The Knepp Wilding Podcast

Episode 10 finds us in the rewilding project at springtime during our old English longhorn cattle calving season, with Knepp’s splendid stockman, Patrick Toe. We discuss everything from habitat creation and animal behaviour to dung, cattle round-ups and animal health. And Pat’s desire for a big ship’s bell.Tune in on your usual podcast platform or via our website: https://knepp.co.uk/knepp-wildland-podcastHuge thanks go to Pat for taking time out of his busy calving season to talk to us about his beloved herds. This podcast wouldn’t have been possible without the support of some very talented people so many thanks go to: Lia Brazier for the beautiful artwork, Mat Davidson for the wonderful music and the fantastic Ian Bunn for his patient editing skills. And many thanks, as always, go to Sideshow Dave for his ideas, support and ongoing enthusiasm!Send us a message or leave a commentFind out more about Knepp on our website and why not follow us on Instagram?

Episode 9 brings us something a little bit different to usual as we meet an incredibly wild musician! Richard Durrant has drawn inspiration from Knepp and his love of nature to create his latest album ‘Rewilding’ which includes bird song recorded at Knepp. It all started with a duet between Richard, playing his 5,000-year-old bog oak guitar, and a nightingale in a Knepp hedgerow and has resulted in a beautiful album which celebrates the return of nature both above and below ground.Tune in on your usual podcast platform or via our website: https://knepp.co.uk/knepp-wildland-podcastThis podcast wouldn’t have been possible without the support of some very talented people so many thanks go to: Lia Brazier for the beautiful podcast artwork, Richard Durrant for his wonderful music (including the intro/outro music) and the fantastic Ian Bunn for his super editing skills.Send us a message or leave a commentFind out more about Knepp on our website and why not follow us on Instagram?

It's Episode 8 and I’m joined by Side-show Dave! We go ringing at a noisy redwing roost in the Wildland scrub, and back at home we enjoy a glass of wine and reflect on some of the marvellous wildlife encounters we've had at Knepp in 2020. Tune in for a relaxing bit of blethering as we take stock of the crazy year that was 2020 and share how Knepp provided an oasis in our landscape for wildlife and people alike.Tune in on your usual podcast platform or via our website:https://knepp.co.uk/knepp-wildland-podcastThis podcast wouldn’t have been possible without the support of some very talented people so many thanks go to: Lia Brazier for the beautiful artwork, Mat Davidson for the wonderful music and the fantastic Ian Bunn for his super editing skills.Send us a message or leave a commentFind out more about Knepp on our website and why not follow us on Instagram?

Episode 7 takes us back in time as we learn about fallow deer: what their ancestors would have looked like and how they would have behaved. We also enjoy some of the sounds that we hear at Knepp Wildland during present day, as we take a front row seat at the deer rut lek, a display ground where the bucks (males) show off their impressive bellowing and scenting to onlooking does (females). We watch the deer in the woodland through a thermal imaging camera to see what they’re really getting up to when we can’t see them..Many thanks to Mollie Mills for sharing her experience of paleobiology, Darren Rolfe for his knowledge about the Knepp fallow deer and to Sideshow Dave for his technical support and enthusiasm for exploring nature in unusual ways…This podcast wouldn’t have been possible without the support of some very talented people so many thanks go to: Lia Brazier for the beautiful artwork, Mat Davidson for the wonderful music and the fantastic Ian Bunn for his patient editing skills.Send us a message or leave a commentFind out more about Knepp on our website and why not follow us on Instagram?

Our sixth episode is dedicated to some of the world’s most wonderful ecosystem engineers: dung beetles. As well as being funky little insects they punch well above their weight in the ecosystem services they provide. I join scarab fanatics Darren & Ceri Mann as they delve in to some Knepp dung, and chat to Rob Howe, a livestock vet who is working with farmers to promote healthy on-farm ecology through the power of dung beetles.To keep up to date with dung beetle news check out the British Scarabs websiteThis podcast wouldn’t have been possible without the support of some very talented people so many thanks go to: Lia Brazier for the beautiful artwork, Mat Davidson for the wonderful music and the fantastic Ian Bunn for his patient editing skills.Send us a message or leave a commentFind out more about Knepp on our website and why not follow us on Instagram?

In episode 5 we meet the ebullient Matthew Oates to talk about the inebriated and hedonistic life of His Imperial Majesty, the purple emperor. We talk about the life cycle of this magnificent butterfly, what we’re learning about them at Knepp Wildland, and how to go about spotting one yourself. And most importantly we learn the origins of the not-so-ancient proverb “When tits are down, emperors are up!” Move over Confucius…If you liked hearing from Matthew on this podcast then you might be interested in reading some of his books, of note his most recent works In Pursuit of Butterflies and His Imperial MajestyThis podcast wouldn’t have been possible without the support of some very talented people so many thanks go to: Lia Brazier for the beautiful artwork, Mat Davidson for the wonderful music and the fantastic Ian Bunn for his patient editing skills.Send us a message or leave a commentFind out more about Knepp on our website and why not follow us on Instagram?

During episode four we delve in to the intriguing lives of reptiles and learn more about these fascinating animals at Knepp Wildland. I'm joined by my good friend, Ryan Greaves, who shares some remarkable reptile facts and encounters, and we find out what we can do for these captivating creatures in our gardens and in the wider landscape.For more information about reptiles please check out the Amphibian & Reptile Conservation Trust.This podcast wouldn’t have been possible without the support of some very talented people so many thanks go to: Lia Brazier for the beautiful artwork, Mat Davidson for the wonderful music and the fantastic Ian Bunn for his patient editing skills.Send us a message or leave a commentFind out more about Knepp on our website and why not follow us on Instagram?

In our third episode we investigate a fascinating research project being carried out at Knepp Wildland, which is studying the social behaviour of the orange-legged furrow bee Halictus rubicundus.Dr Rebecca Boulton from the University of Exeter gives us an insight in to the intriguing lives of these little sweat bees, including tales of cheeky mating and sneaky eggs. This podcast takes a few unexpected twists and turns, and shows how this ‘plastic’ species may be able to adapt as the climate changes.For more information about Becky and her studies you might like to follow her on Twitter @DrBecky_B and check out her wordpress page: https://drbeckyb.wordpress.com/publications/ or https://biosciences.exeter.ac.uk/staff/profile/index.php?web_id=Rebecca_Boulton. This podcast wouldn’t have been possible without the support of some very talented people so many thanks go to: Lia Brazier for the beautiful artwork, Mat Davidson for the wonderful music and the fantastic Ian Bunn for his patient editing skills.Send us a message or leave a commentFind out more about Knepp on our website and why not follow us on Instagram?

In our second episode we explore the lives of the white storks nesting at Knepp Wildland which have featured on Springwatch this month.The white stork (Ciconia ciconia) is a large charismatic bird that is the focus of a project to re-establish a breeding population in the south-east of England. Charlie Burrell, Knepp landowner; Lucy Groves, White Stork project officer and Kirsty Richardson, stork volunteer, join us in this episode to share their enthusiasm for the project whilst we get up close to these beautiful birds on the nest and also in their enclosure.Enjoy the sound of the storks bill clattering and fly with us as we carry out a nest monitoring drone flight.For more information about the project please visit the white stork project website or follow on Twitter @projectstorkThis podcast wouldn’t have been possible without the support of some very talented people so many thanks go to: Lia Brazier for the beautiful artwork, Mat Davidson for the wonderful music and the fantastic Ian Bunn for his patient editing skills.Send us a message or leave a commentFind out more about Knepp on our website and why not follow us on Instagram?

Our inaugural episode celebrates the return of the nightingale to Knepp Wildland this spring.The nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos) has seen an impressive increase in numbers at Knepp Wildland since the beginning of the rewilding project, and 2020 has been a bumper year (although we didn’t know this at the time of recording!) with somewhere in the region of 30 singing males in the southern block of the project.Sideshow Dave joins us on this episode as we talk about nightingales during our nocturnal and dawn surveys. We’re also fortunate enough to be joined by Tony Davis, lead bird ringer and nest-finding guru at Knepp to talk about the importance of finding and monitoring the nests of this elusive species.We end with the most wonderfully pure nightingale solo from beneath a full moon.This podcast wouldn’t have been possible without the support of some very talented people who have kindly given their time and exceptional talent to help get this from egg to fledgling! Many thanks go to: Lia Brazier for the beautiful artwork, Mat Davidson for the wonderful music and Ian Bunn for his patient editing skills.Send us a message or leave a commentFind out more about Knepp on our website and why not follow us on Instagram?