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All hail the humble hoverfly.

Erica McAlister, aka Queen of the Flies, is a Principal Curator at the Natural History Museum. She joins Isabella Tree in the latest episode of the Knepp Wilding Podcast.
Erica asks us to think about the entire life cycle of the insects in your garden. Young hoverflies are like ‘biological control units’ eating the aphids in gardens. So don’t just put plants out for them. They need decomposing wood, ponds and good soils.

📻Listen to Bug Life Garden on the Knepp Wilding Podcast, where you get your podcasts.

Yes, migrating birds are impressive. But what about the trillions of insects that migrate with them?

In the new podcast episode, Erica McAlister and host Isabella Tree discuss how scientists are only just discovering the astonishing ways in which insects migrate to our shores every year.

Erica is principle curator at the Natural History Museum and a devoted advocate for bugs.

📻Listen to Bug Life Garden on the Knepp Wilding Podcast, where you get your podcasts.

When we think of insects, we think of winged flying things. But most of an insect’s life is spent in the larval stage. So why aren’t we gardening for that?

In the new episode of the Knepp Wilding Podcast, Isabella Tree’s guest is Erica McAlister.

Erica, a principle curator at the Natural History Museum, is an expert – and die-hard fan - of all things insect.

📻Listen to Bug Life Garden on the Knepp Wilding Podcast, where you get your podcasts.

Nature leads the way at Knepp@kneppwildland
— and we were guided by its visionary owner, Charlie Burrell @charlieknepp

A safari and estate like no other, where bucolic landscapes are shaped by the rhythms of the wild… by birds, and by beavers.
We spent the most inspiring day on a press trip, learning about pioneering Rewilding practices, and how working with nature can help build a more sustainable future. 🌿

The story of how Charlie Burrell and his wife Isabella Tree, transformed their failing, 400-year-old Knepp Estate in West Sussex from an unprofitable industrial farm into one of Europe’s most significant #biodiversity hotspots, is a book and a documentary titled #wilding , by Isabella Tree @isabella.tree

The ethos of Knepp was brought to the table at the Michelin-starred Knepp Wilding Kitchen — where eating has never felt so deliciously guilt-free, with dishes that are seasonal, organic, and truly circular. @kneppwildingkitchen

And then we went inside Knepp’s walled garden where “weeds” are the unlikely heroes — an essential part of the complexity and beauty of true wilderness, as Ecosystem Engineer, @charlie.harpur explained.

Thank you all and @annahford for having the FPA!
@maassbirgit @lostinthehomecounties @fzaffari @francescalombardo_author @zangaroantonella @joostdobber @giorgiascaturro

KneppEstate #Rewilding #restoringnature #SustainableFood NatureRecovery PressTrip

Water violets at their best.

Choose our future 🌍🦅

What if we could revive our landscape? Bring back once-native animals, breathe life into meandering rivers, and farm the soils in a way which feeds them?

We can expand rewilding hotspots and connect them - creating corridors that allow nature to move, adapt and recover. We can restore hedgerows into continuous, living networks. We can support free-roaming animals that shape and diversify habitats. And we can work with farmers to produce food while restoring the health of the land.
A landscape that is safe, prosperous and full of life is achievable.

The future is in our hands - Happy World Rewilding Day.

Narration by @isabella.tree
Illustration by @helmerjeroen
Animation by Dave Tarit

#worldrewildingday
#chooseourfuture

The main takeaways from our Wilding Gardens conference in Manchester. Incredible event, amazing speakers, inspirational ideas, so many people doing stuff, wonderful feedback and feeling like the start of a movement @kneppwildland @wildinggardens

Isabella Tree was interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme talking about the huge increase in biodiversity at Knepp in the last two decades. A new survey has shown a 900% increase in breeding birds and a 500% increase in nightingales since rewilding began.

SOUND ON to listen to Isabella Tree’s interview from Monday 12 January.

🎥 Open Planet, Charlie Burrell, Matt Phelps, Anthony Cullen, Oliver Hess and Kat Dahl

Tamworths taking a break between rootling Charlie’s precious verges. (Excuse the puffing - this was the end of a run!)

Just three old gals, having a morning snooze. Wish I could join them!

25 years since we began rewilding, the pigs are still zeroing in on the verges by the drive that were never ploughed and escaped the worst of the chemicals. There’s still more earthworms and rhizomes here than in the middle of the old fields.

A comment from Charlie Burrell and Isabella Tree: "We’re desperately sad to hear about the suspicious disappearance of a juvenile white-tailed eagle – one of the first to fledge in West Sussex for hundreds of years.

"Its satellite tracker had been cut off and thrown into the River Rother, near Harting Down and Petersfield at the end of September. Sussex police are appealing for help and the RSPB have offered a reward of £10,000 for information leading to a successful prosecution.

"Knepp has been regularly visited over the last few months by one of the white-tailed eagles from the reintroduction project, run by the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation and Forestry England, based on the Isle of Wight. It roosts overnight here and coasts over Knepp Lake looking for fish. It’s an absolute thrill to see this majestic bird that was once plentiful along the whole of the south coast.

"We hope one day it might be tempted to nest here. To think its fate might lie in the hands of individuals in our own county who would shoot it if they see it, is absolutely devastating. At this stage of a reintroduction every bird is precious. It would be a tragedy if these criminals aren’t caught and their actions continue to jeopardise the return of one of our most beautiful and iconic lost species."

The missing chick is the one on the left of the second image.

Sussex police are appealing for information from anyone who was in or around Harting Down and Petersfield on the evening of 20 September 2025. Any members of the public who may have seen the bird or any suspicious behaviour can contact them on 101 or 0800 555 111 quoting incident number 769.

📸Mike Jerome (1), Forestry England (2), Ainsley Bennett (3)

A comment from Charlie Burrell and Isabella Tree: "We’re desperately sad to hear about the suspicious disappearance of a juvenile white-tailed eagle – one of the first to fledge in West Sussex for hundreds of years.

"Its satellite tracker had been cut off and thrown into the River Rother, near Harting Down and Petersfield at the end of September. Sussex police are appealing for help and the RSPB have offered a reward of £10,000 for information leading to a successful prosecution.

"Knepp has been regularly visited over the last few months by one of the white-tailed eagles from the reintroduction project, run by the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation and Forestry England, based on the Isle of Wight. It roosts overnight here and coasts over Knepp Lake looking for fish. It’s an absolute thrill to see this majestic bird that was once plentiful along the whole of the south coast.

"We hope one day it might be tempted to nest here. To think its fate might lie in the hands of individuals in our own county who would shoot it if they see it, is absolutely devastating. At this stage of a reintroduction every bird is precious. It would be a tragedy if these criminals aren’t caught and their actions continue to jeopardise the return of one of our most beautiful and iconic lost species."

The missing chick is the one on the left of the second image.

Sussex police are appealing for information from anyone who was in or around Harting Down and Petersfield on the evening of 20 September 2025. Any members of the public who may have seen the bird or any suspicious behaviour can contact them on 101 or 0800 555 111 quoting incident number 769.

📸Mike Jerome (1), Forestry England (2), Ainsley Bennett (3)

A comment from Charlie Burrell and Isabella Tree: "We’re desperately sad to hear about the suspicious disappearance of a juvenile white-tailed eagle – one of the first to fledge in West Sussex for hundreds of years.

"Its satellite tracker had been cut off and thrown into the River Rother, near Harting Down and Petersfield at the end of September. Sussex police are appealing for help and the RSPB have offered a reward of £10,000 for information leading to a successful prosecution.

"Knepp has been regularly visited over the last few months by one of the white-tailed eagles from the reintroduction project, run by the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation and Forestry England, based on the Isle of Wight. It roosts overnight here and coasts over Knepp Lake looking for fish. It’s an absolute thrill to see this majestic bird that was once plentiful along the whole of the south coast.

"We hope one day it might be tempted to nest here. To think its fate might lie in the hands of individuals in our own county who would shoot it if they see it, is absolutely devastating. At this stage of a reintroduction every bird is precious. It would be a tragedy if these criminals aren’t caught and their actions continue to jeopardise the return of one of our most beautiful and iconic lost species."

The missing chick is the one on the left of the second image.

Sussex police are appealing for information from anyone who was in or around Harting Down and Petersfield on the evening of 20 September 2025. Any members of the public who may have seen the bird or any suspicious behaviour can contact them on 101 or 0800 555 111 quoting incident number 769.

📸Mike Jerome (1), Forestry England (2), Ainsley Bennett (3)