We recently reviewed the book Bringing Back the Beaver, published by Chelsea Green, written by Derek Gow, an excellent read about the trials and travails to reintroduce beavers to the UK. We were therefore delighted to have him on the podcast to explain more about his experiences.

More about Derek, and see more on his website here.

Derek Gow is the Managing Director of a specialist wildlife consultancy - The Derek Gow Consultancy Ltd - which is principally focused on water vole mitigation and restoration projects. Derek was a consultant for the captive breeding and development chapters of the Water Vole Conservation Handbook - second and third editions, 2006/11 published by Wildlife Conservation and Research Unit of Oxford University (Wild-CRU) and was a co-author of the Water Vole Mitigation Guidelines published by the Mammal Society in 2016. Derek is the lead training provider of bi-annual courses for water vole mitigation/conservation for the IEEM. Derek is a member of the European Beaver Working group. He has travelled to view beaver project sites in Holland, Bavaria, Russia, Croatia, Lithuania, Denmark, Poland, Norway, France, Romania and Oregon. Since 1996 he has organized the import and quarantine of over 60 Eurasian beavers into the UK for zoological collections, private landowners and the SBT Knapdale trial.

How the Beaver was reintroduced to Scotland, and why it could thrive in Ireland too, Derek Gow