“Courageous, visionary, funny.”—Isabella Tree“One of the most remarkable figures in British conservation.”—Observer“Gow reinvents what it means to be a guardian of the countryside.”—GuardianBirds, Beasts and Bedlam recounts the adventures of Britain’s favorite maverick rewilder, Derek Gow, and his single-minded mission to save our rarest wildlife—one species at a time....

Longlisted for the James Cropper Wainwright Prize 2024 for Nature Writing"Terrific, life-lit moments come howling out of Hunt for the Shadow Wolf."—The Telegraph"One of the most remarkable figures in British conservation."—The Observer"There have been several books on the fate of British wolves, but this is the best."—The Spectator"[Derek Gow is] a...

“Derek Gow might be the most colorful character in all of Beaverdom.”—Ben Goldfarb, author of Eager"Gow’s triumph has been the reintroduction of the Eurasian beaver."—The New YorkerBringing Back the Beaver is farmer-turned-ecologist Derek Gow’s inspirational and often riotously funny firsthand account of how the movement to rewild the British landscape with beavers has become the single most drama...

Beavers are widely recognised as a keystone species which play a pivotal role in riparian ecology. Their tree felling and dam building behaviours coupled with a suite of other activities create a wealth of living opportunities that are exploited by a range of other species. Numerous scientific studies demonstrate that beaver-generated living environments that are much richer in terms of both biodiversity and biomass than wetland environments from which they are absent. Emerging contemporar...

The Eurasian beaver was near extinction at the start of the twentieth century, hunted across Europe for its fur, meat and castoreum. But now the beaver is on the brink of a comeback, with wild beaver populations, licensed and unlicensed, emerging all over Britain.As a keystone species, the beaver plays a vital role in the creation of sustainable wetland habitats through its damming activities, providing living opportunities for a broad spectrum of wildlife. Yet as proposals for rei...

A bold new voice in nature writing, from the front lines of Britain's rewilding movementBringing Back the Beaver is farmer-turned-ecologist Derek Gow’s inspirational and often riotously funny firsthand account of how the movement to rewild the British landscape with beavers has become the single most dramatic and subversive nature conservation act of the modern era. Since the early 1990s – in the face of outright opposition from government, landowning elit...

Birds, Beasts and Bedlam recounts the adventures of farmer-turned-rewilder Derek Gow, who is saving Britain’s much-loved but dangerously threatened species, from the water vole to beaver, wildcat to white stork, and tree frog to glow worm. Derek tells us all about the realities of rewilding: how he reared delicate roe deer and a sofa-loving wild boar piglet, moved a raging bison bull across the country, got bitten by a Scottish wildcat, returned honking skeins of graylag geese to the land ...

Birds, Beasts and Bedlam recounts the adventures of farmer-turned-rewilder Derek Gow, who is saving Britain’s much-loved but dangerously threatened species, from the water vole to beaver, wildcat to white stork, and tree frog to glow worm.Derek tells us all about the realities of rewilding: how he reared delicate roe deer and a sofa-loving wild boar piglet, moved a raging bison bull across the country, got bitten by a Scottish wildcat, returned honking skeins of graylag ge...

Renowned rewilder Derek Gow has a dream: that one day we will see the return of the wolf to Britain as it has already returned elsewhere. As Derek worked to reintroduce the beaver, he began to hear stories of the wolf, both real and mythical, and his fascination with this creature grew. With increasing curiosity, Derek started to piece together fragments of information, stories and artefacts to reveal a shadowy creature that first walked proud through these lands and then was hunted to ext...

SHORTLISED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE 2025The powerful memoir on mental health, the healing power of nature, and how we need to heal it in return – with a blueprint for restoring Britain’s rainforests, perfect for readers of The Salt Path and The Lost Rainforests of Britain.Scholarly, wise, funny, charming, terrifying and thrilling... I adored it all, every page. - JOANNA LUMLEYBoth a comfort and an inspirati...

WINNER OF THE 2023 JAMES CROPPER WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING'Unparalleled.' THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE'A true masterpiece.'TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT'A tour de force.' GUY SHRUBSOLE'Quietly courageous.' PATRICK BARKHAM'Lyrical, wholehearted and wise.' LEE SCHOFIELD'A knockout. I loved it.' MELISSA HARRISON...

A wonderful meditation on the English landscape in wet weather by the acclaimed novelist and nature writer, Melissa Harrison.Whenever rain falls, our countryside changes. Fields, farms, hills and hedgerows appear altered, the wildlife behaves differently, and over time the terrain itself is transformed.In Rain, Melissa Harrison explores our relationship with the weather as she follows the course of four rain showers, in four seasons, across Wicken Fen, Shropshire, ...