I was brought up in a farming landscape; the little patches of woodland were exciting because they were different, full of birds and flowers not seen elsewhere. This led to me wanting to be a forester, and hence my undergraduate degree, post-graduate research, and subsequent career with the conservation agencies in Britain. I enjoyed working with colleagues on issues as varied as how to select and manage woodland reserves, to what the government should be doing in its reviews of national forest policy. Now retired, I still spend time following the changes in the woodland flora and trying to encourage others to conserve and expand our native woodland.
Rackham led me into the woods in England as they were 500 to 1000 years ago—part of village life, being cut for firewood or cartwheels, and perhaps occasionally to supply beams for the local church, manor house, or even a cathedral.
I look at the flowers growing, the shapes of trees, and the patterns of the forest floor differently now—a legacy of human activity as well as nature. Their conservation takes on a different dimension.
The idea of the "wildwood," the prehistoric forests that might once have covered the landscape, has appealed to me since I was a child, but Peterken eloquently describes one version of what that idea might have meant in different places and times.
I can follow how a patch of trees might have grown and matured, to then be battered by gales, consumed by fire, or succumb to fungal or beetle attack. But even as the dead logs decay, new saplings shoot up around them. We have lost the wildwood in Britain, but perhaps we can allow some areas to start to recover at least part of their wildness.
Natural Woodland describes how woodlands grow, die and regenerate in the absence of human influence, and the structures and range of habitats found in natural woods. The underlying theme is that natural woodlands should form a basis for forest management, policies and practices. George Peterken compares the ecology of both North American and European forests, to produce a fascinating account of woodland natural history for all those concerned with woodland management and ecology.
What were America's first prisons like? How did penal reformers, prison administrators, and politicians deal with the challenges of confining human beings in long-term captivity as punishment--what they saw as a humane intervention?
The Deviant Prison centers on one early prison: Eastern State Penitentiary. Built in Philadelphia, one of the…
This book challenged my thinking and kept me sane during a 6hr delay stuck on a train.
I don’t agree with all the arguments, but I admire the way it has opened up a different way of looking at what natural landscapes look like, and how wild horses, bison, and wild ox might have shaped the wildwood.
I have seen how the ideas have inspired landowners to manage their farms and estates in a different way to conventional conservation, with great benefits to biodiversity.
It is a widely held belief that a climax vegetation of closed forest systems covered the lowlands of Central and Western Europe before humans intervened in prehistoric times to develop agriculture. If this intervention had not taken place, it would still be there and so if left, the grassland vegetation and fields we see today would revert to its natural closed forest state, although with a reduced number of wild species. This book challenges this view, using examples from history, pollen analyses and studies on the ecology of tree and shrub species such as oak and hazel. It tests the…
I was lucky enough to visit Isabella Tree’s farm, just after she and her husband had started their rewilding project. I have followed its progress over the next two decades as described here.
I am inspired by the hopeful conservation message it sends – as the trees and scrub have spread, so wildlife has thrived. Others have followed their example, and I see new ways of looking at what we want and can realistically achieve for conservation across the farmlands of Britain.
'A poignant, practical and moving story of how to fix our broken land, this should be conservation's salvation; this should be its future; this is a new hope' - Chris Packham
In Wilding, Isabella Tree tells the story of the 'Knepp experiment', a pioneering rewilding project in West Sussex, using free-roaming grazing animals to create new habitats for wildlife. Part gripping memoir, part fascinating account of the ecology of our countryside, Wilding is, above all, an inspiring story of hope.
Winner of the Richard Jefferies Society and White Horse Book Shop Literary Prize.
Sea Sagas of the North is about story and transformation.
Story is a simple device common to every human culture. Put simply, the patterns of good story match the shapes of our lives. Story was once tales told at every flickering fireside, the children’s faces upturned and wide-eyed. Now it…
The oakwoods of western Britain can look a little dull, but this rebranding of them, legitimately, as temperate rainforests, suddenly draws attention to them as special places that we should take responsibility for conserving.
Though I already knew many of the sites mentioned, I started to see them from a different perspective, to see their beauty afresh, and to think more about their vulnerability to changes in our climate, and to the impact of invasive species.
WINNER OF THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR CONSERVATION 2023 The Sunday Times Science Book of the Year As seen on Countryfile
'If anyone was born to save Britain's rainforests, it was Guy Shrubsole' Sunday Times
Shortlisted for the Richard Jefferies Society Literary Prize
Temperate rainforest may once have covered up to one-fifth of Britain, inspiring Celtic druids, Welsh wizards, Romantic poets, and Arthur Conan Doyle's most loved creations. Though only fragments now remain, they are home to a dazzling variety of luminous life-forms.
In this awe-inspiring investigation, Guy Shrubsole travels through the Western Highlands and the Lake District,…
This book follows the evolution of European forests over the last 10,000 years, from largely natural areas in pre-history to the closely managed places we see today. We describe how people have altered the composition and structure of the forests and how these changes have affected the plants, insects, birds, and mammals now found in the woods.
From early sacred groves, through royal hunting forests, to modern nature reserves, people have also strived to protect special forests. We look at how far this has been achieved in different ways, in different countries across this diverse continent. Despite the challenges of climate change, new pests and diseases, and the demands of economic forestry, there is hope that we can maintain and expand our woodland cover.
Chasing Light is a lyrical meditation on grief, memory, and the fragile beauty of everyday life. At its core, it is a story of resilience, forgiveness, and the transformational power of human connection. It sheds light on the overlooked realities of homelessness and addiction, while emphasizing the importance of compassion…
No Color is My Kind tells the stories of the desegregation of Houston, TX, in 1960, the life of civil rights leader Eldrewey Stearns, and the author's relationship to Stearns.
They met in a psychiatric case conference while Stearns was hospitalized at the University of Texas Medical Branch. After his…
