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

In “Birds, Beasts, and Bedlam,” farmer-turned-rewilder Derek Gow shares his adventures saving Britain’s beloved endangered species, from water voles to beavers, wildcats to white storks, and tree frogs to glow worms. Derek recounts the realities of rewilding, from raising delicate roe deer and a sofa-loving wild boar piglet to relocating a raging bison bull. He shares tales of being bitten by a Scottish wildcat, returning graylag geese to their former habitat, and restoring the white stork population with Charlie Burrell and Isabella Tree at the Knepp Estate. This book, akin to Gerald Durrell’s “A Zoo in My Luggage,” documents Derek’s rewilding journey and his efforts to transform his Devon farm into a wildlife breeding center. Now home to beavers, white storks, water voles, lynx, wildcats, and harvest mice, Derek aims to eventually release them back into the wild.