Knepp Wildland

Free-ranging longhorn cattle at Knepp Wildland

Knepp Wildland is the first major lowland rewilding project in England. It comprises 1,400 hectares (3,500 acres) of former arable and dairy farmland in the grounds of Knepp Castle, in West Sussex.

Since 2000 when the conversion from intensive agriculture started, the land now supports many rare species including turtle doves, barbastelle bats, slow-worms and barred grass snakes; it has become a major nesting site for nightingales; a breeding hotspot for purple emperor butterflies; the site of the first white stork chicks raised in the wild in England for 600 years, and is home to the first beavers living in the wild in Sussex for 400 years. On 17 November 2021, the very rare vagrant emperor dragonfly (Anax ephippiger) was discovered in one field.