How to See Nature

Nature writing for the modern reader, combining historical, cultural, and literary references, from TS Eliot to Bridget Riley, Hieronymus Bosch to Napoleon. Essays include The Weedling Wild, Gardens of Light, The Flow, and The Commons. The author also looks at the wildlife returned to Britain, such as wild boar and polecats, and finds nature in and around landscapes as varied as a domestic garden or a wild moor.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 176 pages
Publication date: 07 May 2020
Publisher: Pavilion Books

With a title inspired by the 1940 Batsford book, this is nature writing for the modern reader. Evans weaves historical, cultural, and literary references into his writing, ranging from TS Eliot to Bridget Riley, from Hieronymus Bosch to Napoleon. It is a book for both those who live in the country and those who don't, but experience nature every day through brownfield edge lands, transport corridors, urban greenspace, industrialized agriculture, and fragments of ancient countryside. The essays include The Weedling Wild, on the wildlife of the wasteland: ragwort, rosebay willowherb, giant hogweed, and the cinnabar moth; Gardens of Light, about the creatures to be found under moonlight: pipistrelle bats, lacewings, and orb-weaver spider; The Flow, with tales from the riverbank, estuaries, and seas, including kingfisher, minnow, otter, and heron. The Commons looks at meadowland with a human footprint, with the Adonis blue butterfly, horseshoe vetch, skylark, black knapweed, and the six-belted clearwing moth. The author also looks at the wildlife returned to Britain, such as wild boar and polecats, and finds nature in and around landscapes as varied as a domestic garden or a wild moor. The book ends with an alphabetical bestiary, an idiosyncratic selection of British wildlife based on the author's personal encounters.

Weight: 252g
Dimension: 135 x 214 x 20 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781849945813