Beavers and Rewilding

Since the early 1990s – in the face of opposition from government, landowners, and even some conservation professionals – Derek Gow has imported, quarantined and assisted the reestablishment of beavers in waterways across the UK. Derek is a maverick communicating the urgent need to bring these charismatic creatures back to Britain.

After being hunted to the point of extinction for almost 400 years, beavers are now widely recognised as nature’s architects, and Derek passionately believes they are a key to ecological recovery. Their dams help us to filter water, stop run-off and reduce flooding! They also help build much needed habitat for a range of wetland wildlife.

Join us and hear an inspirational and often riotously funny first-hand account of the movement to rewild the British landscape with beavers – and how it became the most subversive nature conservation act of the modern era.
The bar will be open 5.30-7.45pm for drinks and chats before and after the talk.

Derek Gow

Derek Gow was at the centre of 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 and a book on our lost wolves.

Derek Gow is a farmer, nature conservationist and the author of Bringing Back the Beaver (2020) and Birds, Beasts & Bedlam (2022). 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, 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 re-wilding.

Host or Publisher Blue Heart