Storks and piglets at Knepp Estate 2021
A pair of storks on their nest, 23 March 2021
Storks, for the second time in 600 years, are making a nest in Britain, and you can see them at the Knepp Estate in West Sussex.
The Knepp Estate is a large farm that has been “rewilded”, allowed to revert to nature with a little help – the introduction of wild deer, cattle and wild ponies and an old breed of pigs, the Tamworth. There are 16 miles of public and permissive footpaths within the Knepp Rewilding project, which cover an area of 3,500 acres, and five tree viewing-
We last visited on Tuesday 23rd March and there were still sections of some tracks that were very wet and boggy.
However, we found the tree with the storks’ nest. You are not allowed to approach the tree so you need binoculars to see the storks.
And we found a Tamworth sow with a litter of piglets. The sow was happily destroying the field with her snout.
At one point the piglets ran a hundred yards away from their mother and rooted around on the far side of the field where they were watched by a family before running towards us.
Tamworth piglets on the Knepp Estate
Knepp Location
You find the estate a few miles south of Horsham, just off the A24 at Dial Post. You can also enter from the village of Shipley. No entry charge. You just use the public footpaths. See my interactive map below.
Car park
The estate information includes “We have a small car park and ask for a donation of £5/day to help manage costs and to raise funds for our project. Payment can be made at the shop during opening hours (Saturday & Sunday, 10am till 3pm), alternatively in the honesty boxes at the carpark.
Please park here:
Knepp Safaris, New Barn Farm, Swallows Lane, Dial Post, RH13 8NN and nowhere else on the Estate or village roads PLEASE as it is destroying the verges and compromises road safety.”
What have you discovered at Knepp?
Let me know what you have discovered at Knepp. Please use the comment boxes. If you use facebook you can use the second comment box without further formalities. Please share.
David Roberts. www.davidrobertsblog.com
Route map for Knepp Estate, 16 Miles Of Routes by David Roberts on plotaroute.com
TO MAKE THE MAP WORK click on “plotaroute” at the bottom right.
Then you can
- zoom in to see other paths
- view full screen by clicking the four headed arrow,
- view satellite or other views by clicking the down arrow next to the route type label (top right)
- show current weather and for next days by clicking Menu, “Weather”
- print the map by clicking Menu, “Print”
- download the map by clicking Menu, “Download”
