Birds, Beasts and Bedlam

Birds, Beasts and Bedlam PDF Author: Derek Gow
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1645021335
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
‘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 Birds, Beasts and Bedlam recounts the adventures of farmer-turned-rewilder Derek Gow, who is saving 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 tells us all about the realities of rewilding; how he reared delicate roe deer and a sofa-loving 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. 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 center. He now houses beavers, white storks, water voles, lynx, wildcats, and harvest mice, with the aim of releasing them into the wild one day. 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. ‘The radical rewilder.’—The Times ‘Derek Gow wants his farm to be a breeding colony, a seedbed for a denuded island.’—The New Yorker

Birds, Beasts and Bedlam

Birds, Beasts and Bedlam PDF Author: Derek Gow
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1645021335
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 210

Get Book Here

Book Description
‘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 Birds, Beasts and Bedlam recounts the adventures of farmer-turned-rewilder Derek Gow, who is saving 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 tells us all about the realities of rewilding; how he reared delicate roe deer and a sofa-loving 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. 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 center. He now houses beavers, white storks, water voles, lynx, wildcats, and harvest mice, with the aim of releasing them into the wild one day. 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. ‘The radical rewilder.’—The Times ‘Derek Gow wants his farm to be a breeding colony, a seedbed for a denuded island.’—The New Yorker

Birds, Beasts and Bedlam

Birds, Beasts and Bedlam PDF Author: Derek Gow
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1645021343
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
"Gow has a fire in his belly. We need more like him."—BBC Wildlife magazine "[Gow is] a wonderful storyteller, wisely allowing his animals (and considerable bedlam) to take center stage. His stories can be bawdy, laugh-out-loud funny, poignant, or even depressing, but they're never dull."—Booklist Birds, Beasts and Bedlam recounts the adventures of farmer-turned-rewilder Derek Gow, who is saving 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 tells us all about the realities of rewilding; how he reared delicate roe deer and a sofa-loving 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. 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 center. He now houses beavers, white storks, water voles, lynx, wildcats, and harvest mice, with the aim of releasing them into the wild one day. 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. "Gow reinvents what it means to be a guardian of the countryside."—The Guardian "The radical rewilder."—The Times "Derek Gow wants his farm to be a breeding colony, a seedbed for a denuded island."—The New Yorker

Bringing Back the Beaver

Bringing Back the Beaver PDF Author: Derek Gow
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603589961
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
Since the early 1990s - in the face of outright opposition from government, landowning elites and even some conservation professionals - Derek Gow has imported, quarantined and assisted the reestablishment of beavers in waterways across England and Scotland. 'Bringing Back the Beaver' is farmer-turned-ecologist Gow's inspirational and often riotously funny firsthand account of how the movement to rewild the British landscape with beavers has become the single most dramatic and subversive nature conservation act of the modern era.

Soul of a Dog

Soul of a Dog PDF Author: Jon Katz
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN: 0812977734
Category : Pets
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
Do animals have souls? Some of our greatest thinkers—Aristotle, Plato, Thomas Aquinas—and countless animal lovers have been obsessed with this question for thousands of years. Now New York Times bestselling author Jon Katz looks for an answer. With his signature wisdom, humor, and clarity, Katz relates the stories of the animals he lives with on Bedlam Farm and finds remarkable kinships at every turn. Whether it is beloved sheepdog Rose’s brilliant and methodical herding ability, Mother the cat’s keen mousing instincts, or Izzy’s canine compassion toward hospice patients, Katz is mesmerized to see in them individual personas and sparks of self-awareness. Soul of a Dog will resonate with anyone who loves dogs, cats, or other animals—and who wonders about the spirits that animate them and the deepening hold they have on our lives.

Gone

Gone PDF Author: Michael Blencowe
Publisher: Aurum Press
ISBN: 0711276927
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
Gone is a fascinating and timely illustrated narrative exploring the lively tales of eleven extraordinary extinct species from around the globe––sharing an enlightening story of extinction and conservation for today.

The Bird-Friendly City

The Bird-Friendly City PDF Author: Timothy Beatley
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 164283047X
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
How does a bird experience a city? A backyard? A park? As the world has become more urban, noisier from increased traffic, and brighter from streetlights and office buildings, it has also become more dangerous for countless species of birds. Warblers become disoriented by nighttime lights and collide with buildings. Ground-feeding sparrows fall prey to feral cats. Hawks and other birds-of-prey are sickened by rat poison. These name just a few of the myriad hazards. How do our cities need to change in order to reduce the threats, often created unintentionally, that have resulted in nearly three billion birds lost in North America alone since the 1970s? In The Bird-Friendly City, Timothy Beatley, a longtime advocate for intertwining the built and natural environments, takes readers on a global tour of cities that are reinventing the status quo with birds in mind. Efforts span a fascinating breadth of approaches: public education, urban planning and design, habitat restoration, architecture, art, civil disobedience, and more. Beatley shares empowering examples, including: advocates for “catios,” enclosed outdoor spaces that allow cats to enjoy backyards without being able to catch birds; a public relations campaign for vultures; and innovations in building design that balance aesthetics with preventing bird strikes. Through these changes and the others Beatley describes, it is possible to make our urban environments more welcoming to many bird species. Readers will come away motivated to implement and advocate for bird-friendly changes, with inspiring examples to draw from. Whether birds are migrating and need a temporary shelter or are taking up permanent residence in a backyard, when the environment is safer for birds, humans are happier as well.

Silent Spring Revisited

Silent Spring Revisited PDF Author: Conor Mark Jameson
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1408194074
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
Fifty years after the publication of the seminal Silent Spring, Conor Mark Jameson reflects on Rachel Carson's legacy and asks the question - are we still silencing the spring?

Going, Going, Gone

Going, Going, Gone PDF Author: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1408186322
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
We asked 100 conservation groups around the world: 'if you could pick one species that epitomises your work, which would it be?' From the RSPB to WWF to the Cheetah Conservation Fund, and many, many more, the answers came rolling in. Each provided a synopsis of the threats faced by their selected species, a summary of their degree of threat, an outline of the work being done to save them, and a number of ways in which the reader could help to conserve that species. With beautiful full-page photographs of each of the 100 species, this is a book that will both fascinate and educate and, hopefully, help to secure the future of the threatened animals and plants that it showcases.

Enslaved by Ducks

Enslaved by Ducks PDF Author: Bob Tarte
Publisher: Algonquin Books
ISBN: 1565124502
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
The book that Entertainment Weekly called "hilarious," Publishers Weekly declared "a true pleasure," Booklist called "heartwarming," and the Dallas Morning News praised as "rich and funny" is now available in paperback. When Bob Tarte bought a house in rural Michigan, he was counting on a tranquil haven. Then Bob married Linda. She wanted a rabbit, which seemed innocuous enough until the bunny chewed through their electrical wiring. And that was just the beginning. Before long, Bob found himself constructing cages, buying feed, clearing duck waste, and spoon-feeding a menagerie of furry and feathery residents. His life of quiet serenity vanished, and he unwittingly became a servant to a relentlessly demanding family. "They dumbfounded him, controlled and teased him, took their share of his flesh, stole his heart" (Kirkus Reviews). Whether commiserating with Bob over the fate of those who are slaves to their animals or regarding his story as a cautionary tale about the rigors of animal ownership, readers on both sides of the fence have found Tarte's story of his chaotic squawking household irresistible--and irresistibly funny.

Lions in the Balance

Lions in the Balance PDF Author: Craig Packer
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022609295X
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 355

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Book Description
The Serengeti is one of the world's most renowned ecosystems, and at its apex prowls the Serengeti Lion. These majestic mammals are iconic, and integral, and also in constant danger from encroaching humans. Craig Packer is among the unique species that has spent a lifetime ensuring the study and perpetuity of these dark maned cats. He has dedicated countless research hours and dollars to the coexistence of humans and wildlife in the Serengeti. He has even proposed ways of using lion hunting to ensure their value, and hence their protection. "Lions in the Balance "takes us into the red-in-tooth-and-claw world of lion conservation. It is an incredibly candid, entertaining, and at points alarming look at what the future of the Serengeti lions entails, and how the politics of conservation require survival strategies far more creative and powerful than what animals (humans included) on the savannas must possess. A sequel to Mr. Packer's "Into Africa, "this diary based chronicle of the past decade draws readers along the dusty trails and into the spectacular sunsets of the Serengeti. Through his experiences we learn that female lions prefer their male manes dark and long, that lion attacks on humans most commonly occur during the full moon cycles, and that citizen science is shaping the world--Packer's initiative Snapshot Serengeti has helped engage globally, and locally, and has identified thousands of images of the Serengeti. The narrative moves from Arusha to the Serengeti to Washington DC, and with some temporal hopping, as often the stories are as rich and multilayered as the Serengeti ecosystem. And Mr. Packer demonstrates that he possesses himself a bit of cat, having needed nearly nine lives to persist in the ever dynamic and vexed world of conservation in Africa.