It's episode 30 so it's time for a beaver project update! We’re joined again by national beaver specialist, and all-round good egg, Mark Elliott. We talk about the progress of the Knepp beaver enclosure and its hard-working inhabitants, and what they've been up to since our last beaver podcast back in November 2022. Following a very wet winter and …

It’s Episode 29 and we’re in the beaver pen with a gaggle of delightful artists who help us draw a different perspective on rewilding. Led by the inimitable James Ort this collective is bringing rewilding to life through different mediums – clay and metal, watercolour, pencil and oil, freestyle stitching, printmaking, needlefelt and environmental a…

Episode 28 of the Knepp Wildland Podcast transports us far away from Knepp and into the beautifully rugged landscape of Asturias in Spain. We’re visiting stunning Wild Finca to meet a family, inspired by Knepp, making a big change on their 13-hectare landholding. They’re using local herbivore breeds, Asturcon horses and Casina cattle, to create a w…

Episode 27 finds us in the field with Rosie Moss from the wonderful Newt Conservation Partnership and Shaun Hancox, digger-driver extraordinaire! The Partnership have been harnessing funds from developers through the NatureSpace District Licensing Scheme to create high quality habitat for Great Crested Newt, and a whole host of other wetland specie…

Episode 26 of the Knepp Wildland Podcast takes us on the trail of Micromys minutus, the Harvest Mouse, with fellow mammal appreciators Ryan Greaves and Laurie Jackson. Weighing in at just six grammes this tiny Biodiversity Action Plan species seems to be in good numbers at Knepp, mostly concentrated in the habitats around the wetland areas. We talk…

Join us on episode 25 where we learn about a ground-breaking microclimate project with Assistant Professor Rebecca Senior and PhD student Cameron Goodhead from Durham University. They’re here at Knepp to investigate the microclimates provided by the complex structure of vegetation that has emerged through rewilding. A variety of remote data-loggers…

Megan Maricle shares the deadliest catch for dungeon delvers everywhere! Read the transcript and get more from the show: https://scintilla.studio/monster-sharkbowl-ooze/ Get stat blocks, bonus content, and other monstrous perks: www.patreon.com/scintillastudio Join the conversation: www.twitter.com/SparkOtter Meet my guests: https://koboldpress.com…

An alien shark feeding off the living islands of an alien world, the wave lurcher is a partner in the search for life. Read the transcript and get more from the show: https://scintilla.studio/monster-wave-lurcher/ Get stat blocks, bonus content, and other monstrous perks: www.patreon.com/scintillastudio Join the conversation: www.twitter.com/SparkO…

It’s Episode 24 and I’m joined by the brilliant artist, Hazel Reeves, to hear how she has been inspired by the Knepp soundscape to extend her artistic practice beyond her studio. Hours before many of our alarms go off Hazel can be found sitting quietly in the Knepp Wildland taking sound recordings of the dawn chorus and one of her favourite birds i…

To celebrate 10,000 downloads of our first ever episode, The Nightingale, I'm delighted to be able to offer you a bite-size version of it! It seems apt to be able to release this at this time of year as the Nightingale is back at Knepp in brilliant numbers and is singing away in the scrubland. Many thanks indeed go to Rob Burns for distilling the m…

The dodo is a funny-looking bird with a funny-sounding name that never knew what hit it. There isn't a more fitting icon of extinction. Back the Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/magehandpress/book-of-extinction Download a dodo: https://magehandpress.com/2023/03/the-dodo.html Join the conversation: https://www.instagram.com/sparkott…

It’s episode 23 and we are taking a blustery walk with some fascinating researchers from Oxford Archaeology and Historic England… we are stepping back in time! We discuss an innovative and collaborative research project called ‘Rewilding Later Prehistory’ exploring Bronze Age and Iron Age ecology from around 4,500yrs ago to 2,000yrs ago. Where the …

OGL 1.1 risks killing the thriving ecosystem of valuable third-party content for Dungeons & Dragons. Don't wait: tell Wizards of the Coast they're making a mistake, and tell your favorite third-party creators it's worth staying in the fight. Transcript of the episode: Legal analysis of OGL 1.1: https://medium.com/@MyLawyerFriend/lets-take-a-minute-…

It’s a wet and wild episode 22! We’re joined by national beaver specialist, Mark Elliott, down in the Knepp beaver pen after a night of heavy rain. We marvel at the amazing work of the beavers - how they’re creating the most wonderful wetland area that’s holding on to water during winter floods and providing an oasis for life during droughts. We ta…

Episode 21 finds us at an uplifting event surrounded by a hundred young people: a youth rewilding summit held at Knepp in September in collaboration with Heal Rewilding and Young Wilders. The event was created by young people to connect and inspire other young people with a passion for rewilding, and to give the next generation of rewilders a platf…

O'l Chap Ettercap is a monster whose story grew in the telling, from meaningless Download Ol' Chap Ettercap in every form a tabletop needs: https://scintilla.studio/monster-ettercap-critical-crafting/ Get stat blocks, bonus content, and other monstrous perks: www.patreon.com/scintillastudio Join the conversation: www.twitter.com/SparkOtter Meet my …

Mörk Borg, the doom metal TTRPG by Free League, gets an adventure with seven deadly sins chained in an off-shore prison boat where nothing is as it seems. Read the transcript and get more from the show: https://scintilla.studio/monster-mork-borg-dolja/ Get stat blocks, bonus content, and other monstrous perks: www.patreon.com/scintillastudio Join t…

Many monsters are combinations of animals, like the owlbear - but which owl, and which bear? Atlas Animalia by Metal Weave Games shows a terrifying biodiversity of monsters, including the shoebill cockatrice. Read the transcript and get more from the show: https://scintilla.studio/monster-atlas-animalia/ Get stat blocks, bonus content, and other mo…

Wythe Marschall, creator of Stillfleet, shares a monster born in the frozen ammonia crystals of Yuggoth at the far reaches of our solar system 100 billion years in the future. Don't wait, get it now! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wythe/the-stillfleet-core-rulebook Get stat blocks, bonus content, and other monstrous perks: www.patreon.com/sci…

The size of a black bear, this Ice Age giant didn't build dams, but it guarded the water with a fearsome call just the same. Meet the world's most complete fossil giant beaver with Heather Lerner, the ancient DNA expert who brought her to life! Get three extinct animals raised to life as monsters in D&D: https://www.scintilla.studio/extinction Epis…

Episode 20 takes us on an early morning mission to catch a Cuckoo or two with the brilliant Lee Barber, from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). With a special net configuration and lure set up to entice the birds in, we waited like coiled springs to jump in to action if we saw one come into the nets. Tune in to hear if we were successful (we …

The mukad are insect-like aberrations following the orders of a slumbering god of destruction as they lurk in the walls. Read the transcript and get more from the show: https://scintilla.studio/monster-mukad-grim-hollow-ghostfire-games/ Get stat blocks, bonus content, and other monstrous perks: www.patreon.com/scintillastudio Join the conversation:…

Episode 19 finds us in a newly rewilded location at Knepp – the garden! Charlie Harpur, Suzi Turner and Moy Fierheller are our keystone species, or garden team, in the 1.3-acre Victorian walled garden and have kick-started natural processes to make the garden more sustainable and buzz with biodiversity. We talk about how this horticultural experime…

Get three extinct animals raised to life as monsters in D&D: https://www.scintilla.studio/extinction Episode transcript: https://scintilla.studio/monster-extinction-aurochs-nazis-orcs/ Guides: Steve Sullivan, director of the Hefner Museum of Natural History at Miami University in Ohio Jessica Marcrum, Uncaged Author and producer of the Threeflings …

A team of scientists encounter the Frog of Holding, a giant monstrosity with an extradimensional space for its young! Get three extinct animals raised to life as monsters in D&D: https://www.scintilla.studio/extinction Partial transcript: https://scintilla.studio/monster-extinction-frog-of-holding/ Guides: Sheryl, The Roving Naturalist: https://twi…

The cave bear is more than just a monster variant on MM 334. It's the source of piles of dragon bones in caves all over Europe, and fulcrum where archaeology turned from fantasy to science. Get three extinct animals raised to life as monsters in D&D: https://www.scintilla.studio/extinction Get stat blocks, bonus content, and other monstrous perks: …

It’s episode 18 so it’s about time we go underground, delving well below the surface to unearth the life cycle of a rather brilliant ecosystem engineer: the earthworm. We join a survey session at Knepp with four brilliant scientists: Emma Sherlock from the Natural History Museum, Inez Januszczak and Chris Fletcher from the Darwin Tree of Life Proje…

How does it square with your heroes when the bad guys treat their animals better than the good guys? What if your villain pets the dog? Read the transcript and get more from the show: https://scintilla.studio/monster-war-spider-mcdm/ Get stat blocks, bonus content, and other monstrous perks: www.patreon.com/scintillastudio Join the conversation: ww…

Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel's creator was inspired by the solarpunk and hopepunk movements, but what even are those? Read the transcript and get more from the show: https://scintilla.studio/monster-solarpunk-journeysthroughtheradiantcitadel Get stat blocks, bonus content, and other monstrous perks: www.patreon.com/scintillastudio Join the …

Get three extinct animals raised to life as monsters in D&D: https://www.scintilla.studio/extinction Episode transcript: https://scintilla.studio/monster-extinction-florida-fairy-shrimp Guides: Tierra Curry, Senior Scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity https://twitter.com/TierraMussel Did you like this stat block? Let me know on Twitter:…

The best game-breaking exploits in D&D. This week: the false hydra, the most terrifying homebrew monster ever made; and the Kung Fu Kraken, an ancient titan of the deep somehow less effective than a straw dummy. Read the transcript and get more from the show: https://scintilla.studio/monster-false-hydra-kung-fu-kraken/ Get stat blocks, bonus conten…

D&D players have spent almost 50 years breaking the game. This week: the arrowhead of total destruction, nuclear warhead powered by extradimensional spaces; and the wireless troll, communication via regeneration. Read the transcript and get more from the show: https://scintilla.studio/monster-arrow-of-destruction-wireless-troll/ Get stat blocks, bo…

D&D players have spent almost 50 years breaking the game, creating exploits that became monsters in their own right. This week: the peasant rail gun, an army of hirelings with a light-speed projectile; and the quantum ogre, the monster who is everywhere until it is observed. Read the transcript and get more from the show: https://scintilla.studio/m…

Read the transcript and get more from the show: https://scintilla.studio/monster-luthic-uncaged-godesses/ Get stat blocks, bonus content, and other monstrous perks: www.patreon.com/scintillastudio Join the conversation: www.twitter.com/SparkOtter Meet my guests: Jessica Marcrum: https://twitter.com/angrynerdgirl David Markiwsky: https://twitter.com…

Episode 17 takes me and my brilliant team-mate, Ivan de Klee, outside of the Knepp Estate boundaries. Ivan is our rainbow chaser and helps us imagine what a wilder landscape might look like as we explore the idea of the Weald to Waves corridor. We talk about how such collaborative landscape scale projects, and new rewilding projects, could be funde…

Isabella Tree is joint owner of Knepp, and author of the best-seller Wilding book, and has been a long-awaited guest on the podcast. In episode 16 Issy and I go for a lovely wintery walk and chinwag in the scrubland, where we talk about the importance of scrub for wildlife. We explore many facets of the scrub, including the influence of the large h…

Declared extinct less than three months ago, the ivory-billed woodpecker is the holy grail of birders all over the U.S. Get three extinct animals raised to life as monsters in D&D: https://store.magehandpress.com/products/book-of-extinction-preview Get the Questing Bird stat block by joining the Mage Hand Press Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mfov…

The thylacine of Tasmania becomes the ghost tiger of the Feywild: a tragic figure as enchanting as it is terrifying. Get three extinct animals raised to life as monsters in D&D: https://store.magehandpress.com/products/book-of-extinction-preview Episode transcript: https://scintilla.studio/monster-extinction-thylacine/ Guides: Steve Sullivan, Direc…

The great auk is a powerful bird with a bone-chilling extinction story. It's getting a second life as a D&D monster. Get the great auk and two other extinct animals for your D&D campaign: https://store.magehandpress.com/products/book-of-extinction-preview Episode transcript: https://scintilla.studio/monster-extinction-great-auk/ Guides: Kieran Suck…

It’s episode 15 and we’re exploring a different part of the Knepp Estate! Join me as I find out more about our new regenerative farm from farm manager Russ Carrington. We visit the grazing herd of Sussex cattle, learn about mob-grazing and NoFence collars, and talk about the plans for this exciting new venture, sitting alongside the Knepp Rewilding…

Passenger pigeons were once the most numerous bird on the planet, a swarm of Tiny beasts covering the sky. Get three extinct animals raised to life as monsters in D&D: https://store.magehandpress.com/products/book-of-extinction-preview Episode transcript: https://scintilla.studio/monster-extinction-passenger-pigeon/ Guides: Steve Sullivan, Director…

Extinct animals get a second life in D&D. It's only fair, since the biodiversity of our natural world is responsible for fantasy storytelling. Get three extinct animals raised to life as monsters in Dungeons & Dragons: https://store.magehandpress.com/products/book-of-extinction-preview Episode transcript: https://scintilla.studio/monster-extinction…

Body-snatching jungle aliens called the Kelledros roam the prehistoric, stone-punk of Planegea, a new setting for D&D 5th Edition by Atlas Games and designer Dave Somerville. Learn how identity and mystery shape the nature of horror in your D&D game. Read the transcript and get more from the show: https://scintilla.studio/monster-planegea-atlas-gam…

Amy Vorpahl is the voice of Fizban, multiverse-spanning god of dragons, in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons. We discuss this character's view of the world, how to write for D&D, and whether Fizban is fun to hang out with. Spoiler alert: he is. Read the transcript and get more from the show: https://scintilla.studio/monster-fizbans-treasury-of-dragons-w…

Amy Vorpahl couldn't resist adding a cute little Pokémon to her Candlekeep Mystery. Here's more about the skitterwidgets, what Pat Rothfuss could gain from a little more magic, and how to stay motivated while writing. Read the transcript and get more from the show: https://scintilla.studio/monster-amy-vorpahl-candlekeep-mystery Get stat blocks, bon…

Fun City is the best Shadowrun actual play podcast on the Internet, and its two GMs, Mike Rugnetta and Taylor Moore, crafted a beautiful, dimension-spanning arc with the most thought-provoking villain this show has featured yet. Making a Monster: GM Edition asks actual play podcasters how they use the monsters in their games. Read the transcript an…

Chosen Ones is a visual-novel style D&D podcast on YouTube with an all-artist and LGBT+ cast. DM Cassiroll and I discuss playing too much D&D, too little combat, and the window between heroism and villainy. Making a Monster: GM Edition asks actual play podcasters how they use the monsters in their games. Read the transcript and get more from the sh…

The First Watch is a cinematic actual play podcast making the most of genre-based storytelling. DM Andrew Coons and I discuss the seven types of conflict in literature and how heroes make the courageous, if stupid, choice. Making a Monster: GM Edition asks actual play podcasters how they use the monsters in their games. Read the transcript and get …

Join Matt Wainhouse, Geoff Liddell and myself for episode 14, as we take a deep dive in to one of Knepp’s magnificent oak trees. Matt is carrying out research on the heart-rot communities found in oak to get an idea of how communities of fungi assemble in living trees, and try to relate this to their function as ecosystem engineers. With the aid of…

The Last Tapestry is a tech-noir, Eberron-inspired actual play D&D podcast. DM Dan Locke and I discuss "monster monsters" and the definition of villainy. Making a Monster: GM Edition asks actual play podcasters how they use the monsters in their games. Read the transcript and get more from the show: https://scintilla.studio/monster-the-last-tapestr…