Continuing our selection of the very best titles available through NHBS:
Marches
by Andrew Allott
What?
From the minutiae of Plant Galls (Volume 117), the next in the New Naturalist series takes us into large-scale regional natural history.
Why?
Andrew Allott takes us on a journey through the Welsh Marches; Cheshire, Shropshire, Herefordshire and Monmouthshire, the border counties of England and Wales. He traces the various strands that weave together the natural history and deep past of the area with the impact of human civilisation and the growth of agriculture and industry. The well-defined chapter topics bring the area to life to create a whole picture of the region:
From the Author’s Foreword and Acknowledgements:
“The author’s aim has been to explore themes, rather than to catalogue isolated or inconsequential facts. Each chapter takes one theme and considers its relevance across much or all of the Marches.”
The plentiful illustrations, photographs and diagrams complement the natural history making this a full and satisfying survey of the area.
Who?
Andrew Allott studied Botany at Oxford University and then became a schoolmaster, teaching initially in Canterbury and then at Shrewsbury School in Shropshire, where he is now Head of Biology. Although an incomer to the Marches, Andrew Allott has developed a deep love of the landscape, geology, flora and fauna of the area. He has also developed great respect for the many talented amateur naturalists and the professional scientists whose work is doing so much to explain the natural history of the Marches and to promote its conservation.
