Overview

'Full of joy, pathos, warmth, integrity and intrigue.' AMY-JANE BEER 'One of the most notable works of recent nature writing.' HELEN MACDONALD 'A thrilling expedition into a wild, unruly world.' LEE SCHOFIELD 'Gently thought-provoking and beautifully written.' LEIF BERSWEDEN 'The remarkable story of Britain’s wild boar.' THE GUARDIAN 'A real page-turner.' STEPHEN MOSS After centuries of absence, wild boar are back in Britain. What does this mean for us – and them? Big, messy and mysterious – crossing paths with a wild boar can conjure fear and joy in equal measure. Driven to extinction seven hundred years ago, a combination of the species’ own tenacity and illegal releases from the 1980s has seen several populations of this beast of myth begin to roam English and Scottish woods once more. With growing worry over the impacts on both people and the countryside, the boar’s right to exist in Britain has been heavily debated. Their habitat-regenerating actions benefit a host of other wildlife, yet unlike beavers, these ecosystem engineers remain unloved by many. Why is there no clamour to reintroduce them across the land? And, with the few boar in England threatened by poaching and culling, why are we not doing more to prevent their re-extinction? In Groundbreakers, Chantal Lyons moves to the boar’s stronghold of the Forest of Dean to get up close and personal with this complex, intelligent and quirky species, and she meets with people across Britain and beyond who celebrate their presence – or want them gone. From Toulouse and Barcelona where they are growing in number and boldness, to the woods of Kent and Sussex where they are fading away again, to Inverness-shire where rewilders welcome them, join Chantal on a journey of discovery as she reveals what it might take for us to coexist with wild boar.

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9781399401630

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Reviews

A thrilling expedition into a wild, unruly world. Written with great passion and insight, Groundbreakers examines the joys and challenges that come with living alongside resurgent Wild Boar. Giving us a window into the lives of these hairy forces of nature, Lyons challenges us to consider our place on the planet, and how we might relearn the forgotten skill of peaceful coexistence. A timely and vital addition to the conservation writing canon. * Lee Schofield, author of Wild Fell * In this gently thought-provoking and beautifully written book, Lyons gives us an intimate insight into the lives of our wild boar and those that live alongside them. Groundbreakers is a charming and impressively balanced account that's as important for our society as rootings are to the forest floor * Leif Bersweden, author of Where the Wildflowers Grow * Groundbreakers is a real page-turner, as Chantal Lyons delves back in time and forward into the future to tell the fascinating story of Britain's only truly big, fierce mammal: the wild boar. * Stephen Moss, author of Ten Birds That Changed the World *

A thrilling expedition into a wild, unruly world. Written with great passion and insight, Groundbreakers examines the joys and challenges that come with living alongside resurgent Wild Boar. Giving us a window into the lives of these hairy forces of nature, Lyons challenges us to consider our place on the planet, and how we might relearn the forgotten skill of peaceful coexistence. A timely and vital addition to the conservation writing canon. * Lee Schofield * In this gently thought-provoking and beautifully written book, Lyons gives us an intimate insight into the lives of our wild boar and those that live alongside them. Groundbreakers is a charming and impressively balanced account that's as important for our society as rootings are to the forest floor * Leif Bersweden *

Author Information

Chantal Lyons is a naturalist, writer and science communicator. Having grown up in the tidy countryside of Kent, her encounters with the growing rewilding movement opened her eyes to the potential for restoring nature in Britain, and inspired her to study the relations between people and wild boar in the Forest of Dean. She currently lives in Cheltenham, never too far from the boar.

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