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Cornerstones, by Benedict Macdonald
Hardback £18 including UK p&p
The new nature narrative from the author of Rebirding, winner of the 2020 Wainright Prize for Writing on Global Cponservation
Discover the wild forces that once supported Britain's extraordinary natural riches, and could again.
Benedict Macdonald introduces us to vital cornerstone species that shape Britain like no other, from boar and birds of prey, to whales, bees, trees and of course, humans.
We know about the effects of climate change on our ecosystems and the devastating biodiversity loss that Britain is experiencing. But could restoring species that once helped protect our islands help turn this crisis around? From familiar yet imperilled honeybees and ancient oak woods to returning natives like beavers and boars, Britain's cornerstone species may hold the key to recovering our biodiversity on land and in our seas.
In Cornerstones, we discover how beavers craft wetlands, save fish, encourage otters, and prevent rivers from flooding. We learn how boars are seasoned butterfly conservationists, why whales are crucial for restoring seabird cities and how lynx could save our trees, help sequester carbon and protect our most threatened birds.
Benedict transforms our understanding of the natural world, revealing lives that once supported extraordinary riches and explaining how humans can become the greatest stewards of the natural world.
Martin's comments: Benedict really understands how ecosystems should work in Britain, unlike many so-called ecologists who have never seen biodiverse and functioning ecosystems comparable to those we once had in Britain. The wildlife and nature of the British Isles is a pale shadow of what we once had and we need to see and understand how these ecosystems should work before we can hope to restore them. Read Cornerstones and then come with me to south-east Poland where these ecosystems still exist, along with more wildlife than you could ever see in the UK - seeing is understanding!
Hardback £18 including UK p&p
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Birds, Beasts and Bedlam, by Derek Gow
Hardback £22 including UK p&p
"Gow reinvents what it means to be a guardian of the countryside." The Guardian - "Gow has a fire in his belly. We need more like him." BBC Wildlife magazine
Birds, Beasts and Bedlam recounts the adventures of farmer-turned-rewilder Derek Gow, who is saving Britain's much-loved but dangerously threatened species, from the water vole to beaver, wildcat to white stork, and tree frog to glow worm. Derek tells us all about the realities of rewilding; how he reared delicate roe deer and a sofa-loving wild boar piglet, moved a raging bison bull across the country, got bitten by a Scottish wildcat, returned honking skeins of graylag geese to the land and water that was once theirs, and restored the white stork to the Knepp Estate with Charlie Burrell and Isabella Tree. Derek's first book, Bringing Back the Beaver (below), is a riotously funny and subversive account of his single-handed reintroduction of the beaver in Britain. Birds, Beasts and Bedlam, a natural successor to Gerald Durrell's A Zoo in My Luggage, tells the story of Derek's rewilding journey and his work to save many more species by transforming his Devon farm into a wildlife breeding center. He now houses beavers, white storks, water voles, lynx, wildcats, and harvest mice, with the aim of releasing them into the wild one day. Tearing down fences literally and metaphorically, Derek Gow is the one person with the character and strength of will to defy authority, bend the rules and save our wildlife. "The radical rewilder." The Times - "Derek Gow wants his farm to be a breeding colony, a seedbed for a denuded island." The New Yorker
Martin's comments: After reading 'Bringing Back the Beaver', which I thoroughly recommend (and you can buy below), I found Derek's new book to be entertaining, funny, informative and eye-opening. Derek seems to go from strength to strength and good luck to him; he's a great guy who simply gets things done.
Hardback £22 including UK p&p
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Regeneration, The Rescue of a Wild Land, by Andrew Painting
Hardback £22 / Paperback £12 including UK p&p
In 1995 the National Trust for Scotland acquired Mar Lodge Estate in the heart of the Cairngorms. Home to over 5,000 species, this vast expanse of Caledonian woodlands, subarctic mountains, bogs, moors, roaring burns and frozen lochs could be a place where environmental conservation and Highland field sports would exist in harmony. The only problem was that due to centuries of abuse by human hands, the ancient Caledonian pinewoods were dying, and it would take radical measures to save them.
After 25 years of extremely hard work, the pinewoods, bogs, moors and mountains are returning to their former glory. Regeneration is the story of this success, featuring not only the people who are protecting the land and quietly working to undo the wrongs of the past, but also the myriad creatures which inspire them to do so.
In addition, it also tackles current controversies such as raptor persecution, deer management and rewilding and asks bigger questions about the nature of conservation itself: what do we see when we look at our wild places? What should we see?
Martin's comments: This is a fantastic book, transporting the reader to the amazing landscape that contains the Caledonian pine forest, but it is also a landscape scarred by the actions of people. Andrew describes the area and the wildlife in a way that belies his young age and it's a true pleasure to read, inspiring the reader to visit Mar Lodge and the Cairngorms to experience 'the wild' for themselves. Tackling the controversial subjects of Highland sport, rewilding and raptor persecution in a fair and balanced way, he shows how these apparently conflicting interests might coexist in a landscape teeming with wildlife but with space for all. Thoroughly recommended!
Hardback £22 including UK p&p
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Paperback £12 including UK p&p
(pre-order)
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Bringing Back the Beaver - The Story of One Man's Quest to Rewild Britain's Waterways, by Derek Gow (Hardback) £25 including UK p&p
For those of us who are lucky enough to know Derek, he's a big, brash, no-nonsense guy whose booming voice can fill a large room without a microphone. He's outspoken and doesn't mince his words about what we've done to the environment and why we're taking decades to finally get the beaver back into the wild in the UK.
This book is Derek's inspirational and often riotously funny first-hand account of how the movement to rewild Britain with beavers has become the single most dramatic and subversive nature conservation act of the modern era. Since the early 1990s - in the face of outright opposition from government, landowning elites and even some conservation professionals - Derek has imported, quarantined and assisted the re-establishment of beavers in waterways across England and Scotland, and soon Wales, hopefully.
If you want to see for yourself what beavers do to the countryside and the benefits to myriad other species, come with me on one of my wildlife watching trips to our 'secret corner' of south-east Poland, where beavers are common (including just below the garden of where we stay), wolves and lynx roam the forest and pine martens and wildcats come through the garden at night. Add on more birds and butterflies (including red-backed shrikes, corncrakes and purple emperors) than you could ever see in the UK, plus sand lizards aplenty and lots of snakes (if you're lucky enough to see them), and it's a trip of a lifetime to see what Britain may have once looked like. £50 off your trip when you buy this book!
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Rebirding, Rewilding Britain and its Birds, Benedict Macdonald (Softback/Hardback)
£15/25 including UK p&p
Britain has all the space it needs for an epic return of its wildlife. Only six percent of our country is built upon. Contrary to popular myth, large areas of our countryside are not productively farmed but remain deserts of opportunity for both wildlife and jobs. It is time to turn things around.
Each year The Wainwright Prize honours excellence in nature writing: the most recent winner of the Wainwright Prize for writing on global conservation was Rebirding, written by nature writer, television director and conservationist Benedict Macdonald.
Praised as 'visionary' by conservationists and landowners alike, Rebirding sets out a compelling manifesto for restoring Britain's wildlife, rewilding its species and restoring rural jobs - to the benefit of all.
Buy this book and get £50 off the price of a one week trip to Poland to see what the UK used to look like and could do again. See more wildlife in a day, within a couple of miles of where we stay, than you could see in a year or five in the UK. Watch red-backed shrikes, listen to corncrakes, photograph purple emperor butterflies and after dinner watch beavers.
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Softback £15
Hardback £25
(includes UK p&p)
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On the Trail of Wolves, Philippa Forrester (Softback)
£20.00 including UK p&p
When Philippa Forrester and her nature-loving family moved to the wilds of Grand Teton National Park, they quickly learned to love the wildlife of Wyoming and nearby Yellowstone. The sounds of wolves close to their new home fed Philippa's lifelong fascination with these remarkable animals, but nothing she had learned about wolves from her studies in the UK could have prepared her for the reality of living in wolf country. And as she and her family settled into their new wilder way of life, she discovered many locals are not excited about sharing their land with wolves.
25 years after wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park, wolf packs are spreading into areas where their protection has been removed by the American administration. Without that protection, what is the future for wolves where many people resent that they were ever here at all?
In On the Trail of Wolves, Philippa vividly recounts her adventures living among the grizzlies, elk and wolves in her new home in America's Wild West and chronicles her journeys further from home to talk to conservationists, rangers, hunters and ranch owners to investigate when and why opinions on wolves became so polarised.
Martin's note: A terrific insight into the behaviour of both wolves and people and especially relevant as we consider the possibility of reintroducing wolves to the UK.
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Buy this book and get £50 off the price of a one week trip to Poland where wolves, lynx, wildcats, pine martens, wild boar and bears roam the countryside and beavers create amazing habitats on the rivers.
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Inglorious, Conflict in the Uplands, Mark Avery (Softback/Hardback)
£15/20 including UK p&p
Inglorious makes the case for banning driven grouse shooting. The facts and arguments are presented fairly but the author, Mark Avery, states from the start why he has, after many years of soul-searching, come down in favour of an outright ban. There is too much illegal killing of wildlife, such as buzzards, golden eagles, and, most egregiously of all, hen harriers; and, as a land use, it wrecks the ecology of the hills. However, grouse shooting is economically important, and it is a great British tradition. All of these, and other points of view, are given fair and detailed treatment and analysis - and the author talks to a range of people on different sides of the debate.
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Softback £15
Hardback £20
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From Badgers to Nighthawks, Adventures of a Wildlife Ranger, Mal Ingham (Softback)
£14.00 including UK p&p
Mal Ingham worked as a Ranger & Wildlife Officer for over 30 years during which time he, along with his wife Ann, formed the Wirral Wildlife Rehabilitation Unit. Here he tells his stories, some sad, some hilarious of his efforts to become a ranger, of confronting badger diggers and assisting the Police, the National Wildlife Crime Unit & RSPCA Special Operations Unit in the battle to combat wildlife crime, particularly badger digging and baiting. From the trials and tribulations of a badger release, chasing a deer in Birkenhead, rescuing a Saker falcon off an Iranian ship to returning an American Nighthawk to Belize to name but a few! You'll receive a copy signed by the author.
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My Wicked First Life, Mike Tomkies (Hardback)
£20.00 including UK p&p
Long-demanded by Mike's numerous fans, this searingly-honest and wide-ranging adventurous tale of his first life, will be of huge appeal to a very wide audience including anyone interested in the stars, celebrities and
their biographies. This is a book which has it all - true-life adventures and stories of the stars all laced with exceptionally funny anecdotes.
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Backwoods Mates to Hollywood's Greats, Mike Tomkies (Hardback)
£20.00 including UK p&p
This is a vastly-entertaining book and recounts a remarkably full life that simply could not have been invented. With his frank and free-booting style that has touches of Jack Kerouac, Jack London and Robert Service, it
will be a magnet for Mike's numerous fans and an eye-opener for anyone who is new to Tomkies' writing. This second volume in his autobiography will be of huge appeal to anyone interested in the stars, celebrities and
autobiographies as well as being a hugely enjoyable read.
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Alone in the Wilderness, Mike Tomkies (Softback)
£20.00 including UK p&p
This is the story of a man who achieved what thousands only dream of. He shed the pressures of urban life as an international journalist and exchanged it for solitude, self-sufficiency and new purpose. He emigrated to
Canada, found a plot of rock, trees and cliffs in a remote part of the British Columbian coastline, and moved in with typewriter, tent and the barest necessities to build his dream cabin.
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Between Earth and Paradise, Mike Tomkies (Softback)
£20.00 including UK p&p
After giving up a hectic life as a journalist in Europe and Hollywood in the late 1960s to return to his boyhood love of nature, Mike Tomkies found Eilean Shona, a remote island 'between earth and paradise' off the west
coast of Scotland. There he rebuilt a rotting wooden crofthouse and began a new way of life, observing nature, that was to last to the present day.
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Wildcat Haven, Mike Tomkies (Softback)
£20.00 including UK p&p
This captivating story by one of the UK's most celebrated nature writers will not only delight Mike's legions of devoted fans but will also bring his work to the attention of a new generation - at a time when the plight
of the Scottish wildcat is increasingly featured in the media. Of great appeal to all who love wildlife, the natural world, the wildcat in particular, and anyone looking for an engrossing read.
See also Last of the Scottish Wildcats DVD
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Rare, Wild and Free, Mike Tomkies (Softback)
£20.00 including UK p&p
'This latest book must surely turn out to be the most popular for all his avid readers. It is not only the often moving photographs that are a joy to see but also the captions, somtimes long, that accompanies them. They
give an insight into another world that only a dedicated naturalist such as Mike can bring to our attention. The book is a must whether you are a fan of the author or a new acquaintance and you will have the privilege of
looking through the eye of the author into a new world few of us even imagine. A must for any naturalists book shelves.'
Ray Collier, Former Chief Warden, Highlands. Highland News, North Star, Lochaber News
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A High and Lonely Place, Jim Crumley 2nd Edition (Softback)
£16.99 including UK p&p
In the nine years since it was first published, A High and Lonely Place has become a classic of Scottish nature writing and of the literature of our mountains. It has also become a much-quoted source of inspiration to
those who champion the cause of our wild places in general and the Cairngorms in particular. Jim Crumley marries a poet's instincts to an uncompromising passion for the Cairngorm's arctic character, and for those
wildlife tribes which thrive there.
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Brother Nature, Jim Crumley (Hardback)
£17.99 including UK p&p
Acclaimed nature writer Jim Crumley turns his poet's instinct, his naturalist's eye, and occasionally his camera on his core territory in Highland Perthshire to produce a book of rare intimacy.
Brother Nature is based on thirty years of exploring and thinking about the country on his doorstep. He also applies to that country lessons learned at first hand in other lands, notably on a life-changing trip to Alaska.
The book is in two parts. The first, The Brotherhood, is a series of vivid and intensely personal encounters with grizzly bears, badgers, deer, otters, orchids, ospreys, red kites, golden eagles, ravens, and his beloved swans.
The second part, The Long Way Back, considers how his native Scotland might achieve a closer, more thoughtful relationship with nature. In a powerful conclusion, Jim Crumley makes the case for the reintroduction of wolves
as a catalyst in the process of achieving that relationship.
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Something Out There, Jim Crumley (Softback)
£16.95 including UK p&p
'This is a celebration of the natural world as seen through the eyes, ears and heart of a skilled writer. He can describe the flight of the skylark in exquisite language and point out that the call of the cuckoo can
sometimes sound like jazz. He can write pages on the colour of an egg or the scent of pine trees, or the life to be found in a drystane dyke and not one word will be dull or misplaced. Jim Crumley now has almost 20
books to his credit and, in my opinion, Something out There is his best.'
The Scots Magazine
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Waters of the Wild Swan, Jim Crumley (Hardback)
£13.99 including UK p&p
Jim Crumley has watched swans all across Scotland - the city slickers in Edinburgh; the mute pair which successfully raises entire clutches of eight or nine year in, year out on a man-made pond; the pair that valiantly
tried three times in one season against the odds to rear young on a Highland loch; and the wintering flocks and lone wanderers of whoopers and Bewicks in landscapes as far flung as the carse of Stirling to Glencoe and
Skye. In all, here is a wildlife book unlike most others you will have read - tough, lyrical, surprising, colourful, moving, keenly observed and beautifully written.
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The Mountain of Light, Jim Crumley (Softback)
£8.99 including UK p&p
This is a unique mixture of folk-tale, magic, myth, love story and hymn of praise to the natural world of Scotland's high and low lands, their landscapes and creatures, and the poet-guardians who timelessly maintain
their care for them.
It is the legend-story of the mysterious Wanderer, who comes from the North to Striveling (Stirling) and its great Castle Rock, and the tales he tells to the five men and a woman who befriend him there. Who is this
Wanderer, who seems ageless, who has profound affinities with animals and birds, who can take on the shape of swans, and what is his mission to the South? Who are these friends, whose friendship becomes more, as they
begin to realize that they are part of the strange, timeless and mythic destiny of a country older than civilisation? What is the meaning of the unearthly love of the Wanderer and the mysterious Bella?
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A Life of Ospreys, Roy Dennis (Softback)
£20.00 including UK p&p
'It is reasonable to assume that no-one else on earth knows more about ospreys than Roy Dennis. His fascination for one of the true superstars of the natural world has dominated much of his work as a naturalist for
the better part of 50 years, a remarkable book. It is also an inspirational book... The sheer weight of acutely-observed detail amassed in this account is testimony to the knowledge of its author, and the clarity with
which it is organised and presented establishes the book in the front rank of Scottish wildlife monographs. ... Scottish ospreys now have millions of friends all across the world, and this book will surely add to their
numbers.' Scots Magazine
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A Private Sort of Life, Bridget MacCaskill (Softback)
£20 including UK p&p
'Every now and then - but not really often enough - there comes along a little gem of a book. A simple tale, beautifully told, exquisitely described and finely illustrated. A real page turner. Such a book is
Bridget MacCaskill's keenly observed A Private Sort of Life, an intimate account of an extended otter family....The story of Kyle and Kelpie with their cubs, Coll and Coire, is more of a prolonged observation
by an unseen watcher. ... Someone really hooked on otters, with an enviable gift for transmitting her enthusiasm straight to the collective heart of her readers. This enthusiasm shines out from every page. ...
However, amid the wonderment of the young otters' world, alongside the beautifully-crafted descriptions of their Highland environment, a message constantly seeps through. And it is the message of conservation'.
The Scots Magazine
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The Wind in My Face, Bridget MacCaskill (Softback)
£22.00 including UK p&p
A well-known naturalist, forester and nature photographer, Don MacCaskill died in May, 2000 while out for a walk in the forest he loved, his camera as ever at the ready.
Don's 'mate' in most of his endeavours (and a keen naturalist herself), Bridget has put together a book of stunning photography, with text that gives the reader a delightful taste of Nature through the seasons and an
appreciation of the nature photographer's tasks over the year. Prepare to be enthralled by the work of a master.
The whole work is complemented by the poetry of Jim Crumley, each poem inspired by one of Don's photographs.
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Listen to the Trees, Don MacCaskill (Hardback)
£20.00 including UK p&p
'... In this moving volume he reflects on the great world of trees, the ancient forests which covered much of Scotland, the planting carried out by lairds and estates, the birth and growth of the Forestry Commission, and
the social life of glen communities in past days. ... This is a book of heart-stirring nature incidents and reminiscences. It is movingly written and educational. It is also a piece of social history, telling of characters
and a way of life now dwindling and gone. It is a commentary on the great forestry issues of our time, essential reading for all those who care about our wildlife and woods. It is a living memorial to Don MacCaskill'.
The Scots Magazine
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Seton Gordon's Scotland (Softback)
£22.00 including UK p&p
Like John Muir, he was a wanderer and a guide. We walk with him through pinewoods, to eyries, to the corries of the Cairngorms, we follow him trying to recreate the greenshank's song on his bagpipe chanter; and see him
holding a snowball windward of a nesting dotterel to cool its panting. Welcomed in croft or palace, a keen piper, inevitably dressed in kilt and bunnet, Seton Gordon was one of the age's great characters.
This selection from his writings gives a fascinating insight of the man and his great versatility. The author, himself a Scottish outdoors enthusiast and well-known author, has been a lifelong admirer of Seton Gordon
and his books and has created a book to treasure.
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Seton Gordon's Cairngorms (Softback)
£25.00 including UK p&p
Seton Gordon really created himself as naturalist, photographer and writer, the first such in the country, his first book appearing when he was eighteen. In all he wrote 27 books, two specifically about the Cairngorms
where he grew up and first explored and returned to many times throughout his long life. He wrote with a revelational wonder and freshness, writing in poetic prose descriptions only possible by someone intimately at home
in the hills with their interacting, connected features: birds, plants, trees, geology, weather, Gaelic culture, place names, history, folklore - an ecologist before the word was coined.
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Days with the Golden Eagle, Seton Gordon (Softback)
£20.00 including UK p&p
'This could well turn out to be the most important book of the year, as it will bring one of the best nature writers in Scotland to a new audience. Whilst the text is in many ways as fresh and stimulating as the day it
was written, the photographs are equally outstanding. ...the close-up of the head and upper neck of the juvenile golden eagle on the front cover and the frontispiece has a haunting quality that seems to imprint on the
mind...The text is sometimes unbelievable in its impact such as the lines, There was no breeze in the old pine forest, and the ancient, heavy crowned trees seemed to hold their green branches eagerly towards the strong
sunlight. Who writes like this these days and who has that depth of feeling that comes out in the lines so often it is almost mesmerising? Much of what the author describes is still there but perhaps we do not look in
the same way any more'. Highland News
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Call of the Eagle, Dave Walker (Softback)
£20.00 including UK p&p
This is an account of one man's 30-year involvement with England's rarest bird, the golden eagle. Initially employed by the RSPB as a senior species protection warden at a secret location in Cumbria, the author
describes the intricacies of establishing a protection regime by wardens that would operate for the next 26 years and his efforts to protect and study this iconic species. The Lakeland eagles were at their most
productive during his tenure, rearing six eaglets in the six years before he widened his interest to study eagles in Scotland as well as England.
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Darwin in Scotland, J F Derry (Softback)
£18.00 including UK p&p
This is the first book on Darwin and Darwinism that wholly concentrates on his time spent in Scotland and the key contributions to his future insights made by the Scottish Enlightenment and the University of Edinburgh.
Darwin developed his theories because he attended Edinburgh University - although he participated little in formal tuition, it was through interaction with his tutors, peers and extracurricular groups that he was exposed
to an ethos of naturalistic philosophy rooted in the Scottish Enlightenment and, by direct descent, the Ancient Greeks. If he had bypassed Scotland and gone straight to Cambridge, his education would have been
theologically-based and unlikely to have given him the perspective that led him to question the prevailing doctrine.
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Eating Diamonds, Loren Cruden (Softback)
£18.00 including UK p&p
Instead of the weekender's exploits or the scientists' findings, Eating Diamonds offers the rich experiences of someone who for twenty-five years lived intimately within North American and Scottish landscapes. Her
portrayal of the wealth to be found in the simplest of human situations, without electricity, or 'phone - conveniences taken for granted as desirable - asks modern people to look again at what makes life good and
the future bright.
Complemented with superb wildlife drawings and photographs.
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Ferny Wood, The Story of a Fallow Deer, Patricia Sibley (Softback) £17.00 including UK p&p
Based upon detailed observation in the New Forest, this delightful book tells the story of Buckie, a fawn from a small herd of fallow does which the author was first privileged to observe just before sunset one magical
June evening.
Following this defining moment, the author, accompanied by her dachshund George, spent every spare moment watching deer - red, sika and roe but mostly the beautiful fallow deer. She observed the deer in all weathers,
how they interacted with each other or with other wild creatures amongst the New Forest's ancient stands of oak and beech.
Buckie's contacts with a variety of people such as those who befriend him, the local keepers and poachers are all described in realistic detail.
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Flight of the Wild Geese, Graham Uney (Softback)
£17.00 including UK p&p
'ALTHOUGH ESSENTIALLY AN EXPLORATION of the remarkable life-cycle of the thousands of barnacle geese... ... ...this book offers a good deal more. ... The highly personal narrative is interspersed with the author's
accounts of other trips and experiences in Scotland... ... ...making this as much a love letter to Scotland's wild places as a book about geese themselves.' Scotland Outdoors
'... This is a book by a birder, and a birder's book. The loving descriptions of the Solway and other reserves, the appreciation of landscape and wildlife other than birds, all come as a bonus. ... The photographs...
... ...have an attractive immediacy about them. ... ...if you enjoy reading about birds and their homes you'll enjoy this book.' Habitat
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Just Before Dawn, The Creation of a Wildlife Sanctuary, May Parker (Softback)
£20.00 including UK p&p
The author describes the glorious but laborious work of converting what had been a general dumping-ground to a rich and productive wildlife haven. As work progressed, May took many photographs and kept observations of
the varied wildlife she observed during the many evenings which were spent working and watching in the reserve. How she and her husband achieved their dream of creating their own nature reserve as part of the country
house hotel they ran, makes illuminating and fascinating reading.
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Monkey Puzzle Man, Archibald Menzies, Plant Hunter (Softback)
£25.00 including UK p&p
Archibald Menzies was one of a legion of intrepid Scots plant collectors in the 18th and 19th centuries who roamed the world and, by a combination of toughness and knowledge, established the foundations of the botany of
the British Empire. This is a fascinating tale of how he brought the monkey puzzle to England for the first time and provides an insight to international plant collecting in the 18th century.
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Tooth & Claw, Living Alongside Britain's Predators (Hardback)
£25.00 including UK p&p
Tooth & Claw is a ground-breaking photo-documentary project providing a meeting place between anecdotal evidence and scientific fact, thus nurturing a better understanding of natural predator-prey mechanisms and
encouraging empathy with different points of view. Three years in the making, Tooth & Claw features insightful interviews against a backdrop of stunning imagery - as thought-provoking as it is beautiful. Discussions
over fox hunting, bird of prey poisoning and even the return of wolves are brought to life.
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Birds in a Village - A Century On (hardback)
£14.50 including UK p&p
A century ago, the well-known naturalist W H Hudson was a senior figure in the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds with a significant reputation in his field.
The village he wrote about, typical of many pretty, rural settings across the nation, has of course changed over the intervening 100 years. In this book, Hudson's original text is reproduced and Brian Clews reviews
the species that have subsequently been lost, and the new ones gained, in the very village Hudson wrote about all those years ago. The anecdotal style used by both authors will remind readers of local changes in their
own locations and hopefully encourage many more to become explorers of the countryside.
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Red Kite Country (hardback with jacket)
Was £25, now £15 including UK p&p
A celebration of the wildlife and landscape of Mid Wales, and featuring the superb photographs and beautiful watercolour paintings of Mike Read and Colin Woolf, bringing its many moods and seasons to life in a collection of stunning images.
Red Kite Country is the culmination of four years' work for Mike and Colin, who have spent many hours waiting patiently and observing their subjects. The authors' love of their subjects - from delicate, humble mosses
underfoot to the majestic Red Kite soaring overhead - is evident in the
superb quality of the images. The text is light and easy to absorb, written to inform but also to provoke further thought and exploration.
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Flowers of the Forest - Plants and people in the New Forest National Park (hardback)
£24.95 including UK p&p
A beautifully illustrated exploration of the botanical richness and cultural heritage of the New Forest National Park. The New Forest has become an exceptional area for wildflowers, many of which were once common
throughout the lowlands of Britain. The Forest enjoys strong populations of many special wildflowers because it retains a living tradition of free-ranging domestic animals grazing its coastland, extensive commons
and village greens. This book shows how the wildlife of the Forest is the natural expression of the lives and economy of the people of the Forest.
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Animal Portraits (hardback)
£14.99 including UK p&p
A celebration of animal life through the work of one of the best natural history illustrators in the business. Observations from writers as diverse as Herman Melville, Robert Frost, Gerald Durrell and
Sir David Attenborough are brought into dramatic focus by Jackson's stunning artworks, which combine beauty with unwavering accuracy. The pairing of these illustrations with essays, poems and scientific observations
gives a unique insight into an incredible animal world.
“Ian Jackson’s meticulous portraits are superb feats of photo realism.”
Chris Packham
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