REWILDING A NATION
[2023]
Robi Watkinson and Emma Hodson travel across Britain and the Netherlands documenting the story of the rewilding movement, from its inception at the groundbreaking Oostervardersplasen experiment outside Amsterdam, to the return of the beaver, bison and perhaps one day, the lynx to Britain.
Along the way, they meet some of the inspiring and dedicated people driving rewilding forward, such as the pioneering conservationist Derek Gow about his hopes for the lynx in Britain and the author and environmental activist George Monbiot about the lost wolves of British Isles.​
Our Contributors
Derek Gow
"We are not capable of sustaining our own lives if we're going to go down the road of creating a landscape where there's literally no other life.”
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Rewilding maverick and author of Bringing Back the Beaver: The Story of One Man's Quest to Rewild Britain's Waterways, Derek is a farmer turned ecologist and reintroduction specialist.
George Monbiot
"Wolves would be perfectly happy right here, right now... they are a crucial missing element of our ecologies.”
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Author of Feral: Rewilding the Land, Sea and Human Life and Regenesis: Feeding the World without Devouring the Planet, George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist, environmentalist and political activist.
Paul Jepson
"The shifting baseline can be negative or positive. Creating a positive shifting baseline is something we can do. It really is.”
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Conservationist, geographer and educator Paul has been teaching, debating and writing about rewilding since 2005. He is now active in efforts to create the policy space for rewilding to act.
Stan Smith
"I hope people feel wildlife in their everyday life, that they get a chance to experience these fantastic animals that I've been privileged enough to see.”
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Stan is an experienced project manager specialising in natural process driven landscape restoration and led the groundbreaking Wilder Blean project which was the first use of European Bison in a natural grazing project in the UK.
Hannah Needham
"We need to mobilise everybody. We need to be talking to everybody possible to get involved.”
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Hannah is the Operations Director at Heal Rewilding with experience in land management, natural capital, stakeholder engagement, river restoration and community engagement.
Jasmine Isa Qureshi
"We have lots of people... that aren't educated on wildlife and conservation because they haven't had enough freedom to be able to explore wildlife as a luxury.”
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Journalist, activist, marine biologist and ecologist Jasmine is working to increase engagement and support for rewilding campaigns/projects within the UK.