The Knepp Wilding Podcast

It’s episode 34 of the Knepp Wildland Podcast and we return to the White Stork Project, five years on, to hear the latest news with White Stork Project Manager, Laura Vaughan-Hirsch.

We tune in to the live stork nest camera to check in on Ania and Bartek, a breeding pair bonded since 2020. We talk about this year’s nests and meet up with long-serving volunteer Silla to hear about what she does for the project and what the project means to her. We have a wander around the pen to visit some of the rehabilitated storks’ ingenious ground nests and Laura brings us up to speed on all the exciting news including the first successful return of a migrant bird and an announcement about the forthcoming inaugural Storrington White Stork and Nature Revival Festival, coming up in May 2025.

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In episode 33 of the Knepp Wildland Podcast we meet Knepp’s brilliant new Lead Ecologist, Matt Phelps. We chat about the exciting news, released just a few hours before, of wild release licencing for beavers and how this might affect the Knepp beaver family. 

We discuss the abundance of Hawfinch here over the winter and speculate what opportunities are made available to them by the habitat that's emerged from the rewilding here at Knepp. 

As spring approaches, we talk about ongoing and upcoming surveys and how this has got Matt eager and ready to leap into the season ahead.

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It's episode 32 and we’re joined by Tom Burns, Knepp’s marvellous ranger and woodsman.

We learn what Tom gets up to in his daily work at the Knepp Rewilding Project - everything from managing the huge team of fab volunteers to managing the public rights of way across the estate. Not to mention collecting stork nesting materials from the coppice!
 
We spend most of our time, however, discussing Tom's main passion and that is trees - ancient and veteran ones in particular, and why Knepp is so special for these old giants. 

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Episode 31 is a short n’ sweet one which sees the return of Dr Matt Wainhouse to Knepp, in his exciting role as Natural England’s Fungi and Lichen Senior Specialist. We’re also joined by Tom Burns, Knepp’s fantastic ranger and woodsman.

We catch up with Matt about the findings from his tree-coring project at Knepp back in 2021 (check out episode 14) and also learn about a new project that he’s trialling at the moment. 
 
We join Matt whilst he’s fitting some curious wooden boxes to some of our oaks. The boxes have been filled with sawdust that’s inoculated with different rot fungi to provide a rot-hole habitat to lure in saproxylic (deadwood) insects – these are some of our rarest insects. The contents will be sampled in the autumn and DNA analysis will show what’s been utilising the boxes.

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It's episode 30 so it's time for a beaver project update! We’re joined again by national beaver specialist, and all-round good egg, Mark Elliott.

We talk about the progress of the Knepp beaver enclosure and its hard-working inhabitants, and what they've been up to since our last beaver podcast back in November 2022. Following a very wet winter and spring the robust beaver dams are holding up well and are helping to store a huge amount of water, slowing the flow in heavy rainfall events.

We explore what's happening nationally and the big decisions that need to be made as enclosed beaver families across the country are expanding.

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It’s Episode 29 and we’re in the beaver pen with a gaggle of delightful artists who help us draw a different perspective on rewilding. 

Led by the inimitable James Ort this collective is bringing rewilding to life through different mediums – clay and metal, watercolour, pencil and oil, freestyle stitching, printmaking, needlefelt and environmental art. 

Hearing from these artists about their work, and how art in the field can heighten one’s observation of nature, is inspiring.

Make sure you get along to see their wonderful work, or join in on one of their workshops, at our forthcoming ‘Inspired by Knepp’ art exhibition during May 2024: www.knepp.co.uk/art 

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Episode 28 of the Knepp Wildland Podcast transports us far away from Knepp and into the beautifully rugged landscape of Asturias in Spain. We’re visiting stunning Wild Finca to meet a family, inspired by Knepp, making a big change on their 13-hectare landholding. They’re using local herbivore breeds, Asturcon horses and Casina cattle, to create a wildlife oasis and a place where people can be inspired to make positive changes for nature. We talk to Luke Massey about his exciting vision for this landscape, delving in to farming subsidies, wolves and education with a backdrop of croaking Nightingales, chirping crickets and the shrill call of the Black Woodpecker. 

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Episode 27 finds us in the field with Rosie Moss from the wonderful Newt Conservation Partnership and Shaun Hancox, digger-driver extraordinaire! The Partnership have been harnessing funds from developers through the NatureSpace District Licensing Scheme to create high quality habitat for Great Crested Newt, and a whole host of other wetland species. We’re delighted to have recently had 12 impressive new ponds dug at Knepp through this scheme.

Tune in to hear about the new ponds at Knepp and the importance of ponds in our landscape, and to find out more about this crucial drive for the creation of more ponds. Large or small, and in their varying degrees of succession, ponds provide an essential habitat for both wildlife to thrive in and for us to enjoy!

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Episode 26 of the Knepp Wildland Podcast takes us on the trail of Micromys minutus, the Harvest Mouse, with fellow mammal appreciators Ryan Greaves and Laurie Jackson.

Weighing in at just six grammes this tiny Biodiversity Action Plan species seems to be in good numbers at Knepp, mostly concentrated in the habitats around the wetland areas. We talk about how to find their nests, what they feed on and their speedy life cycle. Join us as we set some traps at dusk and find out what we catch!

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Join us on episode 25 where we learn about a ground-breaking microclimate project with Assistant Professor Rebecca Senior and PhD student Cameron Goodhead from Durham University.

They’re here at Knepp to investigate the microclimates provided by the complex structure of vegetation that has emerged through rewilding. A variety of remote data-loggers will be deployed in different vegetation structures and, combined with drone footage, LiDAR data and thermal images, will help to collect evidence to support nature-based solutions for climate change.

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