The soundscape has changed dramatically as these former arable fields rewild into thorny scrubland, a habitat rarely tolerated in the wider countryside. It provides a rich habitat for red-listed birds, being a breeding hotspot for critically endangered nightingales and turtle doves. 

 

Since 2021 Hazel has been recording ‘soundscapes of hope’, capturing the Knepp rewilding success story of burgeoning biodiversity, supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

 

The Knepp Wildand project is a leading light for conservation in Europe, demonstrating how giving nature space and opportunity to express itself can restore the land and its wildlife in a dramatically short space of time, reversing the cataclysmic declines that have affected most species elsewhere in Britain over the past 50 years.