Book review
Isabella Tree and her husband, Charlie Burrell, have taken their 3,500 acres of land at Knepp Castle Estate in West Sussex, from a sprawling farm and country estate, to a “re-wilded” space, exploding with biodiversity, over the course of 17 years. Their motivation was a farming industry that was spiralling them into perpetual and accelerating debt and their shared love of nature. Wilding is an account of what they have done Knepp so far and a deep dive into our most worrying issues – from soil depletion, to climate change, food production and flood mitigation, to animal welfare and human health. But, although it gives stark insights into the imbalances that our species has brought on our planet, for every devastating reality, solutions are illustrated with beautiful simplicity and framed by the incredible successes the couple have achieved. It is a love letter to nature and a fascinating and incredibly uplifting read.
Tree writes with clarity and conviction. It is clear that she is passionate about re-wilding and yet, the book doesn’t feel like its preaching – instead, it leads the reader through the meadows and woods, along the streams and rivers and down to the microscopic level of the soil, showing, rather than telling. Before reading the book, I didn’t know much about re-wilding, but by the end of the first chapter I was already convinced that this approach is key the salvation of our planet.
Tree says “re-wilding” is, “about letting go, allowing nature to take the driving seat.” Most people have heard of the concept in the context of the re-introduction of wolves at Yellowstone National Park in America, in 1995, which led to an incredible increase in biodiversity, but there is passionate debate about the wisdom of introducing large predators in Britain. It is also reasonable to doubt the plausibility of returning the earth to the state it was in before humans interfered on a massive scale with mass-agriculture, industry and urban sprawl. That’s why the keepers of Knepp prefer the term “wilding”. The approach they have taken, in the main, is to allow nature to take over, while giving it a hand in terms of introducing large grazing animals, such as Tamworth pigs, Exmoor ponies and Fallow deer and the speed of impact is astonishing.
Every page of this book is nutrition for the soul, illustrating the interconnectedness of all life and the power of nature to restore balance. By rooting around at the edges of fields, Knepp’s pigs create clods of earth, which are colonised by ants; anthills attract birds, including woodpeckers and, warmed by the sun, provide perfect basking spots for butterflies and lizards; and the increased invertebrate activity has changed the acidity of the soil, leading to an explosion of wildflowers and grasses. There are fascinating insights into oak trees and the importance of their “mycorrhizae” - networks of fungi – which deliver nutrients and, mind-bogglingly, can communicate via chemical signals if a neighbouring plant is under attack. Since the Burrells have stopped disturbing the soil around these trees, the ancient oaks at Knepp have flourished. An historical outline of how our interference with the natural flow of water on the land is a contributory factor in the increases in flooding we are experiencing is an ah-ha moment. That beavers may be a vital part of the solution is exciting news, particularly given that, only in January this year, Knepp was given the go ahead to re-introduce the species. And that worms could be the saviours of our soil and used in the future, as “inoculators”, to restore nutrients and increase crop yields by up to a quarter, without using fertilisers, is a humbling revelation.
Humans have a long history of viewing nature as something that must be tamed and brought under control. On the macro level, this has turned our rural British landscape from what Tree proposes was a combination of closed-canopy forest and more open grasslands and heaths, to what is mostly a patchwork of agricultural land, much poorer in biodiversity. To consider that letting go of this need to control may well be the best route back from the environmental devastation we are seeing today is a great comfort. It is heartening, too, to reflect on how the principles of wilding are increasingly being applied in farms, parks and gardens all over the country.
Many farmers are starting to reinstate the fallow principle to allow soil to restore its nutrients for a year or more between periods of agricultural use and are planting additional hedgerows, essential habitats for many bird, insect and small mammal species. In parks, the aesthetic of a perfectly manicured lawn is now often abandoned in favour of areas of uncut grass and wildflowers to encourage bees. Decaying logs and insect hotels have also become a more common sight in most parks and public gardens. Knowing that our obsession with tidying up is limiting biodiversity in our gardens, should give every gardener pause and help us to realise more of a custodial role of our environment and those natural spaces over which we have domain.
For anyone with even the most rudimentary interest in the natural world, this book will thrill and inspire, fascinate and humble and ultimately enable you to interact with the natural environment with greater insight, whether in rural landscapes, or your modest back-yard. The realisation that in stepping back and allowing nature to take its course, we can enable our environments to flourish, is a most precious gift and cause for optimism in challenging times.
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