewilding of the Knepp Estate in West Sussex, the restoration of natural ecological processes, and the stunning recovery of flora and fauna.

Autorentext
Isabella Tree is an award-winning author, travel writer, and manager of the the Knepp Wildland Project, together with her husband Charlie. She is the author of several books, including Wilding, The Living Goddess and The Bird Man.

Klappentext

**'A poignant, practical and moving story of how to fix our broken land, this should be conservation's salvation; this should be its future; this is a new hope' - Chris Packham

Winner of the Richard Jefferies Society / White Horse Book Shop Award for Nature Writing**

In Wilding, Isabella Tree tells the story of the 'Knepp experiment', a pioneering rewilding project in West Sussex, using free-roaming grazing animals to create new habitats for wildlife.

Part gripping memoir, part fascinating account of the ecology of our countryside, Wilding is, above all, an inspiring story of hope.

**Highly Commended by the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing

'One of the landmark ecological books of the decade' - The Sunday Times**

Inhalt

Section - i: Timeline Section - ii: Map of the Knepp estate Introduction - iii: Introduction Chapter - 1: Meeting a Remarkable Man under a Remarkable Tree Chapter - 2: At Odds with Everything Chapter - 3: The Serengeti Effect Chapter - 4: The Secret of Grazing Animals Chapter - 5: A World of Wood Pasture Chapter - 6: Wild Ponies, Pigs and Longhorn Cattle Chapter - 7: Creating a Mess Chapter - 8: Living with the Yellow Peril Chapter - 9: Painted Ladies and the Perfect Storm Chapter - 10: Purple Emperors Chapter - 11: Nightingales Chapter - 12: Turtle Doves Chapter - 13: Rewilding the River Chapter - 14: Bringing Back the Beaver Chapter - 15: Pasture-fed Chapter - 16: Rewilding the Soil Chapter - 17: The Value of Nature Section - iv: Appendix: Knepp Wildland Advisory Board Section - v: Sources Section - vi: Bibliography Acknowledgements - vii: Acknowledgements Index - viii: Index Section - ix: List of Illustrations