Interrupted Journeys

Retiring early from a life of teaching at a primary school in West Yorkshire, where he never missed a day, Adrian Potter is determined on two clear objectives: to be active in conservation and to purchase his own piece of wild land. When he accidently stumbles across one of the few active members of the local badger group, he dives in. He takes over the 'Badger Phone', which he quickly realises is something of a hot potato. Before long he finds himself inundated with calls, many of them regarding road casualties, but also reports of sightings, requests for advice about feeding, complaints about badgers digging up lawns. He is reborn as the 'Badger Man', travelling West Yorkshire with two other enthusiasts: Pam and Derek, a retired miner with ruined teeth. However, it doesn't stop with badgers. Adrian soon finds himself taking on fox and deer incidents, because no network of care exists for these other larger mammals in the area.

Badgers, foxes, deer: The Big Three, as Adrian refers to them. When his work for the badger group leads to a landowner who agrees to sell him a beautiful, wooded clough that contains a large badger sett, it provides an irresistible opportunity to delve even deeper into the strange world of these elusive creatures, and the various other animals that come there, a precious last outpost of biodiversity before the Pennine moors.

Interrupted Journeys is an unconventional memoir about one man's experiences with animals that lead hidden lives, and the consequences when they collide with our world. It movingly describes the author nursing wounded badger cubs, rescuing injured roe deer, liberating trapped foxes, as well as encounters with a host of other animals. And it thrillingly reveals a man reborn - how he finds a second childhood even - in later life through contact with nature.