The Beauty in the Beast is a delightful 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 others are all fabulously engaging British characters who manage to carry a deep knowledge of their chosen species within a distinctly quirky shell. Other animals making an appearance include otters, bats, dolphins, dragonflies, foxes, adders, and the very special toad. Hugh Warwick, animal enthusiast and hedgehog fanatic, writes a series of affectionate and lively homages to the animals of the British Isles, composed of fieldwork and interviews with the people who love and conserve them.
Hugh Warwick is an environmental writer 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 and his appearance as the 'Eco-Worrier' on Fred McAuley's Radio Scotland show. He was also the field producer on Robert Greenwald's film Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price. Hugh has studied hedgehogs, off and on, for over 20 years, and has most recently been responsible for stopping the great hedgehog massacre of Uist in the Outer Hebrides.