Derek Gow’s dream is controversial – that one day, Britain will be home to that so mythologised of wild animals, the wolf.

Will it ever happen? Will farmers and landowners entertain the idea? Will the politicians stand up for the wolf? And what will public opinion say?

Gow will be talking to rewilder Dr Sam Rose at BridLit this year in The Bull Hotel ballroom on Monday 4 November at 6pm. Tickets here or phone Bridport Tourist Information Centre on 01308 424901.

Wolves were endemic to Britain around the time of the last Ice Age 10-12,000 years ago. Sightings in this country have long been restricted to cages at zoos and at wildlife parks.

After raising two cubs in his home, Gow became fascinated with the wolf.

With bitingly funny and tender stories, Hunt for the Shadow Wolf: The Lost History of Wolves in Britain and the Myths and Stories that Surround Them is his quest to reveal the true nature of this magnificent creature and, as a maverick re-wilder, his hope that we will see the return of the wolf in Britain.

The book has caught the attention and imagination of publications such as The New Scientist and Psychology Today.

In a Q&A with the latter, Gow states: ‘Many older cultures understand, as we are now only beginning to comprehend, that the wolf and other large predators are nature’s guardians who protect the land from the ravages of both wild and domestic ungulates with all the other ills these inflict. One day, if we wish to heal the Earth, we will be required to bring them back.’

You can find the Q&A online, here.

In a blog with NHBS, the Natural History Book Service, he says: ‘I think we should reintroduce the wolf and prepare the way for even more of our lost beasts. Farming has had it all its own way without balance of any sort. If a species gets in our way, we kill it. It’s what we are doing to badgers right now. In the past we inflicted so much heartbreakingly visible cruelty. Now, we destroy on a scale that’s colossal without thinking about the smallest of creatures and those tinier still that inhabit the soil. It’s a viciously unnecessary process.’

Gow is a farmer, nature conservationist and the author of Bringing Back the Beaver and Birds, Beasts and Bedlam.

Inspired by the writing of Gerald Durrell, he jumped at the chance to manage a European wildlife park in central Scotland in the late 1990s before moving on to develop two nature centres in England.

He now lives with his children, Maysie and Kyle, on a 300-acre farm on the Devon/Cornwall border, which he is in the process of rewilding.

He’s played a significant role in the reintroduction of the Eurasian beaver, the water vole and the white stork in England. He is currently working on a reintroduction project for the wildcat.