The enormity of climate change and biodiversity loss can leave us feeling overwhelmed. How can an individual ever make a difference?
Isabella Tree and Charlie Burrell know firsthand how spectacularly nature can bounce back if you give it the chance. And what comes is not just wildlife in super-abundance, but solutions to the other environmental crises we face.
The Book of Wilding is a handbook for how we can all help restore nature. It is ambitious, visionary and pragmatic. The book has grown out of Isabella and Charlie's mission to help rewild Britain, Europe and the rest of the world by sharing knowledge from their pioneering project at Knepp in Sussex. It is inspired by the requests they receive from people wanting to learn how to rewild everything from unprofitable farms, landed estates and rivers, to ponds, allotments, churchyards, urban parks and public spaces. The Book of Wilding has the answers.
Rewilding is a spectrum of possibility, and everyone is on it. Whether you have a garden, roadside verge or window box, there is no space too small. Rewilding is learning how to contribute to a living landscape, to connect with other areas of nature and help forge the life-support system that will save our planet from calamity and provide humankind with a prosperous and sustainable future.
Deeply researched and with original illustrations by Jeroen Helmer, Europe's foremost environmental artist, this book explains why rewilding is important and how every one of us can play a part. The Book of Wilding is a practical guide and call to action. Above all, it is a manifesto of hope.
Contents
Introduction: The ripple effect of rewilding 6
1. What is Rewilding? The essential principles 14
2. Rewilding in the UK: Healing our broken land 56
3. Rewilding Water: Recovering our natural water systems 94
4. Rewilding with Plants: How to create dynamic habitats with vegetation 138
5. Rewilding with Animals: How to balance numbers, scale and timing 188
6. Types of Herbivore: Traits, ecological benefits and management 226
7. Becoming the Herbivore: Mimicking nature in smaller-scale rewilding 288
8. Your Rewilding Project: First steps, planning, funding and income streams 308
9. Recording and Monitoring Wildlife: How to use science in your rewilding project 358
10. Where Do We Fit In? How rewilding affects people, and how people affect rewilding 382
11. Rewilding Your Garden: How to apply rewilding principles in a small space 402
12. Urban Rewilding: Bringing nature back into our cities 458
How Wild Are You 516
Notes & Further Resources 520
Glossary 536
Index 541