I loved this book because of the passion with which it is infused for the hated and feared wolf. Reading it, I could feel the burning desire of the author to set the record straight against the background of the mix of fact and fiction that surrounds the story of Britain’s now long-extinct wolves. To read of their extermination makes one sad.
For me the style of writing and use of words had an almost spiritual tone – as in this line – “Lost forever in a forest of forget”.
"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 wry, profane truth teller who is equal parts yeoman farmer, historical ecologist, and pirate."―Ben Goldfarb, author of Eager and Crossings
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…
It was an emotional and very personal account of the author’s exploration of the Forest of Dean to see and understand the lives of wild boars. Once native to Britain, they have done their own rewilding after scores were released, often from farms where they were bred for meat.
I found that Chantal was able to convey the feeling of being in the forest and the wonder at seeing boar. I found the book informative and with a real feel of the pleasure the author gained from the boar and the forest. She has a way with words verging on the poetic – “I will miss the shapes of the sounder as they emerge into the night. No matter. I have basked in the sounds of them being themselves. It is enough to know they are here.”
'Full of joy, pathos, warmth, integrity and intrigue.' AMY-JANE BEER
'One of the most notable works of recent nature writing.' HELEN MACDONALD
'A thrilling expedition into a wild, unruly world.' LEE SCHOFIELD
'Gently thought-provoking and beautifully written.' LEIF BERSWEDEN
'The remarkable story of Britain's wild boar.' THE GUARDIAN
'A real page-turner.' STEPHEN MOSS
After centuries of absence, wild boar are back in Britain. What does this mean for us - and them?
Big, messy and mysterious - crossing paths with a wild boar can conjure fear and joy in equal measure. Driven to extinction seven hundred years ago, a combination…
I love badgers, whether British ones snuffling through the dark wood or foraging around farms and houses or their distant African and Asia cousins, the honey badgers. I know and have benefitted from David Macdonald’s immense knowledge of wildlife.
This book is the product of 50 years of David’s and 30 years of Chris’s study of badgers in an Oxfordshire wood. You can find anything you want to know about badgers in this book, and it is written in a way that wealth of detail is not intimidating. Take this scene-setting start – “Like grave robbers, four of us, clutching long sections of pole, a metallic briefcase, and a radio-tracking receiver, shuffle suspiciously through the moonlight of the crisp January night.”
The badgers of Wytham Woods (Oxford, UK) have been studied continuously and intensively by David Macdonald for almost 50 years (25 of them with his former student and co-author Chris Newman), generating a wealth of data pertaining to every facet of their ecology and evolution. Through a mix of accessible, highly readable prose and cutting-edge science, the authors weave a riveting scientific story of the lives of these intriguing creatures, highlighting the insights offered to science more broadly through badgers as a model system. They provide a paradigm - from population down to molecule - for a deeper understanding of…
This is a biography of the much misunderstood and demonized hyena—whether spotted, brown, or striped—that seeks to right millennia of misrepresentation and persecution. It focuses on how humans have interacted with hyenas and incorporated them into their myths and occult practices.
The spotted hyena, known for its whooping, giggling cries, is a superb hunter with a complex matriarchal social system—the exact opposite of depictions in myth and legend, most tellingly in recent years in The Lion King. The striped hyena does not lure people to their deaths by imitating human voices but provides ecosystem service by cleaning up rotting carcasses. The brown is a fascinating arid area specialist.
