The Beauty in the Beast is an illuminating portrait of some of the UK's best-loved wild animals and birds and the colourful enthusiasts who champion their causes. Meet the water vole-woman from Shropshire, the owl-man from Somerset, Paul, the beaver-man of Perthshire, and the mid-Wales badger man. These and many other engaging characters all carry a deep knowledge of their chosen species in a distinctly quirky shell. Within these pages is a true sense of the magic that is found in Britain - in the wild wood, the stream and the meadow. Other animals making an appearance include otters, bats, dolphins, dragonflies, foxes, adders and the very special toad. Hugh Warwick writes a series of affectionate and lively homages to the animals of the British Isles, intermingled with time spent in the field with the ambassadors who love and conserve them. ugh Warwick is an environmental writer, author of A Prickly Affair, and photographer whose work has appeared across print media from BBC Wildlife and New Scientist to the Daily Telegraph - for whom he was unofficially hedgehog correspondent for a while - to radio documentaries for BBC Radio 4. Hugh has studied hedgehogs, off and on, for over 25 years, and was responsible for stopping the 'great hedgehog massacre' of Uist in the Outer Hebrides.

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