Rebirding: Rewilding Britain and Its Birds

"There’s a quote on the back of this book from Bill Oddie: “Having read a number of the recent books about rewilding, I was tempted to think, oh blimey, not another one!” I completely agree with Bill Oddie; when I picked this up, I thought, ‘I can’t be bothered to read this.’ But I’m really glad I did. Not only is it beautifully written and a joy to read, it’s really interesting, just a really good book. He writes absolutely beautifully, and although there’s loads of detail in it, it doesn’t feel like you’re being lectured. “We should be clever enough to sort out the problems we’ve created” Again, he goes back to really quite a long time ago to talk about how we got here, but then has very particular and practical ways that he thinks should improve things, particularly for birds, which is his thing. So it’s problems and solutions not only for birds, but also for rural communities. Not everyone will agree with the conclusions that he reaches for, but his arguments are persuasively written, so at least there’s something to discuss. We can all say, ‘Oh dear, isn’t it awful? How dreadful.’ But at least if somebody says, ‘well, why don’t we do this?’ then you can have a discussion about it. He’s got some wonderful, detailed thoughts about how you can go about improving things. No. It doesn’t read like a polemic, because it’s very inviting. You don’t feel like you’re being shouted at. Or, well, maybe. It’s good. Yes, it’s clever. You don’t have to agree with him to find the book interesting."