WILD GREEN WONDERS: A Life in Nature

One of our nation's most accomplished nature writers, Patrick Barkham has been the natural history correspondent for The Guardian for over 20 years. In this book he has selected some 50 of what he considers his most compelling articles which paint a picture of contemporary wildlife. From peregrine falcons nesting in the Thames to Britain's last lion tamer, we meet people who have run away from it all to isolate themselves on remote islands and equally lonely animals, such as the last British greater mouse-eared bat, which has been living in a damp disused railway tunnel in Sussex for decades. Discover the riddle of the Orkney vole, the Beasts of Bushy and Dartmoor, egg snatchers, on safari in the Essex rainforest, the subtle magic of a Norfolk Broad, the hen harrier murderer, lost orcas, beavers, big cats, and the sea eagle and Sheffield's war on trees and the rewilding of newts. There is an excellent extended interview with Sir David Attenborough and go on an eye-opening ramble along the entire length of the HS2 train route and its implications for man and nature. 420pp.