Unforgettable Encounters at Knepp

Seeing a stag in the wild for the first time was a moment filled with an overwhelming sense of awe. The opening in the shrubbery revealed the stag with its towering antlers, intricately branched like a crown. Each step, deliberate and graceful, moved the stag silently through the forest. Its presence feels commanding, almost mythical. Time seemed to slow, and I felt connected to the natural world. In the next moment, the stag bolted away, disappearing into the trees just as unexpectedly as it arrived.

Operation Wallacea’s site at the Knepp Estate transported me to a different world. From shimmering snakes to soaring white storks, the week revealed a myriad of species I had never seen before, despite living in the UK my entire life. The road along to Knepp appeared to be a classic English countryside road, with neat hedgerows and identical fields. While the Knepp Estate was once one of these typical farms, it is now a mosaic of forests, scrublands, grasslands, and meandering water bodies.

The word ecology derives from the Greek words ‘oikos’ meaning ‘house’ and ‘logos’ meaning ‘the study of’, emphasising the relationship between organisms and the environment, their ‘home’. The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, where wildlife is disappearing before our eyes. Nevertheless, the project at Knepp demonstrates how by stepping back and allowing natural processes to take back control, flora and fauna can regain a home there. It has even become a refuge for many endangered species such as nightingales, turtle doves, and purple emperor butterflies.

The project puts into practice some of the ideas of the Dutch ecologist, Frans Vera, to ‘rewild the land’ by turning a failing agricultural land into a thriving home for wildlife. Vera proposed that prehistoric Europe would have been a mosaic of habitats rather than a closed canopy forest, with large herbivores creating disturbance by grazing and trampling. This prevents some vegetation from turning into woodland and leaving open areas. Stepping into Knepp was like being taken back in time, as English longhorn cattle, Exmoor ponies, red and fallow deer, and Tamworth pigs act as proxies for extinct or absent wild species like the aurochs, wild horses and wild boar.

Photo by Ashvi Daia

Each day was packed with a deep dive into an element of nature: birds, insects, mammals, plants, bats, and reptiles, including ways to gather data on them. Everything about the week was exciting, from sucking flies into a tube and carefully pinning them to send to the Natural History Museum, to seeing young white storks released to join a flock before they embark on their migration to Sub-Saharan Africa. Even more fascinating was learning about their wider role in the ecosystem: pollination and insect control from bats, jays distributing oak seeds as they sometimes forget some of the acorns they’ve cached for the winter, and beavers improving water quality.

The week inspired me to learn more about the wildlife on my doorstep, which is just as fascinating as that in the Amazon rainforest or African Savana. It was uplifting being surrounded by passionate people, both staff and fellow research assistants, who shared their knowledge and were motivated to make a difference to nature. Ultimately, the week also gave me hope. In a time when we are bombarded by news of the ever-increasing threats facing the planet, projects like Knepp are doing crucial and innovative work to bring biodiversity back.

Title photo by Jack Hague