The man who rescues RODENTS

Derek Gow has built up a reputation for reintroducing beavers to our landscape since the 1990s, after learning that entire ecosystems depend on them. A maverick known for his dogged determination, he once transported a pair of them from Germany in his car boot. The former farmer has also thrown himself into rewilding his own plot, a 150-acre Devon farm. Coombeshead, once a sheep farm, is home to about 30 beavers, a herd of semi-feral heck cattle, Iron Age pigs and Exmoor ponies, as well as white storks, lynx and water voles. Orchids and whirligig beetles thrive there, too.

Derek has wider ambitions to release wildcats to Devon and the Cairngorms, as well as reintroduce wolves to maintain the deer population and regenerate forests.

“We can talk about it and drink lattes until we’re 70, but we need to act now, even if our aim takes a lifetime or two to accomplish,” he says.

To tour Derek’s farm or stay overnight, head to rewildingcoombeshead.co.uk.