Natural history illustrator Rachel Hudson is showing her free exhibition From The Margins at Gilbert White’s House in Selborne until August 14.

From barn owls and brown hares to harvest mice and hairstreak butterflies, it takes visitors on a journey of discovery to meet iconic South Downs farmland species.

A collaboration between Rachel, of Four Marks, and the Selborne Landscape Partnership, it champions threatened species and shows how restoration of field margins – from hedgerows to wildflower strips – is making a positive difference. It is also a call to support farmers who help wildlife.

The exhibition is in two parts, The Selborne Bestiary and Margins.

The Selborne Bestiary is a wall display of nine species the partnership is supporting through conservation. It highlights declining species in isolated habitat fragments and stresses the importance of a mosaic approach to create an interconnected and functioning landscape for wildlife alongside agriculture.

What happens between the squares of The Selborne Bestiary and how these species can thrive in farmland is explored in Margins.

Three two-metre high vertical ‘margins’ – Hedge, Edge and Strip – show how life is when these habitats are planted, managed and reconnected by farmers and volunteers. Each reveals the energy and struggles of spring, summer and autumn from the animals’ viewpoints.