The Derek Gow Consultancy
The Derek Gow Consultancy Ltd is a professional team of ecological consultants dedicated to the conservation of native British wildlife.
We specialise in water vole mitigation, reintroduction and development led translocation projects. We have over 30 years’ experience of working with this species during which we advised all the species handbooks from 2006/2012 and co-wrote the development mitigation guidelines published in 2016.
This unique husbandry expertise has placed the DGC at the forefront of proactive water vole conservation which to date has involved its staff in the captive breeding and release with the broadest possible range partner organisations of over 40,000 water voles over time.
We specialise in ethical wildlife mitigation, breeding, reintroduction and translocation of protected British mammals and reptiles, in particular Harvest Mice, Wild Cats, Storks (white and black), Turtle Doves, Beaver and insects such as Glow worm and Mole Crickets.
The consultancy is based in West Devon, undertaking projects throughout the UK and abroad.
Species Recovery Centre
The DGC has worked with Eurasian Beavers for approximately 30 years. Derek was the first to import and quarantine beavers for projects in the UK from Poland, Bavaria and Norway. He is a member of the European Beaver Working Group and has widely advised very many of the enclosed and free living beaver trials that have been variously developed in Britain to date. We have a long term and continuing relationship with the Beaver Trust to hold and care for beavers in transit to projects in England and Wales.
Based on our extensive experience gained from the above we launched with the support of a broad range of sponsors the Species Recovery Centre in 2024. The UK is placed in the bottom 10% of the world’s countries in terms of ecological health and is last among the G7 group of nations. It is clear from a multiplicity of national and international reports that Britain’s wildlife overall is undergoing a rapid and serious decline. Many of our once common species are now on the verge of extinction in both a local and national sense and it is our ambition to create a national centre of excellence for the captive breeding and release of both endangered and extinct British species. Our aim is to focus on some of the most challenging species with a view to overcoming the knowledge gaps which exist with regard to their restoration.
For more information on the Species Recovery Centre project see keepitwild.uk