Beak, Tooth and Claw

Mary Colwell is a producer and writer and author of two books, John Muir – The Scotsman who saved America’s Wild Places (2014) and Curlew Moon (2018). In 2017 she was awarded the BTO Dilys Breese Medal for outstanding Communication in Science and in 2018 she won the National Gamekeepers Association Bellamy Award for nature conservation for her work on curlews. She has organised four national conferences on curlew conservation which have bought together a wide range of people from across the conservation spectrum. She is listed in the top 50 most influential conservationists in Britain by BBC Wildlife Magazine. She has written for the Guardian, BBC Wildlife Magazine, Country Life and many others. She makes nature documentaries for BBC Radio 3 and 4 and is a public speaker on the natural world and environmental issues.

‘Provocative, thought provoking and life affirming. Mary Colwell enters a world steeped in blood, much of it on our hands. A masterpiece of Conservation writing’ Sir Tim Smit of the Eden Project‘This fascinating – and balanced – book wrestles with our confused, paradoxical relationship with predators … and argues that our relationship with them needs to be evaluated within the context of its history’ The Field‘There are few more fraught topics than the status of Britain’s larger predators … It takes immense courage to be a voice of calm … and once again Mary Colwell has stepped up to the mark. There is much to learn from this book’ BBC Wildlife‘Colwell seeks to steer those who legally cull predators towards a more thoughtful stance, while urging others to understand why predators have to be managed’ BBC Countryfile magazine‘This book made me question what I thought that I knew about species ranging from seals to wolves’ BTO magazine‘An engaging, balanced and wise book on a contested subject … A lesson both in open-mindedness and in sweet reason’ Jeremy Mynott, author of Birdscapes‘A brave book … that seeks out a fair-minded variety of opinions … thoroughly researched, indexed and annotated … this honest scrutiny of our relationship with middle-sized British predators is timely, informative and necessary’ Juliet Blaxford