Beak, Tooth and Claw - Wild Reads 2024

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Beak Tooth and Claw, Mary Colwell

A book cover with illustrations of a kestrel, fox and badger

Foxes, buzzards, crows, badgers, weasels, seals, gulls, kites - Britain and Ireland's predators are impressive and diverse and they capture our collective imagination. But many consider them to our competition, even our enemies. The problem is that predators eat what we farm or use for sport. From foxes and ravens attacking new-born lambs to weasels eating game-bird chicks, predators compete with us, putting them directly into the firing line. Farming, fishing, sport and leisure industries want to see numbers of predators reduced, and conservation organisations also worry that predators are threatening some endangered species. Other people, though, will go to great lengths to protect them from any harm. Mary Colwell travels across the UK and Ireland to encounter the predators face to face. She watches their lives in the wild and discovers how they fit into the landscape.

About the author

Mary Colwell is an English environmentalist author and producer. She previously worked for the BBC Natural History Unit, she is founder and director of the charity Curlew Action and Chair of the Curlew Recovery Partnership. 

Learn about our native predators

Suffolk is home to many predator species, badger, buzzards, crows and more. Discover our native predators and their habitats.