Whiskers, Claws and Conservation’s Last, Wild Hope

Elegy For a River

Dr Tom Moorhouse is a conservation research scientist who has worked for twenty years at the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, part of Oxford University's Zoology Department. He completed his DPhil on the conservation ecology of water voles in 2003 at Oxford. His work subsequently focused on water vole reintroductions, then the management of signal crayfish and hedgehog conservation. More recently he has studied the impacts of wildlife tourism and of global demand for wildlife products. Outside of conservation research, Tom is the author of award-winning children's fiction. He has also published a number of public engagement pieces based on his own work, including the winner of the 2003 New Scientist New Millennial Science Writing Competition, entitled Reintroducing 'Ratty'. He lives with his wife and daughter in Oxford and spends as much time as possible beside water.

A DAILY MAIL BOOK OF THE WEEK: 'particularly enjoyable' 
'Somehow laugh-out-loud funny - passionate, warm and full of fascinating insights into the eccentric world of the field naturalist.' - Isabella Tree, author of Wilding 
 
Water voles are small, brownish, bewhiskered and charming. Made famous by 'Ratty' in The Wind in the Willows, once they were a ubiquitous part of our waterways. They were a totem of our rivers. Now, however, they are nearly gone. This is their story, and the story of a conservationist with a wild hope: that he could bring them back. 
 
Tom Moorhouse spent eleven years beside rivers, fens, canals, lakes and streams, researching British wildlife. Quite a lot of it tried to bite him. He studied four main species - two native and endangered, two invasive and endangering - beginning with water voles. He wanted to solve their conservation problems. He wanted to put things right. 
 
This book is about whether it worked, and what he learnt - and about what those lessons mean, not just for water voles but for all the world's wildlife. It is a book for anyone who has watched ripples spread on lazy waters, and wondered what moves beneath. Or who has waited in quiet hope for a rustle in the reeds, the munch of a stem, or the patter of unseen paws. 
 
Praise for Tom Moorhouse: 
 
'The pages of this book are shot through with quicksilver light reflected from wet fur - not a lament for our rivers but a chorus of hope for their future.' - Raynor Winn, author of The Salt Path 
 
'Beautiful and important. Tom's book is extraordinary in its gentle curiosity and sympathy for his subjects. I love this book.' - Sir Tim Smit KBE, Executive Vice-Chairman and Co-founder of the Eden Project 
 
'Terrific. Lightly but beautifully written. Very moving. Water voles are adorable little beasts. They are also tough, randy and stroppy, as Tom Moorhouse makes clear in this wry, amusing account of the often bloody, painful and frustrating business of conservation fieldwork. 'I hold stubbornly to optimism,' he declares, and his Elegy for a River demands that we do the same.' - Christopher Somerville, walking correspondent for The Times and author of The January Man

Tom Moorhouse

For those with an interest in endangered species, Tom Moorhouse's Ghosts in the Hedgerow: A Hedgehog Whoddunit is a caring, amiable guide to who (and what) is responsible for the worrying decline ofI this cute mammal.

Tom Moorhouse is brilliant at weaving complex ecological ideas into an easily accessible and very entertaining form - Ghosts in the Hedgerow is a delight.

Hugh Warwick, ecologist and author of A Prickly Affair

Hedgehogs have been with us for millions of years, but they seem to be getting less abundant. How do we know, and why is it happening? These are important questions, easy to ask but very difficult to answer. That's partly because the issues are complex, research scanty and hedgehogs are surprisingly difficult to study properly. Tom has written a thorough, but very readable assessment of the challenges posed by the 20th century and what we can do to help the hapless 'Hedgie'.

Pat Morris, author, and president of the British Hedgehogs Preservation Society

A wonderfully entertaining and intriguing book. The hedgehog has found its champion.

Tristan Gooley, author of The Walker's Guide to Outdoor Clues and Signs and How to Read Water

Jaunty, scholarly, hugely entertaining, wise, deadly serious and downright fun ... A triumph.

Charles Foster, author of Cry of the Wild, Being a Human and A Little Brown Sea

Any project that highlights the plight of hedgehogs is invaluable and GHOSTS IN THE HEDGEROW fulfils that task admirably.

Tim Rice, lyricist, author and host of the Get Onto My Cloud podcast

By turns hilarious and heart-breaking, Ghosts in the Hedgerow is a triumph of accessible science writing.

Moorhouse rootles out all the reasons for the tragic, resistible decline of the hedgehog, perhaps the iconic mammal of our countryside. A necessary nature book, with prose as sharp as prickles.

A hedghog whodunnit

'A necessary nature book, with prose as sharp as prickles' John Lewis-Stempel 
 
In poll after poll hedgehogs come out top as Britain's favourite mammal. And yet their numbers have been in freefall, estimated to have halved in less than twenty years. Why? Who or what is responsible for the disappearance of so many thousands of hedgehogs in recent decades? 
 
Hopeful and informative, in a story full of twists, turns and uncomfortable truths, conservationist Tom Moorhouse explores the trade-offs that exist between humans and wildlife. And, drawing on insights from other hedgehog experts, he hands readers the toolkit necessary to help bring our prickly friends back.

Ghosts in the Hedgerow

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Tom Moorhouse

Praise for Ghosts in the Hedgerow

For those with an interest in endangered species, Tom Moorhouse's Ghosts in the Hedgerow: A Hedgehog Whoddunit is a caring, amiable guide to who (and what) is responsible for the worrying decline ofI this ...

Tom Moorhouse is brilliant at weaving complex ecological ideas into an easily accessible and very entertaining form - Ghosts in the Hedgerow is a delight.

Hedgehogs have been with us for millions of years, but they seem to be getting less abundant. How do we know, and why is it happening? These are important questions, easy to ask but very difficult to answer. That's ...

For those with an interest in endangered species, Tom Moorhouse's Ghosts in the Hedgerow: A Hedgehog Whoddunit is a caring, amiable guide to who (and what) is responsible for the worrying decline ofI this ...

Tom Moorhouse is brilliant at weaving complex ecological ideas into an easily accessible and very entertaining form - Ghosts in the Hedgerow is a delight.

Hedgehogs have been with us for millions of years, but they seem to be getting less abundant. How do we know, and why is it happening? These are important questions, easy to ask but very difficult to answer. That's ...

For those with an interest in endangered species, Tom Moorhouse's Ghosts in the Hedgerow: A Hedgehog Whoddunit is a caring, amiable guide to who (and what) is responsible for the worrying decline ofI this ...

Tom Moorhouse is brilliant at weaving complex ecological ideas into an easily accessible and very entertaining form - Ghosts in the Hedgerow is a delight.

Hedgehogs have been with us for millions of years, but they seem to be getting less abundant. How do we know, and why is it happening? These are important questions, easy to ask but very difficult to answer. That's ...

Books by Tom Moorhouse

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