Overview

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 and water that was once theirs, and restored the white stork to the Knepp Estate with Charlie Burrell and Isabella Tree. Derek's first book, Bringing Back the Beaver, was a riotously funny and subversive account of his single-handed reintroduction of the beaver in Britain. Birds, Beasts and Bedlam, a natural successor to Gerald Durrell's A Zoo in My Luggage, tells the story of Derek's rewilding journey and his work to save many more species by transforming his Devon farm into a wildlife breeding center. He now houses beavers, white storks, water voles, lynx, wildcats, and harvest mice, with the aim of releasing them into the wild one day. Tearing down fences literally and metaphorically, Derek Gow is the one person with the character and strength of will to defy authority, bend the rules, and save our wildlife.

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9781666612332

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Derek Gow is a farmer, a nature conservationist, and the author of Bringing Back the Beaver. Inspired by the writing of Gerald Durrell, he jumped at the chance to manage a European wildlife park in central Scotland before moving on to develop two nature centers in England. He now lives with his children on a 300-acre farm on the Devon/Cornwall border, which he is in the process of rewilding. He is currently working on a reintroduction project for the wildcat and a book on our lost wolves. Calum Beaton is a Scottish actor, voice artist, director, and designer based in Glasgow. He studied fine-art sculpture at Gray's School of Art and Theatre Skills and drama at Fife College. He has worked as an actor professionally since 1995, with a particular emphasis on outdoor performance. In this capacity, he has worked with Mischief-la-bas, Oceanallover, Theatre Found, Luxe, and the Hong Kong New Year parade.

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