The Book of Wilding: A Practical Guide to Rewilding, Big and Small

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I learned, too, about the importance of reintroducing keystone species, ranging from pigs (as a substitute for the politically unacceptable wild boar), longhorn cattle (substituting for bison), roe and red deer, the beaver and even - perhaps especially - the humble earthworm. The explanations for the significance of these species gave a fascinating insight into animal behaviour. This book really opened my eyes even more and I learned many things despite being an ecologist and life long conservationist. The chapter on soil and worms is especially thought provoking.

The thing Tree never mentions is that her husband's family are traditional aristocrats, and the land they are rewilding is their estate. It was historically not just their productive land, but also the home of many tenant farmers. Their land is apparently shot through with roads and paths (it's unclear) maybe even houses and businesses? And as for the dog walkers, it's not just about the universal British law that anyone can traverse anybody's land whatever they want if they're taking a walk. The estate functioned as a kind of public park and event center for the whole community. On one hand, this makes what they're doing all the more valuable and interesting, but on the other hand, it casts a somewhat different light on the dynamic between them and the angry comments they get from the public. Either way, it seems like something that would have been worth explaining more explicitly, because afaik, even in the densely populated Netherlands, Oostvardersplassen was uninhabited before it was turned over to the wild animals. I'm not sure the degree of urban-rewilding integration here has a clear precedent.

Customer reviews

This beautiful book is both highly accessible and deeply practical and does a lot to break down any idea that wilding is only for those with vast wealth and large tracts of land. It should be compulsory reading for all Master Planners, landowners and gardeners as it will become a handbook for anyone seeking to create a wilder world. I love this book because it is at once humble and expansive, spiritual (with a small s) and resolutely practical. If you know anyone owning a window box or a country estate buy them this book, it will inspire them … A Bible for a new green enlightenment”— Tim Smit, co-founder of the Eden Project Evan Bowen-Jones, chief executive of KWT, said: “Knepp is an iconic project in UK conservation terms now. All these serendipitous benefits have proved the case around things like nightingales not being dependent upon coppicing.” He also noted that letting pigs roam freely had churned up the ground and allowed for goat willow, the favoured food of purple emperor caterpillars, to regrow. Five Years ago, Isabella Tree's phenomenal book Wilding started a national conversation about restoring our flat-lining landscape. The Book of Wilding, co-authored with her husband Charlie Burrell, takes that conversation to the next level. It is both brilliantly readable and incredibly hard-working, offering all of us the opportunity to get involved. Let's do it!”— Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall This book has left me distraught, hopeful, happy, sad, angry and overjoyed at what can be achieved. Not just my book of the year but I think the most enlightening book I have *ever* read in my, ahem, almost 50 years on earth. Reading how letting nature take its course and can heal the earth so rapidly, as well as allow wildlife we thought would soon be gone forever to absolutely thrive has been a real eye opener - I'm a farmers son and our family thinks we know a lot about nature, how it works and what we as humans need to do to help it. We know NOTHING! This book and the 20 years the Knepp estate has been allowed to find its own way shows there is no need to do anything other than have the guts to let nature take over and change our business practices accordingly.

Again and again, this book challenges the reader to think about the broader picture. I am not naive enough to think that there is not another side to the story and I am sure that there are farmers and farming scientists who can paint a different picture, but I did find the arguments in this book very compelling. Rewilding and ecological restoration narratives are still a very tiny genre of nonfiction, so I'm always excited to see a new one. Most of the reasons I love them are probably obvious: they're stories about nature that aren't just positive, but also proactive, progressive, and full of tantalizing hints of unexpected ecological mechanisms. The first half of this book does all of that pretty well. Unlike some of these books, there really isn't much memoir to it. The story Tree tells is about her land and their management decisions, largely made by expert advice and steering committee, and none of it feels especially personal.But the publication of Wilding in 2018 was a turning point, and suddenly landowners large and small started following Knepp’s example. What an amazing book, a profound and passionate guide to returning the land to its natural state, a must, I think, for anyone who hopes for a sustainable future”— Raynor Winn The Book of Wilding: A Practical Guide to Rewilding Big and Small Isabella Tree and Charlie Burrell