Fiona Mathews and Tim Kendall

Fiona Mathews and Tim Kendall are a married couple who live in the wilds of East Devon. They share their house with two teenage daughters, two rabbits, a Labrador, and a rehabilitating common pipistrelle bat.

Fiona is Professor of Environmental Biology at the University of Sussex.  She is the founding Chair of Mammal Conservation Europe, author of the UK government’s official census of British mammals and of its internationally-sanctioned Red List, co-author of the State of Nature Reports in 2016 and 2019, lead editor on the new Atlas of Mammals of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. She advises the UK government and its devolved authorities on a variety of conservation issues. From 2015 to 2021 she served as Chair of the Mammal Society.

Her media appearances include the Radio 4’s Today Programme, Countryfile, the Guardian, Costing the Earth, and the Wall Street Journal, and many others.

Tim is Professor of English Literature at the University of Exeter. He is the author of works of poetry and literary criticism and has made documentaries for the BBC as presenter and as executive producer. He edited Britain’s Mammals 2018 and is currently working on an edition of correspondence between William Golding and his editor, Charles Monteith, for Faber & Faber. 

Latest publication BLACK OPS AND BEAVER BOMBING - Oneworld - April 2023

​A Waterstones Best Book of 2023

Shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize: Conservation

Britain is teeming with wildlife, often in the most unexpected places. There are stone mines where bats hang out with pot-smoking teenagers and water voles thrive without water in Glaswegian parklands. Our coastlines are laden with seals. That’s the good news. The bad news is that a quarter of British mammals are at imminent risk of extinction.

Tim Kendall and Fiona Mathews take us on a safari unlike any other. Armed with binoculars, a Thermos and, regrettably, an inexhaustible supply of puns, they travel from Scotland to the Isles of Scilly in search of their elusive subjects.

You’ll find answers to questions you never thought to ask: do pine marten droppings really smell like Parma Violets? Should we give squirrels access to family planning? And what do wild boar have in common with a certain royal? Black Ops and Beaver Bombing is a celebration of Britain’s marvellous mammals, and a rallying cry to save them.

Praise for BLACK OPS AND BEAVER BOMBING

Named one of Countryfile’s Best Nature and Wildlife Books for 2023

‘Spring has barely ticked over into summer, but I’ve already found the book that I’ll be recommending for the rest of the year. This is far from a light-hearted romp through the British countryside, and the (often horrifying) statistics and meticulous research are ever-present in the narrative, which never shies away from complexity and ambiguity. There are no straightforward conclusions, no easy solutions, and this is not always an easy read. But there is hope, and much of it comes from humans.’
Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough, Countryfile

'Packed full of useful information and acutely up to date… As she's one of the ablest mammalogists of our age, it's well worth listening to Fiona Mathews. I would heartily recommend this book to all.' Derek Gow, author of Bringing Back the Beaver

'If you care about Britain’s beautiful mammals – which of course you do – this hilarious book is a must-read. Weasely my favourite book of the year so far.' Dave Goulson, author of Silent Earth

‘Black Ops and Beaver Bombing provides an entertaining and informative look at some of our native mammalian species as well as the wider issues associated with species conservation in Britain. It should be required reading.’ GreenSpirit Magazine

‘Join a husband and wife team as they track down Britain's enigmatic animals and search for answers to the problems they face. Expect to meet beavers in back gardens, greater horseshoe bats down mines and water voles in Glasgow's East End. You will laugh and learn in equal measure.’ BBC Wildlife Magazine

‘Everything you could hope for in a book about our beleaguered native mammals. Elegiac, informative and funny; some truly magical encounters in the wild; an almost baffled indignation at our institutional and collective failures of policy and imagination; and best of all… some actual solutions.’ Peter Fiennes, author of Oak and Ash and Thorn