Knepp Wildland is the first major lowland rewilding project in England. It comprises of former arable and dairy farmland in the grounds of Knepp Castle, in West Sussex, England. Since 2000 when the conversion from intensive agriculture started the land now supports an 'extraordinary abundance' of many rare species including turtle doves, barbastelle bats, slow-worms and 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 Pond Field. History After inheriting the 3,500 acre farm from his grandparents at the age of 21 in 1987, Sir Charles Burrell, 10th Baronet tried to run the farm profitably for 17 years. In 2000 he reluctantly decided to sell the dairy herd and farm equipment to clear mounting debts rather than take on even more debt in yet another attempt to increase the productivity. The turning-point came in 2001, when he received Countryside Stewardship funding to restore the 350 acre Repton-designed parkland around the mansion; parkland that had been ploughed since World War II. In 2001 the Repton park around the old castle was seeded with grass seed and a local wild meadow seed mix; by the end of the year all the internal fences had been removed from the park and deer from Petworth House had been introduced. Further inspired by a visit to the Oostvaardersplassen nature reserve in the Netherlands in 2002 and by the work of Dutch ecologist Dr Frans Vera, Burrell set about establishing a 'hands-off', naturalistic grazing system across the entire estate. He used free-roaming herds of old English longhorns, Exmoor ponies and Tamworth pigs as proxies for the aurochs, tarpan and wild boar that would once have roamed the British countryside, as well as red and fallow deer. In 2003 the project received additional funding from the Countryside Stewardship Scheme to extend the park restoration to all of the Middle Block and also the Northern Block. English Long Horn Cattle were added in the same year. along with 6 Exmoor ponies. Two Tamworth sows followed, along with a further 23 Longhorn Cattle in the Northern Block in 2004. By 2006 of