Birds, Beasts and Bedlam: Turning My Farm into an Ark for Lost Species

One of the most remarkable figures in British conservation. Observer

Gow reinvents what it means to be a guardian of the countryside. Guardian

Courageous, visionary, funny. Isabella Tree

A brilliant read. Benedict Macdonald

He gets stuff done. . . . Highly entertaining but also a heartfelt plea for a wilder, more inspiring Britain. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Birds, Beasts and Bedlam recounts the adventures of Britains favourite maverick rewilder, Derek Gow, and his single-minded mission to save our rarest wildlife one species at a time.

Author of Bringing Back the Beaver and Hunt for the Shadow Wolf, Derek shares his personal, courageous and highly entertaining tales in Birds, Beasts and Bedlam, including how he raised a sofa-loving wild boar piglet, transported a raging bison bull across the UK, got bitten by a Scottish wildcat and, together with Isabella Tree and Charlie Burrell, restored the ancient white stork to the pioneering Knepp Estate.

After a Shetland ewe captured his heart as a boy, Derek grew up to become a farmer with a passion for ancient breeds. When he realised how many of our species were close to extinction even on his own land Derek tore down fences literally and metaphorically, transforming his traditional Devon farm into a 300-acre rewilding haven for beavers, water voles, lynx, wildcats, harvest mice, wild boar and more. A project that is still ongoing today.

Birds, Beasts and Bedlam continues the rich tradition of great British nature writing and is a natural bedfellow to Gerald Durrells A Zoo in My Luggage. Passionate, subversive and unforgettable, Birds, Beasts and Bedlam will leave you imagining a rewilded landscape filled with our lost native birds and wildlife.

A do-er, not a dreamer, Gow has become one of our most outspoken rewilders. Countryfile Magazine

In this warm and funny autobiography, [Gow] writes with a whimsical fluency about the moments of humour and pathos in an unusual life. Country Life