Birds, Beasts & Bedlam By Derek Gow

Turning My Farm into an Ark for Lost Species.

We are thrilled to welcome farmer and conservationist Derek Gow to Stanfords, to celebrate the launch of his remarkable new book Birds, Beasts and Bedlam: Turning My Farm Into an Ark for Lost Species.

Join us for this fascinating evening, hearing the truly wild adventures of the farmer-turned- rewilder who is on a mission to save 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’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 centre. He now houses beavers, white storks, water voles, lynx, wildcats and harvest mice, with the aim of releasing them into the wild.

Growing up in a farming community in Scotland, Derek kept his first sheep at the age of 10 – but to be a zookeeper was his childhood dream and, after a period as a livestock auctioneer, he jumped at the chance to manage a wildlife park in Scotland in the 1990s, going on to develop two nature centres in England, before eventually returning to farming.

Birds, Beasts and Bedlam tells us the realities of Derek’s experiences; how he reared delicate roe deer and a sofaloving 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.

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.

About the author:

Derek Gow is a farmer and nature conservationist. Born in Dundee in 1965, he left school when he was 17 and worked in agriculture for five years. Inspired by the writing of Gerald Durrell, all of whose books he has read – thoroughly – he jumped at the chance to manage a European wildlife park in central Scotland in the late 1990s before moving on to develop two nature centres in England. He now lives with his children, Maysie and Kyle, on a 300-acre farm on the Devon/Cornwall border which he is in the process of rewilding. Derek has played a significant role in the reintroduction of the Eurasian beaver, the water vole and the white stork in England. He is currently working on a reintroduction project for the wildcat.

Praise for Birds, Beasts and Bedlam :

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

‘Gow has a fire in his belly. We need more like him.’–BBC Wildlife magazine

‘The radical rewilder.’–The Times

'Derek's passion for our native wildlife is matched by his highly pragmatic approach to helping it thrive. He gets stuff done. The story of his amazing work at Broadwoodwidger is highly entertaining but also a heartfelt plea for a wilder, more inspiring Britain.'-Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

'Derek Gow's riotous adventures rescuing threatened species and releasing them for rewilding read like Gerald Durrell on steroids. Courageous, visionary, funny and always up for a scrap with bureaucracy and complacency, the world needs many more Derek Gows.'-Isabella Tree, author of Wilding

'A brilliant read - and the entertaining backstory of a species of human megafauna who has transformed the British conservation scene.'-Benedict Macdonald, author of Rebirding (winner, 2020 Wainwright Conservation Prize)

'It is a charming, passionate and timely book. It will stir thoughts in many, and motivate them to do even small things that can have large consequences. I hope it will become a classic.'-Bernd Heinrich, author of A Naturalist at Large

The event will start promptly at 7.00pm.

Tickets £5 

Includes glass of wine/soft drink

(£5.00 off the published price of Birds, Beasts & Bedlam: Turning My Farm into an Ark for Lost Species for ticket holders when purchased on the evening).

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Face coverings are preferred but not mandatory.

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