Black Ops and Beaver Bombing Synopsis
Britain is teeming with wildlife, often in the most unexpected places. There are stone mines where bats hang out with pot-smoking teenagers and water voles thrive without water in Glaswegian parklands. Our coastlines are laden with seals. That's the good news. The bad news is that a quarter of British mammals are at imminent risk of extinction.
Tim Kendall and Fiona Mathews take us on a safari unlike any other. Armed with binoculars, a Thermos and, regrettably, an inexhaustible supply of puns, they travel from Scotland to the Isles of Scilly in search of their elusive subjects. You'll find answers to questions you never thought to ask: do pine marten droppings really smell like Parma Violets? Should we give squirrels access to family planning? And what do wild boar have in common with a certain royal? Black Ops and Beaver Bombing is a celebration of Britain's marvellous mammals, and a rallying cry to save them.
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Fiona Mathews Press Reviews
'Spring has barely ticked over into summer, but I've already found the book that I'll be recommending for the rest of the year... This book celebrates, mourns and champions the British mammals that are the beating heart of these islands... There are no straightforward conclusions, no easy solutions, and this is not always an easy read. But there is hope, and much of it comes from humans.' -- BBC Countryfile Magazine
'If you care about Britain's beautiful mammals - which of course you do - this hilarious book is a must-read. Weasely my favourite book of the year so far.' -- Dave Goulson, author of Silent Earth 'You will laugh and learn in equal measure' - BBC Wildlife Magazine
'Everything you could hope for in a book about our beleaguered native mammals. Elegiac, informative and funny; some truly magical encounters in the wild; an almost baffled indignation at our institutional and collective failures of policy and imagination; and best of all... some actual solutions.' -- Peter Fiennes, author of Oak and Ash and Thorn
'Packed full of useful information and acutely up to date... As she's one of the ablest mammalogists of our age, it's well worth listening to Fiona Mathews. I would heartily recommend this book to all.' -- Derek Gow, author of Bringing Back the Beaver
'This book is, or should be, a big wake-up call to anyone who hasn't already realised that Britain's native mammals are in trouble... Black Ops and Beaver Bombing provides an entertaining and informative look at some of our native mammalian species as well as the wider issues associated with species conservation in Britain. It should be required reading for anyone with a passing interest in our native wild mammals as well as for those who would like to do more to help with conservation. I particularly hope that it will be read by the politicians and other people who are in a position to make positive changes to reverse the decline of our native mammals.' -- GreenSpirit Magazine
About Fiona Mathews
Fiona Mathews is professor at the University of Sussex, founding chair of Mammal Conservation Europe, and author of the government's official census of British mammals. Tim Kendall has been an obsessive mammal-spotter all his life and teaches poetry to ill-fated undergraduates. When they're not co-writing a book, Fiona and Tim put their marriage to the test by hurtling up and down the country on wild mammal chases.
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