Wild Data
Welcome to Knepp’s Knowledge Hub
Explore 20 years of research from Knepp Wildland in one accessible platform. Discover interactive stories, biodiversity trends, and insights from researchers, students, volunteers, and Knepp’s Ecology Team. This first release turns decades of reports into a searchable archive, with more data and tools to come as Wild Data evolves.
Our World of Data
The Wild Data Project
Welcome to our new Wild Data platform. Here, we open up two decades of insight gathered across the Knepp Wilding. This year, the Wilding project turns 21. This new platform celebrates the Wildland coming-of-age, turning traditional reports into an interactive space to learn and explore rewilding. We hope it will highlight the hidden patterns held in the ecosystems here at Knepp and prompt you to delve into your own local landscapes.
As our nature crisis deepens, data can guide us towards a more profound understanding of the systems that sustain human life. It gives us the means to monitor change over time, to track the losses and the gains. We invite you to explore, understand and share this knowledge so it can play a part in igniting a new era of nature recovery.
Featured Stories
Step into a series of interactive stories, designed to draw you deeper in to Knepp’s rewilding journey. Stitching together surveys, sounds, images and expert knowledge, they shine a light on key emerging themes—from bird abundance to carbon capture, from hidden nocturnal activity to the return of water to the landscape.
October 16, 2025
Cores, Corridors & Herbivores
Why herbivores, not carnivores, are the keystone of Knepp’s wilding story.
October 16, 2025
The Story of Knepp
Charting a history of Knepp Wildland as a project.
October 16, 2025
Unearthing Hidden Carbon
At Knepp Wildland, the real carbon revolution lies hidden in the soil.
October 16, 2025
Rewilding Our Thinking
The wider context around the emergence of rewilding as a philosophy
July 14, 2025
Wilder Waters
Centuries ago, water at Knepp was not just a natural force—it was an engine of industry.
October 13, 2025
Downland Villa Beefly
A scarce bee-fly of open, sunlit habitats, the Downland Villa is a striking and elusive species whose presence at Knepp reflects the value of bare ground and natural disturbance in supporting rare invertebrates.
October 13, 2025
White Stork
The White Stork Project, launched in 2016, showcases the potential for restoring lost species, enthusing and inspiring others and helping to bring about the landscape restoration we so desperately need.
October 10, 2025
Pedunculate Oak
The English Oak is Britain’s most iconic tree, supporting more wildlife than any other species and shaping landscapes for centuries. It’s a true keystone species here at Knepp.
October 10, 2025
Purple Hairstreak
The Purple Hairstreak is a canopy-dwelling butterfly of oak woodlands, thriving at Knepp where mature oaks are interspersed into the wood pasture landscape, providing the necessary requirements to complete its lifecycle.
October 10, 2025
Water-violet
A delicate aquatic plant of still or slow-moving waters, Water Violet is a quiet indicator of healthy wetland systems, thriving where natural hydrology and vegetation dynamics are allowed to recover.
Species Spotlights
Explore the key species shaping Knepp’s evolving ecosystem. Each profile gives some insight into their behaviours and habitats, and the roles they are playing within the Wildland — with links to images, audio and video where available.
Data Archive
Delve into Knepp’s research archive, with digitised reports and survey data from the last twenty years. Access clear summaries of key findings, and dive deeper with full downloadable datasets, scientific reports and academic papers from across the Wildland.
August 4, 2025
Knepp River Restoration Dragonfly Survey
This set of surveys, starting in 2015, were a follow-on survey from the dragonfly surveys carried out in the summer of 2005 by Paul James.
August 4, 2025
Tree and Shrub Regeneration Across the Knepp Estate in Sussex, Southern England
Rewilding at Knepp has sparked scattered tree and shrub growth, most notably in the Southern Block, shaping a rich, varied landscape where nature leads, but forests form slowly.
August 4, 2025
Vegetation Composition and Structure Survey at Knepp
A 2022 vegetation survey at Knepp’s Southern Block recorded 132 plant species across 36 plots, revealing rich structural diversity and abundant woody regeneration, especially blackthorn and willow, offering a strong baseline for future rewilding assessments.
August 4, 2025
Pigs as ecosystem engineers: The Effect of Rooting Behaviour on Butterfly and Plant Communities in a Rewilded Landscape
This study investigates how wild pig rooting behaviour affects butterfly and plant communities at Knepp. Rooting reduced overall butterfly abundance but increased plant diversity and supported rarer butterfly species, demonstrating pigs important role as ecosystem engineers.
August 4, 2025
Bat Survey Report 2019
Discover Knepp Estate’s growing importance as a refuge for bats, with evidence of increased activity, breeding, and species richness since the 2009 baseline survey.