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Save Our Species: Endangered Animals and How You Can Save Them
Whether you would like to learn how to build a bird box, dig a hedgehog tunnel or implement broader environmental changes in your community, this practical guide to saving our most endangered species will teach you how you can help on an individual, local and national level.
Focusing on thirty of our most loved and most ‘at risk’ inhabitants, this uplifting and hopeful book will give naturalists of any age the tools to respond to the SOS calls heard from their garden, local park and beyond.
Featured species include:
• Hedgehog
• Shrill Carder Bee
• Red Squirrel
• Skylark
• Puffin
• Barn Owl
• Seahorse
• Bottle-nose Dolphin
Focusing on thirty of our most loved and most ‘at risk’ inhabitants, this uplifting and hopeful book will give naturalists of any age the tools to respond to the SOS calls heard from their garden, local park and beyond.
Featured species include:
• Hedgehog
• Shrill Carder Bee
• Red Squirrel
• Skylark
• Puffin
• Barn Owl
• Seahorse
• Bottle-nose Dolphin
- GenresNonfiction
240 pages, Hardcover
Published April 15, 2021
5 people are currently reading
57 people want to read
About the author
Dominic Couzens
83 books16 followersDominic Couzens is an expert bird guide and author. He has published numerous books and articles on natural history, including for BBC Wildlife and Bird Watching, specialising in birds and mammals. His books include Extreme Birds, Atlas of Rare Birds, The Secret Lives of Garden Birds, and Top 100 Birding Sites of the World.
He travels widely for writing and speaking, and his website is www.birdwords.co.uk.
He travels widely for writing and speaking, and his website is www.birdwords.co.uk.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 7, 2021
Our wildlife in the UK is suffering more than ever before. The onslaught of modern life, intolerant landowners and farmers that are pushed to try and make a living mean that our wildlife has been pushed to the fringes like nothing before. Animals, such as the hedgehog that was once commonplace are now on the endangered list. There are eleven other mammals on the red list a full 25% of our native species.
Hearing things like this can make people feel helpless, but there are things that we can do to help out those that are most critical. In this book, Dominic Couzens has chosen thirty animals that are on this list and has written a little about them and specific issues that they are facing and most importantly has got lots of practical ideas and suggestions as to how we can help these creatures.
Starting with the hedgehog, a cute prickly mammal that most people are fond of, he details ways in which homeowners can help these little hogs. There are simple things like not using slug bait, leaving a small(ish) patch untidy and not digging up your lawn. Check piles of rubbish before disposing of and a new thing that is happening in my area, creating gaps to make a hedgehog highway.
The plants that you put in your garden can make a big difference, we all know about plants for pollinators, but adding in night-scented plants attracts moths, which in turn brings in those wonderful flying mammals, bats. There are other animals that you might not come across as you look out your kitchen windows like dolphins and hen harriers, but there are many suggestions on how you can help these too, including reducing plastic use and making sure it is properly disposed of, choosing fish in the supermarket that have been caught sustainably. Joining wildlife trusts and picking a particular society of an animal that you love is another way of helping. All monies in these societies are put towards helping in the best way possible.
I thought that this was a really nicely put together book. Couzens has lots of sensible ideas and practical things that you can do to help and you don’t often have to spend a lot of money either. The drawings by Sarah Edmonds add a really nice touch to this too. Buy it, read it and do something about it.
Hearing things like this can make people feel helpless, but there are things that we can do to help out those that are most critical. In this book, Dominic Couzens has chosen thirty animals that are on this list and has written a little about them and specific issues that they are facing and most importantly has got lots of practical ideas and suggestions as to how we can help these creatures.
Starting with the hedgehog, a cute prickly mammal that most people are fond of, he details ways in which homeowners can help these little hogs. There are simple things like not using slug bait, leaving a small(ish) patch untidy and not digging up your lawn. Check piles of rubbish before disposing of and a new thing that is happening in my area, creating gaps to make a hedgehog highway.
The plants that you put in your garden can make a big difference, we all know about plants for pollinators, but adding in night-scented plants attracts moths, which in turn brings in those wonderful flying mammals, bats. There are other animals that you might not come across as you look out your kitchen windows like dolphins and hen harriers, but there are many suggestions on how you can help these too, including reducing plastic use and making sure it is properly disposed of, choosing fish in the supermarket that have been caught sustainably. Joining wildlife trusts and picking a particular society of an animal that you love is another way of helping. All monies in these societies are put towards helping in the best way possible.
I thought that this was a really nicely put together book. Couzens has lots of sensible ideas and practical things that you can do to help and you don’t often have to spend a lot of money either. The drawings by Sarah Edmonds add a really nice touch to this too. Buy it, read it and do something about it.
June 30, 2025
“Save Our Species: Endangered Animals and How You Can Save Them” by Dominic Couzens for June 2025 keyword “Save”.
Beautifully illustrated book, suitable for all ages.
This book contains stories about 30 animals and plants in United Kingdom that have declined and are going into extinction. Reasons why are they in trouble and how we can help them. Filled with facts.
“The total number of breeding birds in the UK fell by 44 million between 1967 and 2009.”
“..skylarks have declined by over 75% since 1950s..”
“Some species have increased… red kites, bitterns and pine martens.”
Hedgehog (Erinaceus Europaeus)
- We need to “adapt our gardens to suit hedgehogs, so don’t use slug pellets and pesticides; allow untidiness; build runaways between gardens.”
- Organisations to support: “British Hedgehog preservation society and Peoples Trust for Endangered Species. (PTES).”
“Remember the old days when we used to worry about tigers and giant pandas disappearing? Back then, not really long ago, the idea that we might lose common animals like hedgehogs would have never entered our minds.”
- “netting over our vegetables” = “hedgehogs spines can become trapped”
- “..a pond that is steep-sided, they may fall in and drown.”
- “..mow, strim the lawn, we need to be careful not to kill a hedgehog…. animals sometimes lie in the long grass..”
- “Hedgehogs are drawn to piles of vegetation, so bonfires…. Vulnerable in sleepy state..”
- “Modern gardens often enclosed by high walls and fences, if you can make sure there are gaps or passageways (13cm by 13cm) in your boundaries, you will allow hedgehogs access to a wide foraging area - creating a so-called Hedgehog Highway.”
- Host a hedgehog in your garden: “hedgehog box, if you wish for them to hibernate or even raise a litter.. Give them meaty cat or dog food, or even cat biscuits. Don’t forget odd dish of water on warm nights.”
Grey long eared Bat (plecotus austriacus)
Red Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris)
- “..in 1876 they introduced the grey squirrel, from North America..”
- “Grey squirrels are fatter and heavier than red squirrels… and easier to catch..”
Basking Shark (Cetorhinus maximus)
- Gosh it sounds like something out of Gladiator movie with Russell Crowe.. lol!
Beautifully illustrated book, suitable for all ages.
This book contains stories about 30 animals and plants in United Kingdom that have declined and are going into extinction. Reasons why are they in trouble and how we can help them. Filled with facts.
“The total number of breeding birds in the UK fell by 44 million between 1967 and 2009.”
“..skylarks have declined by over 75% since 1950s..”
“Some species have increased… red kites, bitterns and pine martens.”
Hedgehog (Erinaceus Europaeus)
- We need to “adapt our gardens to suit hedgehogs, so don’t use slug pellets and pesticides; allow untidiness; build runaways between gardens.”
- Organisations to support: “British Hedgehog preservation society and Peoples Trust for Endangered Species. (PTES).”
“Remember the old days when we used to worry about tigers and giant pandas disappearing? Back then, not really long ago, the idea that we might lose common animals like hedgehogs would have never entered our minds.”
- “netting over our vegetables” = “hedgehogs spines can become trapped”
- “..a pond that is steep-sided, they may fall in and drown.”
- “..mow, strim the lawn, we need to be careful not to kill a hedgehog…. animals sometimes lie in the long grass..”
- “Hedgehogs are drawn to piles of vegetation, so bonfires…. Vulnerable in sleepy state..”
- “Modern gardens often enclosed by high walls and fences, if you can make sure there are gaps or passageways (13cm by 13cm) in your boundaries, you will allow hedgehogs access to a wide foraging area - creating a so-called Hedgehog Highway.”
- Host a hedgehog in your garden: “hedgehog box, if you wish for them to hibernate or even raise a litter.. Give them meaty cat or dog food, or even cat biscuits. Don’t forget odd dish of water on warm nights.”
Grey long eared Bat (plecotus austriacus)
Red Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris)
- “..in 1876 they introduced the grey squirrel, from North America..”
- “Grey squirrels are fatter and heavier than red squirrels… and easier to catch..”
Basking Shark (Cetorhinus maximus)
- Gosh it sounds like something out of Gladiator movie with Russell Crowe.. lol!
May 30, 2022
Very sweet book about how to save the endangered animals of Britain! Learnt lots that I didn’t know already, and some fantastic practical ideas of what to do to help. The illustrations were also beautiful! I have the same issue I have with all books like this though where I just don’t think the solutions go far enough, how about instead of ‘sustainably sourced fish’, we recommend eating no fish at all? Not sure how much you can love animals whilst also eating them, but that’s just my personal opinion clouding my enjoyment! Definitely recommend reading this if you’re into wildlife and sustainability!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews