Cymraeg Written by Steph Wetherell, Comms and Media Coordinator.
The subject of rewilding can be contentious, with the desires of ecologists and environmentalists often pitted against the farmers who are working the land. While we may hear about the high profile controversy around wolves and lynx, some of the greatest debate has arisen around the humble beaver. In this review, we delve into ‘Bringing Back The Beaver’ by Derek Gow to learn more.
For a small and unassuming looking creature, the beaver has a surprising impact on our countryside. A spot of tree felling here, some dam building there and the local ecosystem can be transformed. Since hunted them to the point of extinction in the UK, sometime in the mid 16th Century, in a quest for their fur, meat and a strange substance called castoreum, our landscape has been free of their minor meddling. With the environmentalists claiming their role in flood prevention and the creation of biodiversity havens, you’d think we’d all be crying out to have them in our rivers. Yet anglers and landowners across the country are campaigning to keep them from being reintroduced to our rivers.
Enter Derek Gow, a man with a passion for reintroducing creatures, heavily involved in the return of the water vole and the white stork to our shores. However, it is his role in the reintroduction of the Eurasian beaver to the UK that comes with the most adventures. From tales of escaping beavers to adventures on Russian beaver farms to heartbreaking stories of beavers who didn’t survive, you wonder if there is any part of the journey to this point that Gow wasn’t involved in.
This book is an ode to this creature from someone bursting with passion for the reintroduction. Weaving the personal with the historical, you’ll finish the book with a strong understanding of why the beavers were hunted, but an even stronger desire for them to be reintroduced. The one flaw, perhaps, is that Gow has a tendency to get a little wrapped up in his own anecdotes, and that occasionally interrupts the flow of the book and the timeline of the journey. But when the tales are about such comic endeavours as attempting to sex a beaver, it’s hard to hold it against him.
If you’ve a passion for rewilding, ecological restoration, agriwilding or just a love of nature, this is a book that should sit on your shelf.
Bringing Back The Beaver is out now – Where possible please buy from your local independent bookshop or buy from this link where 10% of the price goes to support a local bookshop and 10% goes to the LWA.
