WildKingdom & The Map of Dreams Podcast

Charlie Burrell

From near bankruptcy to Britain’s rewilding revolution, Charlie Burrell reveals to Hugh Somerleyton, how letting nature lead at Knepp reshaped farming, food and the future of the countryside. Charlie inherited the 3,500-acre estate from his grandparents in the 1980’s and is the inspiration behind the Knepp Wildland Project. Having run Knepp Home Farm for 20 years, Charlie had a dramatic change of heart after a visit to the Oostvaardersplassen project in Holland in the 1990s and saw the potential for a similar “rewilding” project at home in Sussex. Beyond Knepp, Charlie is deeply involved in large-scale conservation efforts. He chairs Carpathia [https://www.carpathia.org/] in Romania, a project often referred to as the “Yellowstone of Europe.” He also chairs Nattergal [https://www.nattergal.co.uk/] and serves as vice-chair of RePLANET [https://www.replanet.org.uk/], both of which focus on mobilizing private finance to fund landscape-scale ecological restoration. Additionally, he sits on the advisory board of Arcadia [https://www.arcadiafund.org.uk/] and serves on the oversight committee for one of its flagship initiatives, the Endangered Landscapes and Seascapes Program. Having previously chaired Rewilding Britain, he has since retired from its board and now holds a position on the supervisory board of Rewilding Europe [https://rewildingeurope.com/].

Danny Kinka American Prairie Reserve

From Montana’s vast grasslands to Indigenous-led restoration, Danny Kinka reveals to Hugh Somerleyton how bison, beavers and bold storytelling are reshaping the American Prairie, and why rewilding is as much about culture as it is about wildlife. Dr Daniel Kinka is the Director of Rewilding at American Prairie, an extraordinary project in eastern Montana working to create the largest nature reserve in the continental United States, often described as a North American Serengeti. A National Geographic Fellow and conservation ecologist, Danny has pioneered the use of cutting-edge technology to monitor and restore wildlife, from bison reintroduced after a 120-year absence to prairie dogs, swift fox and grizzly bears. His work is a reminder that rewilding at scale is not just possible, it's already happening. A transatlantic perspective that should inspire everyone who believes in the power of wild corridors, big and small.

Joost Lammer & Johan van der Haven And the Dalmaitian Pelicans

Joost & Johan, Dutch rewilding pioneers, reveal to Hugh Somerleyton their radical plan to bring back the lost Dalmatian pelican to the Netherlands and even potentially Great Britain, a spectacular “aqua wolf” that could transform our wetlands forever. In this episode, Hugh is joined remotely by two of the people at the heart of one of the most ambitious rewilding stories in Europe, the effort to return the Dalmatian pelican to the Netherlands after an absence of more than 500 years. Joost Lammer is Curator at Vogelpark Avifauna, the world's very first bird park and a serious force in international species conservation. Johan van der Haven is Avifauna's Team Leader for Green and Nature, a lifelong birder with a decade spent living in Thailand and a daily commitment to strengthening biodiversity across the globe. This is a conversation about patience, partnership, and the profound possibility of restoration which is something the UK is looking to recreate.

Julia Pyke

Nuclear and nature collide as Julia Pyke of Sizewell C makes the provocative case to Hugh Somerleyton that big energy can mean big nature, and that Britain’s most controversial power project could power 7% of the UK, while restoring more land than it takes. As the founding Joint Managing Director of Sizewell C, Julia Pyke spent nearly a decade making the case that major infrastructure and genuine environmental enhancement can and must go hand in hand. The biodiversity and landscape plan developed under her leadership at the Suffolk nuclear project has been cited by Tony Juniper himself as a model for what ambitions infrastructure can achieve for nature. A fellow of the Energy Institute, Julia brings a fascinating and provocative perspective to the question of how big industry can be a force for ecological good, particularly pertinent for WildEast's own work in East Suffolk.

Fleur Britten

From Vogue to viral activism, Fleur Britten joins Hugh Somerleyton lakeside to expose fashion’s greenwashing, champion cool climate action, and ask whether making sustainability sexy is the key to saving nature. Journalist, author and self-described "eco nag", Fleur Britten spent fifteen years as Senior Features Editor at Sunday Times Style before going freelance, where she now writes widely on sustainability, nature and lifestyle for publications including the Guardian, The Times, Vogue and the Telegraph. Sharp, accessible and culturally switched-on, Fleur brings a rare skill to the conservation conversation: the ability to translate complex environmental issues into stories that resonate with mainstream audiences.