Rewilding

A hopeful yet practical collection of essays exploring the many opportunities and benefits of rewilding and how to get involved today. Highly illustrated with nature photography tracing landscape change over thousands of years.

Rewilding has become the key talking point in the modern conservation movement. But it’s commonly misunderstood as a campaign to fill the forests with lynxes, wolves and bears, when in fact the ethos guiding the British rewilding movement is much more nuanced, and much broader in scope. It’s also much more complicated, requiring an in-depth understanding of the complexity of regional ecosystems.

Naturalist and photographer David Woodfall has spent years canvassing converts actually working in the countryside, meeting the people on the frontline of rewilding and collecting their stories. The result is a passionate chorus of voices from all facets of the movement. More than 50 contributors share stories of successful examples like the Knepp and Alladale estates, of unique species like the North Atlantic Salmon under threat, of the essential NGOs and trusts, of government agencies and policies, and so much more. Illustrated with Woodfall’s stunning nature photography, Rewilding offers at once an in-depth understanding of an essential movement and the people leading it; and of British ecosystems in all their terribly fragility and intricate beauty.

Reviews

Praise for Rewilding
‘Very much worth reading’ George Monbiot

‘A series of interesting and reassuring essays about projects small and large which necessarily explains what this important conservation tool is really all about’ Chris Packham

‘If you are fascinated by nature and think you could do more to help, then this may well be the book for you, for you will surely find inspiration in its stories’ BBC Countryfile

‘Superb anthology of moving, informative, poignant and yes, at times, hard-hitting essays’ Scotland: The Big Picture

Praise for David Woodfall
‘Can a photograph truly be worth a thousand words? Yes, when it is taken by someone with the perceptive eye of David Woodfall.’
New Scientist

Praise for Natural Heartlands by David Woodfall and Kenneth Taylor
‘A visual delight and contains some of the most exquisite landscape shots of the British Isles I have seen for a long time.’
New Scientist

About the author

David Woodfall has spent 22 years of photographing nature. BBC Wildlife has described him as ‘the poet laureate of British and Irish landscapes'. In North America and Europe he is better known for his work on environmental issues. He has won a number of international awards including category winners in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards and in Natures Best (USA). Both his books, Natural Heartlands and Flowers at my Feet have been highly commended in the Natural History Book of the Year Awards.