Derek Gow is an uncompromising campaigner for re-wilding.

“We are living in a green desert,” he declares, speaking of modern farming practices and how we treat the land we live in. For many species, perhaps all species, their habitat has been destroyed and now many creatures can only live in the margins of our countryside.

The Water Vole, once numerous across Britain is on the brink of extinction. The waterways, ponds and lakes it calls home have been systematically drained in order to make way for housing estates, super markets and factories.

Mink have also caused a massive drop in the Vole population often making some vole populations unable to survive its attacks. Mink were introduced to Britain in order to be farmed for their fur. Inevitably significant numbers escaped and are now breeding in Britain. Many native species have no defense against these intruders.

Darek is passionate about rewilding. in his new book Birds, Beasts and Bedlam, 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.

Click here to listen to Derek talking about his passion for beavers.

His 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.

Beaver are natural engineers of the landscape yet their important role in shaping our landscapes is only now being recognised. It’s 400 years since Beaver populated our river banks and lakesides. The river systems we have today are largely devoid of the wetlands and diverse habitats that Beaver create.

Only now are planners beginning to recognise that Beaver have an important role to play in preventing vast surges of flood water coursing down our rivers and causing huge destruction to low lying communities. Beaver dams and the pools and wetlands they create not only create valuable wildlife habitats but also protect human habitation.

Beaver are well established in Scotland. Initially somewhere released in a controlled area of lochs near Loch Gilphead.  Whilst others escaped from private collections and found their way into the River Tay where they are  now well established.  Controversy still exists of the culling of beaver which can be done under license from the Scottish government. Whilst some farmers fear that Beaver will flood valuable agricultural land the animal has generally been welcomed into the Scottish countryside.

In his new book Birds, Beasts and Bedlam, Derek puts forward his argument about the need for urgent action to save the nation’s wildlife. He is a powerful story teller and also gives us some hilarious anecdotes about his life rewilding wild animals. Who else can say they have been bitten by a Wild Cat?