Should we kill foxes? If the answer is no, then what about rats? Scottish crofters have recently urged the killing of golden and sea eagles which, allegedly, prey on their lambs. As the furore over the 2005 Hunting with Dogs Act proved, emotion, rather than reason, informs these heated debates. All over the world we have yet to agree our rights over, and responsibilities towards, other sentient creatures and our delicate symbiosis with them.

The facts are often fickle - which is why this is such an important book. Lovegrove has done a remarkable job of collating numbers from British parishes of “vermin” killed since the Tudor Vermin Acts, beginning in 1532, promulgated payments for killing stipulated species. Charting the history of Man's “deliberate killing of terrestrial wildlife in Britain”, this is a work of diligent science, rather than literature, but that is exactly what we need. Lovegrove and his helpers have spent thousands of admirable hours “extracting records from dusty archives”. There is no polemic here. Whether you are a member of the RSPB or, if this is a valid antithesis, the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, you will find in this book the clear facts that both sides need to accept if we are to find the necessary compromises.

Despite his lugubrious title and sub-title, Lovegrove gives grounds for hope. Species once all but exterminated - pine marten, sea eagle, osprey - have been reintroduced in partnership between the various parties affected. Lovegrove's calm challenge is clear.

Silent Fields: The Long Decline of a Nation's Wildlife by Roger Lovegrove
OUP, £12.99 Buy the book here

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