Nature conservation in the 21st century has taken a radical new turn. Instead of conserving particular species in nature reserves as 'museum pieces', frozen in time, the thinking now is that we should allow landscape-sized areas to 'rewild' according to their own self-determined processes. By fencing off large areas and introducing large herbivores, along with apex predators such as wolves, dynamic new habitats are already being created. These 'self-willed' areas will develop in ways that cannot always be predicted, and they may not conform to our traditional ideas of wildlife habitats, but they will form a robust and rich ecology which will be strong enough to withstand future climate changes and species shifts. In this highly topical book, the first popular account of the science of rewilding, practising ecologists Paul Jepson and Cain Blythe explore the ongoing scientific discoveries that are emerging from this fascinating field.

Paul Jepson was until recently a director of Oxford University's MSc course in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management, and is a regular contributor to TV and radio. Cain Blythe specialises in habitat restoration, nature recovery and the use of technology in conservation.