WildKingdom & The Map of Dreams Podcast Podcast By WildKingdom cover art

WildKingdom & The Map of Dreams Podcast

WildKingdom & The Map of Dreams Podcast

By: WildKingdom
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Wild Kingdom and The Map of Dreams is a brand-new podcast hosted by Hugh Somerleyton, founder of the wildlife charity WildEast. At its heart is the Map of Dreams, a living record of extraordinary people doing ordinary things to restore the natural world and sharing their vision for what a wilder future might look like.

The ambition is bold but simple: to restore 20% of the United Kingdom back to nature, recording every pledge on the Map of Dreams. Because change, as Wild Kingdom co-founder Hugh Somerleyton believes, doesn't only happen at policy level, it happens in back gardens, field margins, and farmyards, one nature corridor at a time.

In this series, Hugh sits down with some of the brightest minds and most passionate voices and commentators in conservation to explore what meaningful advocacy really looks like, and why biodiversity isn't just an environmental issue, but a human one.

Huge thanks to Laurence Friedman - Wild East for giving us permission to use your amazing song!

Copyright 2026 All rights reserved.
Biological Sciences Science
Episodes
  • Charlie Burrell
    Apr 15 2026

    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 in Romania, a project often referred to as the “Yellowstone of Europe.” He also chairs Nattergal and serves as vice-chair of RePLANET, both of which focus on mobilizing private finance to fund landscape-scale ecological restoration. Additionally, he sits on the advisory board of Arcadia 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.

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    50 mins
  • Danny Kinka American Prairie Reserve
    Apr 8 2026

    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.

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    1 hr and 1 min
  • Joost Lammer & Johan van der Haven And the Dalmaitian Pelicans
    Apr 1 2026

    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.

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    36 mins
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