Author interview with Beat Wermelinger: Forest Insects in Europe

Forest Insects in Europe has been written not only with professional entomologists in mind, but also for nature lovers generally. The descriptions of the various roles insects play in forest ecosystems are intended to be easily comprehensible, but still scientific.

We recently caught up with the book’s author, Beat Wermelinger, who works as a Senior Scientist at the Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL. His research interests include bark beetles and natural enemies, Biodiversity, windthrow succession, climate change and neozoa. Beat answered our questions in German and our bi-lingual team members were excited to translate these to English for us. Discover more below in both languages.

1) Could you tell us a little bit about your background and how you came to write Forest Insects in Europe: Diversity, Functions and Importance?

I have been working at the Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL (Swiss Federal Institute WSL) (a forest research institute) for 30 years and until recently was the head of the entomology group. Simultaneously, I have also been teaching forest insects at the ETH Zurich. During this time, a large pool of knowledge and information has accumulated. I have also been a passionate insect photographer for just as long, which is reflected in an image database of around 16.000 insect photos. These two strands provided an ideal basis for conveying the importance and fascination of insects in one scientifically based book, which was also richly illustrated with photos, for both specialists and all those interested in nature.

Können Sie uns etwas über Ihren Hintergrund erzählen und wie Sie dazu kamen, Forest Insects in Europe: Diversity, Functions and Importance zu schreiben?

Seit 30 Jahren arbeite ich an der Eidgenössischen Forschungsanstalt WSL (Swiss Federal Institute WSL) (einem Waldforschungsinstitut) und leitete dort bis vor kurzem die Gruppe Entomologie. Zugleich unterrichte ich fast gleich lang zu Waldinsekten an der Hochschule ETH in Zürich. In dieser Zeit hat sich ein grosser Fundus an Kenntnissen und Informationen angesammelt. Ausserdem bin ich seit mindestens ebenso langer Zeit ein passionierter Insektenfotograf, was sich in einer Bilddatenbank von rund 16.000 Insektenbildern niedergeschlagen hat. Diese beiden Grundlagen boten eine ideale Basis, die Bedeutung und Faszination von Insekten in einem zwar wissenschaftlich fundierten, aber auch reich mit Fotos illustrierten Buch sowohl Fachpersonen als auch allen Naturinteressierten zu vermitteln.

2) The book tackles a vast array of insect groups and ecological functions – were there any particular challenges in collating so much information in one place?

Much of the information comes from my readings or lectures. However, since I wanted to portray the ecological and economic importance of forest insects as broadly as possible, I still had to review a lot of published material. Above all, I wanted to support quantitative data with accurate citations. Owing to the Internet, such research is easier today than it was 20 years ago… Fortunately, I also had my own photographs on almost all topics.

Das Buch befasst sich mit einer Vielzahl von Insektengruppen und Funktionen – gab es besondere Herausforderungen, so viele Informationen in einem Buch zusammenzufassen?

Ein wesentlicher Teil der Informationen stammt aus meinen Vorlesungen oder Vorträgen. Da ich aber die ökologische und ökonomische Bedeutung von Waldinsekten möglichst breit darstellen wollte, musste ich doch noch Einiges an Literaturarbeit leisten. Vor allem wollte ich quantitative Angaben mit korrekten Literaturzitaten abstützen. Dank dem Internet sind solche Recherchen heute einfacher als noch vor 20 Jahren… Erfreulicherweise hatte ich auch zu fast allen Themen eigene Bilder.

3) Are there any insect groups that hold a particular interest for you?

Professionally, I am mainly concerned with wood-dwelling insects. I am especially interested in the bark beetles, and their natural enemies as well as the intensive interactions with their host trees. Bark beetles are known to be pests, but they are also pioneers in the decay of wood. I also deal with the wood-dwelling longhorn beetles and jewel beetles, which often lend themselves to photography because of their size and beauty. For decades I have dealt with the development of their biodiversity after disruptive events such as storms or fire. The social red wood ants or the galling insects also fascinate me with their ingenious way of life.

Haben Sie eine Insektengruppe, an der Sie besonders interessiert sind?

Beruflich beschäftige ich mich vor allem mit holzbewohnenden Insekten. Mich interessieren die Borkenkäfer, ihre natürlichen Feinde und die intensiven Wechselwirkungen mit ihren Wirtsbäumen. Borkenkäfer sind zwar als Schädlinge bekannt, sie sind aber auch Pioniere beim Holzabbau. Weiter befasse ich mich mit den holzbewohnenden Bock- und Prachtkäfern (longhorn beetles, jewel beetles), die sich oft ihrer Grösse und Schönheit wegen auch zum Fotografieren anbieten. Über Jahrzehnte habe ich mich mit der Entwicklung ihrer Artenvielfalt nach Störungsereignissen wie Sturm oder Feuer beschäftigt. Auch die staatenbildenden Waldameisen (red wood ants) oder die gallbildenden Insekten (galling insects) faszinieren mich durch ihre ausgeklügelte Lebensweise.

4) In Chapter 18, you discuss the severe and widespread decline of several insect groups. What has caused so many species to dwindle in European forests? And what is being done to address these threats?

There are two main causes for the decline in much of the forest insect fauna. The intensive use of wood in the past centuries has led to the fact that the forest area in Europe has decreased significantly over a long period of time, the trees no longer reach their natural age phase, and there were almost no dead trees that could slowly rot. In the case of many wood-dwelling insects that are dependent on so-called habitat trees or develop in decayed, thick tree trunks, this has led to a severe threat to their biodiversity. In recent decades, the forest area has increased again and in many countries the preservation of old trees and dead wood is being promoted. However, the impact is still modest.

A second reason is the fact that many shrubs and pioneer tree species such as willow and poplar have disappeared and the forests have often become more monotonous and closed. This mainly affects the forest butterflies. Today, clearings are created on purpose from which not only these insects, but also other light-loving forest species such as certain orchids or birds can benefit.

In Kapitel 18, erwähnen Sie den verbreiteten Rückgang mehrerer Insektengruppen. Was hat den Rückgang so vieler Arten in den europäischen Wäldern verursacht? Und was wird getan, um diese Bedrohungen zu begegnen?

Es gibt hauptsächlich zwei Gründe für den Rückgang eines grossen Teils der Waldinsektenfauna. Die intensive Holznutzung der vergangenen Jahrhunderte hat dazu geführt, dass die Waldfläche in Europa über lange Zeit sehr stark abgenommen hat, die Bäume nicht mehr ihre natürliche Altersphase erreichten, und fast keine abgestorbenen Bäume vorhanden waren, die langsam verrotten konnten. Dies hat bei vielen holzbewohnenden Insekten, die auf sogenannte Habitatbäume angewiesen sind oder sich in toten, dicken Baumstämmen entwickeln, zu einer starken Bedrohung ihrer Artenvielfalt geführt. In den letzten Jahrzehnten hat die Waldfläche zwar wieder zugenommen und in vielen Ländern wird der Erhalt von alten Bäumen und Totholz gefördert. Die Auswirkungen sind jedoch noch bescheiden.

Ein zweiter Grund ist die Tatsache, dass durch die Bewirtschaftung viele Sträucher und Pionierbaumarten wie Weiden oder Pappeln verschwanden und die Wälder oft monotoner und dunkler geworden sind. Dies wirkt sich vor allem auf die Wald-Tagfalter (forest butterflies) aus. Heute werden gezielte Auflichtungen durchgeführt, von denen nicht nur diese Insekten, sondern auch andere lichtliebende Waldarten wie bestimmte Orchideen oder Vögel profitieren.

5) A particular highlight of the book is the wonderful collection of insect photographs, most taken by you. Do you have any advice for people interested in insect photography?

The main problem when photographing small objects is always to be able to focus as much as possible on them. This requires a small aperture and therefore a lot of light. I photograph everything “hand-held” and therefore the shutter speed should be short. For these reasons, I almost always use a ring flash with separately controllable halves and 100 mm macro lens with my SLR camera. Nonetheless, even cameras with a small sensor (even mobile phones!) can nowadays produce surprisingly good images of larger, less volatile insects.

In order to photograph an insect as sharply as possible, you should position yourself so that the insect is parallel to the camera. At least the eyes should always be sharp. Of course, you can also choose a different level of focus for special effects.

In addition to technology, you need an eye for the little things in nature, patience and always a bit of luck! Knowledge of the behavior of certain groups of insects can also come to great advantage.

Ein besonderes Highlight des Buches ist die wunderbare Sammlung von Insektenfotos, die meisten davon von Ihnen aufgenommen. Haben Sie Tipps für Leute, die sich für Insektenfotografie interessieren?

Das Hauptproblem beim Fotografieren von kleinen Objekten ist immer, einen möglichst grossen Teil davon scharf abbilden zu können. Dies erfordert eine kleine Blende und damit auch viel Licht. Ich fotografiere alles “aus der Hand” und deshalb sollte die Verschlusszeit kurz sein. Aus diesen Gründen verwende ich mit meiner Spiegelreflexkamera und dem 100 mm Makroobjektiv fast immer einen Ringblitz mit separat steuerbaren Blitzhälften. Aber auch Kameras mit kleinem Sensor (sogar Handys!) bringen bei grösseren, wenig flüchtigen Insekten heutzutage erstaunlich gute Bilder. Um ein Insekt möglichst scharf abzulichten, sollte man sich so positionieren, dass das Insekt möglichst parallel zur Kamera steht. Mindestens die Augen sollten immer scharf sein. Natürlich kann man die Schärfenebene für spezielle Effekte auch anders wählen.

Zusätzlich zur Technik braucht es aber vor allem das Auge für die kleinen Dinge der Natur, Geduld und immer auch etwas Glück! Auch Kenntnisse des Verhaltens bestimmter Insektengruppen sind von grossem Vorteil.

6) What’s next for you? Do you have any projects that you are currently involved in that you would like to tell us about?

Professionally I am still working for another year, but of course my interest in insects will not vanish when I retire. I would like to use my pictures in other ways and maybe do another book. Above all, not surprisingly I would like to use the time to photograph insects in the great outdoors.

Was kommt als Nächstes für Sie? Haben Sie Projekte, an denen Sie aktuell beteiligt sind und die Sie mit uns teilen können?

Beruflich bin ich noch ein Jahr tätig, aber damit erlischt mein Interesse an Insekten natürlich nicht. Ich würde gerne meine Bilder noch anderweitig in Wert setzen und vielleicht noch ein weiteres Buch in dieser Art machen. Vor allem aber möchte ich die Zeit nutzen, um – wen wundert’s – in der freien Natur Insekten zu fotografieren.

Forest Insects in Europe Diversity, Functions and Importance
By: Beat Wermelinger
Paperback | July 2021| £42.99 £49.99

 

All prices correct at the time of this article’s publication.

 

June Top 10

NHBS’s Top 10 bestsellers June 2021

We love looking back at our bestsellers from the month before, and are very excited to share our new monthly update featuring NHBS’s Top 10 for June.

This month, highlights include the latest addition to the New Naturalist series, Ecology and Natural History, as well as Insectinside, as recently featured on BBC’s SpringWatch.

 

secrets of a devon wood: my nature journal | jo brown
Hardback | October 2020

In top place and one of NHBS’s bestselling books to-date, Secrets of a Devon Wood has captured hearts and minds across the globe. Artist and illustrator Jo Brown started keeping her nature diary in a bid to document the small wonders of the wood behind her home in Devon. This book is an exact replica of her original black Moleskin journal, a rich illustrated memory of Jo’s discoveries in the order in which she found them.

Jo very kindly agreed to answer some of our questions for a Q&A. Read the full interview here.

 

Ecology and Natural history | David wilkinson
Hardback | June 2021

In second place – the latest addition to the New Naturalist Series, Ecology and Natural History.

Ecology is the science of ecosystems, of habitats, of our world and its future. In the latest New Naturalist, ecologist David M. Wilkinson explains key ideas of this crucial branch of science, using Britain’s ecosystems to illustrate each point.

We have a limited number of signed bookplates for the hardback edition, available while stocks last

 

Insectinside: life in the bushes of a small peckham park | penny metal 
Paperback | October 2017

As recently featured on BBC’s SpringwatchInsectinside is a fantastic book featuring hundreds of species of insect that have all been found in Warwick Gardens in Peckham by author, Penny Metal.

 

With Penny’s incredible photographs and often humorous social commentary, Insectinside is an inspiring look at the diversity you can find just beyond your doorstep, as well as the vital importance of our natural spaces.

We caught up with Penny to ask her some questions about her book – read the full interview here.

 

Britain’s insects:  Field guide to the insects of great britain and irelanD | Paul brock
Flexibound | May 2021

Britain’s Insects is an innovative, up-to-date, carefully designed and beautifully illustrated field guide to Britain and Ireland’s twenty-five insect orders, concentrating on popular groups and species that can be identified in the field. Featuring superb photographs of live insects, Britain’s Insects covers the key aspects of identification and provides information on status, distribution, seasonality, habitat, food plants and behaviour.

 

the wild flower key: how to identify wild flowers, trees and shrubs in britain and ireland | francis rose, et al.
Paperback | December 2006

Revised and expanded edition of this essential guide with full keys to more than 1600 wild plants found in Britain and Ireland.

This edition of The Wild Flower Key is packed with extra identification tips, innovative features designed to assist beginners and many more illustrations.

 

 

Great british marine animals | paul naylor
Paperback | June 2021

With 500 new photographs, the 4th edition is by far the largest revision of Great British Marine Animals to date and see the number of pages increase from 320 to 432, while the fourth edition features 930 colour photos, versus 600 previously. This book is an eye-opening celebration of the wonderful diversity of animals that live in British seas, and the colourful and fascinating ways they go about their lives.

 

a field guide to grasses, sedges, and rushes | dominic price
Spiralbound | April 2016

A Field Guide to the Grasses, Sedges and Rushes aims to simplify the identification of this fascinating group of plants, using characters that are both easy to spot in the field and simple to remember. Over 100 species are described, focussing on key features of both their genus and species.

Read our interview with Dominic Price here.

 

grasses: A Guide to identification using vegetative characters | Hilary wallacePaperback | April 2021

Developed by highly experienced field botanist and habitat surveyor Hilary Wallace, this groundbreaking guide uses vegetative characters to all the grass species found in the UK.

This Grasses guide is part of the FSC’s AIDGAP series (Aids to Identification in Difficult Groups of Animals and Plants).

FSC are our current Publisher of the Month! Read our blog here about FSC and the fantastic series’ they produce.

 

britain’s mammals: a field guide to the mammals of great britain and ireland | Dominic Couzens, et al.
Flexibound | June 2021

Britain’s Mammals is a comprehensive and beautifully designed photographic field guide to all the mammals recorded in the wild in Great Britain and Ireland in recent times – including marine mammals, bats and introduced species that have bred.

The updated edition features minor amendments to the 2017 version.

 

flight identification of european passerines and select landbirds: an illustrated and photographic guide | tomasz cofta
Flexibound | March 2021

A ground-breaking guide with numerous features. Aimed at identifying European passerines in flight, this book provides Tomasz Cofta’s illustrations with photos, species descriptions, flight call descriptions and sonograms, and supplementary audio recordings online.

 

Author Interview with Jo Brown: Secrets of a Devon Wood

One of NHBS’s bestselling books to date, Secrets of a Devon Wood has captivated people across the globe. An exact replica of Jo Brown’s original Moleskine journal, each page features extraordinary illustrations of species such as the buff-tailed bumblebee, blue tit, red campion and oyster mushroom, and are accompanied by detailed observations and notes regarding physiology and life history. Inspiring for naturalists and budding artists alike, this book will be one to treasure.

Jo Brown is a professional illustrator and a blogging sensation. She graduated from Falmouth College of Arts in 2000 with a BA Honours in Illustration and works from her home studio in Teignmouth. She has very kindly answered some of our questions below.

Firstly, could you tell us about your background and how your interest in the natural world began?

Image by Jo Brown

I’ve been interested in nature from a very young age and have many early memories of my mum taking me into the garden to show me woodlice, spiders and butterflies. I always knew I was going to be an artist, because it was the only thing I ever really wanted to do. I first explored art at school and had a great relationship with my art teacher. Later, when I left university in Falmouth, I freelanced and took on design jobs and commissions, though often creating content that didn’t speak to me. Nature and art together came much later when I felt able to produce artwork for myself.

We all absolutely love your book and the original way it’s been produced. When you first started your sketchbook, did you anticipate having it published at the end?

No! I wasn’t even thinking about publishing – the journal was a personal project. I realised very early on that when I draw and document things, I remember them. I remember things like Rumex Obtusifolius (the Latin name for Doc Leaf) – it’s been a wonderful learning tool and almost everything I’ve learned about nature, I’ve learned entirely on my own through observation, supported by research.

After putting up a flick-through video of the journal on YouTube in 2019, my followers jumped from 9 thousand, to 20 thousand overnight. This was incredibly overwhelming for someone who is a bit of a recluse and spends a lot of time on their own. I was approached by several publishers and agents from the UK and US, and came out of the other side with an agent, Clare Wallace, and a publishing deal with Short Books. It was genuine recognition of my work and a wonderful moment. Short books allowed me complete creative control and wanted to publish my journal as it was without any changes.

The response to your book has been phenomenal and people all over the world have been inspired by your artwork. What advice would you give to any new, budding artists?

Image by Jo Brown

I would say to begin with, if you find or see something that inspires you, whatever it may be – satisfy yourself first. Don’t draw for anyone else – as long as you’re happy with the work that you’re doing and you’re improving your own skillset and artistic evolution; it doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks. It’s not about what’s popular, or to gain recognition or approval – the only approval you need is your own. As long as you put your passion into whatever you’re interested in, nothing else really matters. It’s an absolutely flooded market, but try to find your own way in and fulfil your own needs. Building your own style takes years.

It’s always wonderful to see a combined passion and talent for both art and science, as they are often seen as very separate entities. How do you think art can be better used to encourage environmental awareness?

As people’s attention span seems to have naturally decreased in the age of social media, I try to use my art to stop people scrolling for a minute. If you can hold someone’s attention with an image, you then have a chance to offer up some relevant information in the words beneath – a chance to promote conservation and environmental awareness.

Did you face any challenges while putting together Secrets of a Devon Wood?

Image by Jo Brown

Finishing the book under a national lockdown was incredibly pressured. It was very difficult to feel inspired during such a tremendously hard time. In the middle of the first lockdown, I was coming up to the end of the book and the deadline was looming. If it was up to me, I’d have produced 200-300 more pages, but I had to be realistic. After a month extension, and after weeks of sweat and worry, I completed the last 9-10 pages – half of the book was completed in my own garden because of being in lockdown. The most challenging part of producing the book was getting the work on pages.

We’ve heard exciting rumours of a second nature journal – is this something you’re currently working on? What is your focus this time and when might we expect this to be published?

Yes, though the first book took 2 years to create. I have no deadline for the 2nd Nature Journal, and I have experienced terrible creative block in the third lockdown. When you’re an artist, you need peace and little stress to be in the zone. The 2nd Nature Journal will be water-based, focusing on species within 3 miles of the coast. Journalling will be an ongoing project for me, even if it isn’t published; I’ll never run out of subject matter! I will also be involved in other books and be selling my artwork online.

 

Secrets of a Devon Wood
By: Jo Brown
Hardback | Published October 2020

 

 

British Wildlife book reviews

British Wildlife has featured book reviews since the very first magazine back in 1989. These reviews provide in-depth critiques of the most important new titles in natural history publishing, from nature-writing bestsellers to technical identification handbooks. They are all authored by experts in relevant subjects, which ensures an honest and insightful appraisal of each book featured.

It can be helpful to read a review before deciding to buy a new book, and so since 2018 every review included in the magazine is available to read on the British Wildlife website. Here is a selection of books that have featured so far in the current volume of British Wildlife, all with links to take you directly to the full review.

1. Woodland Flowers by Keith Kirby

“In Woodland Flowers Keith Kirby invites us to look at the ‘wood beneath the trees’ and to consider what its flora can tell us. The focus of this, the eighth volume of Bloomsbury’s British Wildlife Collection (which I have contributed to myself), is on the vascular plants of the woodland floor; to this end Kirby embraces ferns as honorary flowers, but for the most part he steps aside from considering other elements of woodland ecosystems (including the ‘lower’ plants, fungi and fauna).”

Reviewed by Clive Chatters in the October 2020 issue (BW 32.1) – read the review here

2. Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake

“This is Sheldrake’s first book, and, while his expertise means that the readers should feel that they are in safe hands from the off, in truth the experience is more like being whisked down a burrow by a white rabbit, or on a tour of Willy Wonka’s research facility: a trippy, astonishing, and completely exhilarating ride.”

Reviewed by Amy-Jane Beer in the November 2020 issue (BW 32.2) – read the review here

 

3. His Imperial Majesty: A Natural History of the Purple Emperor by Matthew Oates

“Part autecology, part monograph and part impassioned love poem to a species that has captured the author’s heart, the pages offer an enjoyable blend of the Purple Emperor’s recorded history, biology, ecology and conservation.”

 

Reviewed by Simon Breeze in the December 2020 issue (BW 32.3) – read the review here

 

4. Britain’s Habitats: A Field Guide to the Wildlife Habitats of Great Britain and Ireland (second edition) by Sophie Lake, Durwyn Liley, Robert Still and Andy Swash

“But do we really need a field guide to habitats? Possibly not. I certainly will not be taking my copy into the field. Yet this perhaps misses the point. What this book does is remind the users of other field guides that their organisms of interest do not live in isolation – they are nothing without their habitats. So, make this book an essential companion to your species guides.”

Reviewed by Anthony Robinson in the February 2021 issue (BW 32.4) – read the review here

5. Beetles of Britain and Ireland. Volume 3: Geotrupidae to Scraptiidae by Andrew G. Duff

“Anyone interested in identifying and studying beetles simply cannot afford to be without [these books] and any quibbles can only be minor. Andrew cannot be too highly commended for his diligence and hard work to make so much information available to all.”

Reviewed by Richard Wright in the April 2021 issue (BW 32.5) – read the review here

 

6. The Bumblebee Book: A Guide to Britain & Ireland’s Bumblebees by Nick Owen

“This is the latest book to enter the now relatively crowded marketplace of bumblebee guides, which may leave one wondering what it can offer to the more seasoned hymenopterist – read on! The author’s intention is to provide a book at the ‘entry level’ of bee study, Owens stating from the outset that he ‘aims to provide an easily accessible introduction for those with little or no previous knowledge of bumblebees’.”

Reviewed by Adrian Knowles in the April 2021 issue (BW 32.5) – read the review here

7. Bringing Back the Beaver: The Story of One Man’s Quest to Rewild Britain’s Waterways by Derek Gow

“There is no better place from which to view the tragi-comic events which unfold, and no better person to describe it than Derek Gow, a man of action as well as a powerful Beaver advocate. This account is unexpected, oddball, and, despite its serious side, enormously entertaining.”

Reviewed by James Robertson in the May 2021 issue (BW 32.6) – read the review here

 

8. Heathland by Clive Chatters

“He has written an ecological masterpiece, generous in its sympathies, awe-inspiring in its breadth of knowledge, and genuinely enticing in its journey around heathland Britain. This is a book that ought to influence policy.”

Reviewed by Peter Marren in the May 2021 issue (BW 32.6) – read the review here

 


Since its launch in 1989, British Wildlife has established its position as the leading natural history magazine in the UK, providing essential reading for both enthusiasts and professional naturalists and wildlife conservationists. Individual back issues of the magazine are available to buy through the NHBS website, while annual subscriptions start from just £35 – sign up online here.

 

FSC: Publisher of the Month for July

Since first featuring as NHBS’ Publisher of the Month over three years ago,  the Field Studies Council have added even more excellent titles to their catalogue of publications.

We asked Head of Publications, Dr Rebecca Farley-Brown what hopes and plans the FSC has for the next five years?

‘Plans for next 5 years – more guides in more places. We want to expand the range to help more people get engaged with nature – from simple family guides through to specialist books’.

The Field Studies Council (FSC) is the NHBS Publisher of the Month for July.

The FSC publish six diverse, thoroughly researched and constantly expanding series’, these include: Royal Entomological Society HandbooksAIDGAP GuidesFold-out Identification Charts and Chart PacksSynopses of the British Fauna and Biological Records Centre Atlases.

Fold-Out Identification Charts

The FSC’s range of  identification charts are designed to assist nature enthusiasts with identifying and naming the fauna and flora they find. The first fold-out identification chart, The Woodland Name Trail was produced in 1994 and, since then, these guides have become the FSC’s best-selling publications.

 


AIDGAP guides

In 1976 The ‘AIDGAP’ (Aids to Identification in Difficult Groups of Animals and Plants) project was started, with the aim of producing user-friendly and reliable field guides which would make identification achievable for those with little taxonomic training.

2020/2021 has been busy for AIDGAP, with new guides to Vegetative grasses, Sphagnum mosses and Freshwater Snails  all being published.

RES Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects

In 2004 the FSC started working with the Royal Entomological Society to publish their Handbook series. The aim of these handbooks is to provide illustrated identification keys to the insects of Britain, together with concise morphological, biological and distributional information. These comprehensive books are primarily aimed at experienced users.

 

BRC Atlases

The FSC also publishes Atlases on behalf of the Biological Records Centre (part of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology). Suitable for more experienced users, these atlases map the distribution of records within Great Britain and Ireland for named groups of animals.

 


Synopses of the British Fauna

In 1991 the FSC formed a partnership with the Linnean Society of London to publish their Synopses of the British Fauna series. The first Synopses FSC published was Woodlice (now out of print) and since then, over 60 additional volumes have been published.

 


A busy publishing year for the Field Studies Council

The FSC has been publishing environmental titles for over 40 years and 2020/2021 have been busy publishing years, especially for AIDGAP, with new guides: Grasses, Freshwater Snails of Britain and Ireland and Sphagnum Mosses.

A Blowflies Handbook has also been published for the Royal Entomological Society and an atlas with identification keys for the Histeridae, Sphaeritidae and Silphidae beetles for the Biological Records Centre.

New foldout guides for Moorland Wildlife of the North York Moors and Features of the Gwent Levels were published early in 2021, with guides to seaside plants and woodlands planned for later this summer.

Browse all FSC titles at NHBS

Author interview with Alice Bell: Our Biggest Experiment

In Our Biggest Experiment, Alice Bell takes us back to explore the earliest signs and causes of climate change in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, to the advancing realisation that global warming was a significant problem in the 1950s and right up to today, where we have seen the growth of the environmental movement, climate scepticism and political responses like the UN climate talks.

 

Dr Alice Bell is a journalist and historian of science. Alice was a lecturer in science communication at Imperial College for several years, and was also a key contributor to the International Council for Science’s blog on climate policy in the run-up to the UN Paris talks. Alice has kindly agreed to answer some of our questions below.

1) ‘Our Biggest Experiment’ book reads like an epic story with so many interesting scientists and interwoven narratives. Was it always your intention to write this as an historical story, rather than a data and statistics driven text?

Totally. There are already loads of brilliant books explaining the science of climate change. I wanted to offer something a bit different.

When I started seriously reading up on climate change a little over a decade ago, I read through all the papers and briefings on the science and, crucial as all this info was, I kept finding myself asking questions about where the data came from – who commissioned it, why, when, how did they feel about that? This is partly because my undergrad degree is in history of science and I usually respond to science with questions about the people behind it, but it was also because I felt like I needed this history to really understand the climate crisis. As I read further and found answers to my questions. I learnt whole new sides to the climate crisis, deep back-stories and fascinating characters. I found it gave me a new perspective on the issue, and even lifted my spirits in places. I figured these were stories worth sharing, hence the book.

The numbers are vital to understanding climate change – indeed, chunks of my book are about how we came to start counting things like temperature and CO2 – but they’re only part of the story. If we really want to understand the climate crisis, we’re going to have to look around and behind the numbers too.

2) In the book you cover a number of different scientific disciplines and discoveries, which was your favourite area to research and why?

Science-wise, my favourite is probably the ways in which people started to unravel knowledge about past climates through cores of sea mud and ice. I loved reading the autobiography of Danish meteorologist Willi Dansgaard and his trips in the 1950s and 1960s to the Arctic, hunting bubbles of air trapped deep in ancient ice, taking them home for analysis. His study of cores from a US Army centre in the Arctic, Camp Century, took our understanding of atmospheric carbon dioxide back 100,000 years, helping scientists in the 1970s establish that the climate change we were living through was very much something they dubbed “global warming”, not cooling. I find paleoclimatology so wondrous, the ways people can piece together a history of the planet chasing markers through ice, mud, coral and tree rings.

It was also really interesting to learn more about the way scientists have contributed to the oil industry. From Yale chemist Benjamin Silliman Jr’s report on Pennsylvanian ‘rock oil’ back in 1855 (which arguably launched the American oil industry) diversifying into geology, engineering, oceanography and, when it suited them, atmospheric physics. Sometimes fossil fuel companies and their defenders get painted as “anti-science”. In truth they run on science, and always have done (they are just highly strategic about which bits of it they use).

3) I found it really interesting to learn about Eunice Foote and her role in discovering the greenhouse effect, especially since her contribution was overlooked or simply forgotten for so many years. Do you have a favourite character you discovered whilst writing this book?

It has to be Ida Tarbell, the journalist who brought down Rockafeller and the oil industry, over a hundred years ago.

Tarbell was born the same decade as the oil industry (the 1850s) in the same state (Pennsylvania). She saw the boom and bust of its early years, including the steady, steely growth of Rockefeller’s Standard Oil. She started off as a teacher, but moved to Paris in her mid 30s to write a biography of a female French revolutionary she thought had been overlooked, Madame Roland. She shared an apartment there with other women writers, hanging out with Louis Pasteur, Emile Zola and an Egyptian prince. While in Paris, she started writing for McClure’s Magazine, a literary and political monthly, first in pages previously filled by children’s author Frances Hodgson Burnett and later, once she’d moved back to New York, taking up an editorial post.

Tarbell apparently convinced the magazine’s owner, Samuel Sidney McClure, to run an exposé on Rockefeller and Standard Oil during a mudbath at a spa in Italy. Her father pleaded with her to pick any other topic for a story on monopolies than Standard Oil – he’d worked in the oil industry and knew you couldn’t win against Rockefeller. At a party in DC hosted by Alexander Graham Bell, one of Rockefeller’s bankers took her aside to say similar, adding a threat to the finances of the mag for good measure. She curtly replied this made no difference to her – she was a journalist, not the owner. Via Mark Twain, Tarbell bagged an introduction to one of the Standard Oil directors, Henry H. Rogers, who remembered her father and was surprisingly candid. Tarbell sleuthed her way to more and soon had enough to go public.

It was published as a series, starting in Nov 1902 and was immediately explosive. The publicity, in turn, brought her new stories, and the series ended up running for two years, published as a book in 1904, followed the following year with a biography of Rockefeller. The reporting influenced the 1904 election, and at one point Roosevelt found himself promising to return $100k in campaign contributions from Standard Oil directors. Then, in 1906, the company was told it had three years to divide itself up into smaller entities. The largest of these new smaller entities was Standard Oil of New Jersey, which we today know as Exxon. The New York arm we now know as Mobil, the Californian one became Chevron.

4) Your background is very well rooted in science communication – do you have any key tips for communicating climate change and inspiring change?

Anyone who says they know how to communicate climate change is selling magic beans. Climate is such a big, complex issue, a lot of the best advice goes out the window, or at least general sci comms advice isn’t enough. There are some basic good tips that apply to most comms work – think about the audiences you want to talk to, go to where they are already (e.g. don’t expect to talk to people who don’t like science at the Science Museum), and most of all, listen to them. But that’ll only get you so far. At Possible – the climate charity I co-run – we spend a lot of time pouring over any research we can get our hands on, so we can be as evidence-based as possible. There isn’t nearly enough research on climate comms, projects like the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations at Cardiff Uni is brilliant, but we need way more research funding on this issue. Something else we’re big on at Possible is finding ways to involve people in climate action – you can spend ages polishing your messages, but it’s all too easy for them to simply wash over people if there isn’t a way for them to get involved.

5) I felt a sense of positivity running through this book, reading about the scientific discoveries made over the years and the amazing technology mankind has developed. Do you find it easy to find courage amongst the bad news, and what makes you feel positive about the future of the climate crisis at the moment?

I’m really lucky to work at a climate action charity, it’s very different from reading data on sea ice melt day in day out. So when all the stories of climate impacts start to feel a bit much, I look to my colleagues taking positive, practical action and it helps me remember that there is still so much we can do. As the ever-articulate NASA climate scientist Kate Marvel puts it, ‘Climate change isn’t a cliff we fall off, but a slope we slide down.’ That slope is getting very steep, but we haven’t fallen off yet. There’s still so much of the world we can save.

There were times writing the book when I felt pretty down. There was a week last summer where it was just blisteringly, stiflingly, oppressively hot in London. London’s horrible when it gets too hot anyway, but that extra knowledge that climate change is contributing to the heat, and hurting people in other countries so much more, makes it all the harder. I was trying to finish the first draft of my book and re-reading all these papers from the 1960s or 1970s musing that “if” we didn’t do anything, the climate could get nasty after the year 2000. It made me so angry about all those lost years of delay and inaction. But at the same time, writing the book helped me find strength too, especially the stories of scientist’s research. Because climate change isn’t obvious. You need science to see it. We could, all too easily, be sitting around thinking ‘the weather’s a bit weird today. Again.’ We at least have this warning, and that’s something quite powerful in itself, even if we haven’t been fast enough to take that warning.

6) Do you have any further projects or books in the pipeline you can tell us about?

I have started mulling over an idea for another book, but honestly I’m not sure I have time. I’ve got too many exciting projects at Possible. My colleague Neil has some amazing work brewing on community hedge planting which has to be put on hold with the pandemic, but I’m so excited to get dug in (literally!) in the next planting season. Then another team member, Emma, has a really fun citizen science app we’re hoping to launch soon (if we can sort the bugs). Then there’s our solar railways work, projects listening to communities about what they think about projects to curb traffic in towns which sprung up during lockdown, and of course the big UN climate talks in Glasgow in November. One thing about climate campaigning is there’s always more to do! It doesn’t get boring.

 

Our Biggest Experiment: A History of the Climate Crisis
By: Alice Bell
Hardback | June 2021| £16.99 £19.99

 

All prices correct at the time of this article’s publication.

 

Author Interview with Jon Dunn: The Glitter in the Green

Jon Dunn is a natural history writer, photographer and wildlife tour leader. He is the author of the fantastic Orchid Summer among other books, and his writing and photographs have been featured in Britain’s Mammals and numerous wildlife magazines and journals.

In his latest book, The Glitter in the Green, Jon documents his expeditions from the farthest reaches of Alaska to the tip of South America in Tierra del Fuego in search of hummingbirds. Weaving history and travel writing together, the book describes the special place hummingbirds have in both mythology and culture, all while addressing not only how hummingbirds have suffered in the past, but the threats they face today. Jon kindly agreed to answer some of our questions below.

When and how did you first discover hummingbirds and what is it that draws you to them?

I’ve got the Natural History Museum in London to thank for planting the seed that was to grow, over the years, into a full-blown hummingbird habit. I was a young kid in the 1980s, taken to London by my mother for a day doing the usual tourist things – she wisely saved a visit to NHM London until later in the day, as she knew once I was in there I wouldn’t want to leave.

Amongst the many exhibits one in particular caught me by surprise – a large glass cabinet filled with hummingbird taxidermy. I know, that’s a bit bleak by the standards of today, but back then all I had eyes for were the shapes, forms and colours of the birds. They were so very different to the birds I was used to seeing in the Somerset countryside around our home. After that, every now and again I’d see footage of hummingbirds on wildlife documentaries, and began to appreciate further just how remarkable they were – what Tim Dee described as ‘strange birds: not quite birds or somehow more than birds, birds 2.0, perhaps’.

As a naturalist and a storyteller, I’m a bit like a bowerbird, drawn to colour. Hummingbirds really have it all going on – their biology is one superlative after another; their plumage is jewel-like; they’re found throughout the Americas in almost every conceivable habitat; and they’ve fascinated mankind from our earliest recorded encounters with them – there’s a rich vein of stories to dig into. 

Were there any particular encounters that stood out for you during your research?

Seeing my first Marvellous Spatuletail caught me by surprise. They’re renowned for their plumage and rarity alike, so I was prepared to feel that cocktail of joy and relief familiar to any birder who’s just caught up with a keenly anticipated species. The reality though far exceeded that – the delicacy of the bird compared to the many other hummingbird species swirling around the clearing in question, those preposterous tail feathers, the culmination of waiting decades to see one… I found that a bird could be literally as well as metaphorically jaw-dropping.

There were plenty of other moments that I’ll hold in my heart, and they don’t all involve the iconic, rare species. One such was watching Golden-tailed Sapphires, a hummingbird that looks as if it’s been dipped in rainbows, feeding in a clearing in the immediate aftermath of a heavy rain shower. As the sun broke through the dripping vegetation and steaming air we were suddenly surrounded by myriad small rainbows through which the birds were flying. That moment was ephemeral, over almost as soon as it began, but it’s etched in my memory forever. 

Hummingbirds have long been venerated and romanticised in art and in your book you talk about the emotive response that hummingbirds elicit in people. Why do you think that this is?

I found myself asking myself that very question as my journey into their world unfolded… Hummingbirds certainly seem to touch something deep inside us. They featured in the mythology of the Aztecs; inspired the most dramatic of all of the immense geoglyphs carved into the desert floor by the Nazca; appear in renowned art and literature; and, to this day, are singled out for particular love by those whose gardens they frequent, people who would not necessarily identify themselves as birders.

I think it’s their character as much as their beauty that has always called to us – many species are confiding, and are happy to feed in close proximity to us. Over millennia we’ve given many animals ample cause to be shy of us – and indeed, down the years we’ve slaughtered hummingbirds in their millions for their feathers, whether they were to feature in Aztec status symbols, Catholic icons or on 19th century hats. Yet despite this, hummingbirds remain unphased by our presence. Perhaps there’s something subconsciously reassuring about that.    

In order to see some species, your expeditions took you to some very remote places. Did this present any challenges?

Inevitably there were some logistical challenges to contend with, not least having to reacquaint myself with horse-riding after a decades-long and deliberate avoidance of it! There were a couple of close encounters with large predators that were, in hindsight, more alarming than they felt at the time – as a naturalist, I was thrilled to get (very) close views of a puma… But perhaps the most challenging moment of all was landing in Bolivia at the very moment the country was taking to the streets to protest the outcome of a recent presidential election. There was an incident at a roadblock manned by armed men that was genuinely scary, with an outcome that hung in the balance for a terrifying instant, and could easily have ended badly.

Hummingbirds face many threats to their existence, including habitat loss, climate-change, deforestation, as you talk about in your book. Post-research, do you feel any optimism for these magnificent creatures?

This is a really difficult question. On the one hand, I learned of examples of conservation where hummingbirds – amongst other species, of course – were the beneficiaries of excellent conservation work at a local level. On the other hand, when you start to take a pragmatic long view of our impact to date on the habitats the birds rely upon across the Americas, it’s hard to remain upbeat. We’ve destroyed so much already, especially in the past century – and with a growing global population, the pressures of economic development are only going to intensify human activity and its impacts.    

I sometimes think there’s almost too much optimism expressed when talking about conservation challenges anywhere in the world – a narrative that suggests “if we only care enough, the [insert iconic species name here] can be saved”. And to a degree, that’s good – we’ve got to have hope, as the alternative is too dreadful to countenance – but given our impact to date, and in an uncertain future where the effects of climate change are still unfolding and will continue for many decades to come, to name just the biggest of the mounting pressures on the natural world, I’m not sure that I do feel terribly optimistic, least of all for those hummingbird species that have very localized populations, or depend upon very specific habitats. They’re undeniably vulnerable. But like Fox Mulder, I want to believe…   

 Do you have any plans for further books?

I do indeed… Having delved into the worlds of two of my personal favourites, terrestrial orchids and hummingbirds, in the last two books, the book I’m currently writing will have a wider focus – exploring the evolving relationship between humanity and the natural world. It’ll be a deep dive into a world of obsession, joy, exploitation and wonder – a place where the truth is stranger than fiction. 

 

The Glitter in the Green
By: Jon Dunn
Hardback | June 2021

 

All prices correct at the time of this article’s publication.

 

Author Interview with Penny Metal: Insectinside

As recently featured on BBC’s Springwatch, Insectinside is a fantastic book featuring hundreds of species of insect that have all been found in Warwick Gardens in Peckham by author, Penny Metal.

With Penny’s incredible photographs and often humorous social commentary, Insectinside is an inspiring look at the diversity you can find just beyond your doorstep, as well as the vital importance of our natural spaces.

Can you tell us about your background and how you came to write this book?

I have a background in graphic design and often work in the area of nature conservation. This means I get to see what projects are happening etc. I work from home and decided to spend my lunch breaks in my local park photographing and surveying insects. I learned about the insects, watched them and counted the sheer number of species, and realised that no one else had actually surveyed a small urban park extensively. The book came about as I wanted to show people what was living in the bushes and to put Peckham on the entomological map!

Insectinside is written from the unique perspective of the insects that dwell in Peckham Park. What inspired you to write this way, rather than in a more traditional prose?

I wanted to try a different way of presenting information that would ‘hook’ people and short stories were the way to go. A lot of people don’t like insects and comparing their lives to ours not only elevates them, it gives the reader another perspective on how wonderful they are, and you can add a bit of humour alongside topics which are happening at the time (gentrification, Brexit etc). I find them fun to write, and am often inspired by how an insect looks or acts and what is going on in the news and try and link the two together. It is a good way to introduce some of the lesser known insects. My strategy appears to have worked!

Do you have any favourite species that you would like to tell us about?

I am a big fan of wasps, especially parasitic wasps. My favourite is the Gasteruption jaculator and watching her squeeze herself into the tiniest beetle holes where the scissor bees nest to lay her eggs is a sight to behold.

Recreational places like parks might not always be considered for their conservation potential. What can you tell us about the significance of parkland in the UK?

I think parks have been overlooked as areas of conservation. They can be large places and they have to work hard – recreation, dog spaces, playgrounds, sports spaces, neat formal areas for aesthetics etc, lighting, and usually open 24 hours – but there is no reason why we can’t include habitats for our wildlife. A simple solution would be to leave areas un-mowed to grow wild. In the parks of my local area in London, large swathes of grasses and flowers have been left to mature and people have been really receptive to it. I think we are finally moving away from the Victorian ideal of neat and tidy!

With an ever-growing population in the UK, parklands are becoming increasingly busier. What do you think we need to do to protect our natural spaces?

Tell people to stop destroying them, and to take their rubbish home! Luckily there is more awareness now about the importance of our natural spaces, though there is a way to go yet to get everyone on board. Personally, I would like for our natural spaces to be so integrated into our lives that we can drop names like ‘nature reserve’ and just appreciate nature for what it is.

The book has a great many beautiful insect photographs, taken by yourself. Do you have any advice for aspiring macro-photographers?

Keep a sharp eye and a steady hand! Watch them to see how they move – for instance dragonflies tend to return to their perch a couple of times before they fly away for good.  And a sunny day with clouds is the best time to photograph flying insects as they stop and have a rest when the sun is hidden.

Insectinside
By: Penny Metal
Paperback | Due in stock soon |  £19.99

 

All prices correct at the time of this article’s publication.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author interview with Elsa Panciroli: Beasts Before Us

Elsa Panciroli is a palaeontologist who studies the evolution and ecology of extinct animals – particularly mammals from the time of dinosaurs. She is a researcher based at the University of Oxford and an associate researcher at the National Museum of Scotland. A keen science communicator, she has contributed to The Guardian, Palaeontology Online and Biological Sciences Review, and co-hosts the Palaeocast podcast. Beasts Before Us is her first book and tells the amazing story of early mammal evolution, taking the reader back well before the dinosaurs even rose to prominence. Leading up to publication, we reached out to Elsa and asked her some questions.

Elsa Panciroli on the Isle of Skye

You write that you started your palaeontology career interested in dinosaurs and Ice Age megafauna. What turned you on to the path of our mammal ancestors?

Like so many things in life, it was serendipity. During my masters degree the renowned mammal palaeontologist, Prof Christine Janis, moved back to the UK from the US. I’d recently read her paper on giant extinct kangaroos and I was excited to meet her and learn more. It turned out she was offering a project studying mammal ankle bones, so although there were dinosaur projects available, I jumped at the chance to work with Christine. I learned so much from her, she was (and still is) a brilliant mentor. I soon realised what a lot of questions were still to be answered about extinct mammals. Afterwards, I did my PhD on little-known Jurassic mammals from Scotland, and started exploring their even more ancient past – I just couldn’t believe what I discovered! That’s why I wanted to write the book, to share what I had learned.

Given that we are so biased to mammals where, for example, conservation is concerned, why do you think that there has been so little mainstream interest in early mammal evolution? Your book shows that there is a fascinating story playing out before dinosaurs even evolved. Do the dinosaurs in that sense enjoy the advantage of incumbency in our imagination? Or do the details of mammal evolution not easily lend themselves to telling a captivating story?

I disagree that mammal evolution doesn’t lend itself to story-telling, but the many authors who’ve tackled the subject up to now focused on recent evolution and assumed everything before then wasn’t relevant. I wrote Beasts Before Us because our ancient relatives are incredible! I was quite shocked by this whole plethora of animals that not only predate the dinosaurs, but were incredibly successful, bizarre and exciting. They were the first to evolve iconic features we are fascinated by today, like large body size, sabre-teeth and gnarly horns. It’s just the icing on the cake that they are actually related to us. I wanted to show people the history of mammals isn’t a story of waiting in the wings for the dinosaurs to disappear, but of the stunning success our lineage (synapsids) over the last 350 million years, including before dinosaurs even existed.

I think there are a few different reasons why early mammal evolution doesn’t get the same love as dinosaurs. Dinosaurs are kind of otherworldly – in fact you might argue they are almost mythical – so naturally this makes them extremely compelling. As a result, people forget to look beyond them at what else has happened in evolutionary history. The media don’t help, because they overly focus on dinosaurs and always plaster them centre stage. Dinosaurs have become a touchstone for ancient, and other discoveries are always placed in relation to them. There is a lot of dino-noise to get through if you want to tell the stories of other animal groups!

An important theme in your book is that evolution is not a march of progress but a process of adaptation to current circumstances. It seems that our early ancestors thoroughly explored the space of possibilities and pioneered both behaviours (e.g. digging underground burrows) and morphology (e.g. sabre-toothed therapsids) that would later evolve again independently through convergent evolution. Are there examples of morphological adaptations or suspected behaviours in early mammals that have not reoccurred in more recent mammal evolution?

That’s a really interesting question! As we make new fossil discoveries, it’s increasingly apparent that there is very little happening on Earth today that hasn’t been done multiple times before by other animals. Of the top of my head, I can’t think of anything they – or other animals – did in the past that hasn’t reappeared again, nature is just like that. If anyone can think of something they can always tweet me about it!

I thought one very interesting idea you mention concerns the adaptive radiation of therians, i.e. the group that gave rise to both marsupials and the placental mammals to which we belong. They remained a species-poor group until after the dinosaurs went extinct, and it is traditionally thought it was competition from the dinosaurs that held them back. Instead, here, and in the Current Biology paper that just been published (congratulations, by the way), you argue that it was competition from other mammaliaform groups that held back the therians. Can you give us the elevator pitch in support of this idea?

Part of the problem is that the fossil record can be very misleading, and we can’t easily separate cause and effect. People saw that mammals became larger when non-bird dinosaurs disappeared, and so they drew a causal line between the two. To tackle this issue more robustly, my co-authors and I compiled big datasets of the changes taking place in the skeletons and teeth of mammals from the time of dinosaurs, and just afterwards. Our results showed that in the earlier-branching groups of mammals the number of changes taking place in their bodies continued to rise – in other words, they were still splitting into new groups and evolving new specialisations. But for the therian mammals (which include the ancestors and relatives of all modern mammals except platypuses and echidna), the number of changes was pretty flat in the time of dinosaurs. That is, until the disappearance of the earlier mammal groups – some of which didn’t become extinct until after the non-bird dinosaurs. Crucially, it wasn’t until these later extinctions that we really see therians diversifying more widely, therefore showing that it was competition with the other mammals that had been preventing them from diversifying prior to that point.

You mention Clashach quarry in Scotland as a site of great scientific interest due to its record of fossil footprints. I often shudder to think how many body and trace fossils are destroyed forever during mining and construction activities. Do you generally find commercial operators willing or interested to cease or move activities when fossils are found? Or would most rather just quietly ignore them to prevent costly delays?

Although you’re right that fossils are destroyed during extraction, we can’t forget that most fossils wouldn’t have been discovered in the first place if it wasn’t for quarrying and mining! The ties between extractive industries and palaeontology are really important, but they also form part of the colonialist history of the discipline, which we must acknowledge. The attitude of extraction companies varies from place to place, but many are really keen to support scientific study as much as they can. For example I know several have welcomed info sheets and talks from experts on how to recognise fossils, so that the workers know what to look out for. They’ll often put aside potential fossil finds so that they can be examined and studied. It’s hard to find a balance between industry and conservation, but for the most part quarry workers are just as excited about fossils as everyone else!

In your book, you broach the sensitive issue of decolonisation, acknowledging the often dark and unsavoury history of our scientific disciplines. Beyond words, what actions do you think are necessary to get to terms with our past? For example, is the repatriation of museum specimens always the preferred option?

Decolonising science and museum collections is a complex subject, and I’m not an expert, but the first step for all of us is to listen: we need to hear about, understand, and explore the legacy of colonialism and empire on our lives, not dismiss it. Repatriation of objects is appropriate in some cases, but there are many other things that need to happen as well. For example many objects are completely separated from their context – where they came from, the circumstances of their collection, and who collected them. We need to ask ourselves what the purpose of collections actually is now, who they are for? The scientific system itself was built in such a way that it biases who carries out research, how we carry it out, how it’s published, and who benefits. It’s going to take time and thought to rebuild it to be more equitable.

I was very impressed with the visual language you use throughout this book and read that you have a keen interest in science communication. I am a regular listener of the Palaeocast podcast that you co-host, but beyond that, what other platforms and outlets do you contribute to?

I have to admit I don’t keep a regular online presence at the moment, except for my twitter feed! I used to blog, but as I’ve ended up writing more articles (I wrote for The Guardian for a while, and some other freelance work) I’ve had less time. However, when possible I place content on my YouTube channel, particularly short videos explaining new research, or talking about fossils. I’ve also done some readings of Beasts Before Us, if you want a wee taster!

Beasts Before Us is your first book. Now that it has been published, is it time to turn your attention back to research, or was the experience rewarding enough that we can look forward to more books in the future?

I’ve actually been carrying out my research alongside writing, which has been pretty exhausting! It’ll be nice to devote more attention just to the research for a while. Having said that, I do have a second book lined up, and many more ideas in the queue, so you can definitely expect more in the future!

 

Beasts Before Us: The Untold Story of Mammal Origins and Evolution
By: Elsa Panciroli

 

All prices correct at the time of this article’s publication.

Author Interview with Adam Nicolson: The Sea Is Not Made of Water

From the author of The Seabird’s Cry, Adam Nicolson’s new book The Sea Is Not Made of Water offers a glimpse into the intricacies and minutiae of the intertidal zone. Blending ecology and human history, poetry and prose, Adam takes us on a fascinating journey to the shore.

Adam is a journalist and prize-winning author of books on history, landscape and nature – among many other accolades, he won the 2018 Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing. He has also made several television and radio series on a variety of subjects.

First of all, we loved The Seabird’s Cry and were very excited to learn of The Sea Is Not Made of Water about intertidal zones. Could you tell us about what drew you to this habitat and the inspiration behind your book?

For nearly thirty years now I have been going to stay in a small house at the head of a bay on the west coast of Scotland. It is somewhere my wife’s family have been going for generations and now our children and grandchildren love it too. It has everything you might long for from a place like that: cliffs, woods, waterfalls, a dark beach made of basalt sands, a lighthouse, a ruined castle, stories, beauty, birds, fish; but one thing it did not have because of the geology, was a rockpool. For years I have dreamed of making one – a place of stillness set in the tide, and this book is the story of how I made three of them in different parts of the bay; one dug in with a pickaxe; one made by damming a narrow exit to the sea from a hollow so that the dam held the pool behind it; and one by making a circular wall low down in the intertidal.

The foreshore belongs here to the Scottish crown, and so I got permission to do this first and then set about making the pools – wanting them to be cups of what I learned to call bio-receptivity – beginning with quite literally a rock-pool, an empty planetary space, and then waiting to see what the sea would deliver to them. An enlargement of the habitat. A tiny gesture to counteract the lack of accommodation we are all making for the natural world. In a way, no more than making sandcastles, but sandcastles that would invite their inhabitants in and would last more than a single tide.

Shorelines and rock pools are incredibly biodiverse environments; how did you decide which species to write about?

It was not about rarities. I thought for a while I should call the book ‘All the Usual Beauty’. And anyway the species selected themselves. I began at the top of the beach at the spring equinox, although there was not a hint of spring, when I started poking around in the seaweeds thrown up there by the winter storms. Nothing else seemed to be alive on this frozen March day, but lift away the lid of weed and quite literally the sandhoppers sprang into life around me. Again and again they went though their routine: leap, wriggle, play dead, leap, wriggle, play dead. Almost toy-like in their repetitions.

And so that provided the model – see what was there and look carefully at it. Of course, books like mine are entirely parasitic on the work of many generations of biologists and that too turned out to be the pattern. Watch the sand hoppers and then read about them. Read about them and see how much of what I read I could find on the shore. With prawns, winkles, shore crabs, anemones, limpets, sea-stars, urchins and barnacles, I simply oscillated between the pools and my books: what was there? What had people discovered about them? How did they interact? What were the principles governing their presence or absence? And with all of that came the repeated and slightly sobering realisation that unless I knew to look for something it was very difficult to see it was there. Mysteriously, we are often blind to what is in front of our eyes.

Did you discover anything particularly interesting that you were previously unaware of during your research?

So much! I never knew that sandhoppers could inherit from their parents an understanding of where the sea was and how to get there. That winkles can tell if a crab has been in their pool. That crabs, even in the tiniest of larval stages, can recognise the movements and timings of the tides. That sea anemones can identify other sea anemones that are not their relations and effectively destroy them. That prawns have an imagination – that might sound like too much, but it has been shown that they can remember past pain and project it into present and future anxieties. Anxiety is different from fear; it is a fear of what might be there. In other words a prawn can think beyond its present reality.

Some of my most treasured childhood memories involve investigating Dorset shorelines and delighting in the incredible variety of species I would find there. What do you think it is about the shoreline that people connect with so strongly?

I think maybe the shore is so alluring because it is both so strange and so easily to hand. It is a revelation of another world a yard or two away from our own. The temptation is to think of the pool as a natural garden, but it is a very odd and very wild garden. Looking perhaps as settled and delicate as a painting but in fact a theatre and cockpit of competition and rivalry. And garden whose walls are dissolved twice a day, an enclosure that becomes part of the general world with every high tide. That ambiguity is what entranced me, the sense of its being a micro-ocean, a micro-arcadia, a micro-laboratory in which all kinds of intimacies and precision in natural beings can be witnessed an inch beneath your nose.

Although adaptable, rocky shore inhabitants are not invincible, what do you think is the biggest threat to the rocky shore ecosystem and are some species more at risk than others?

Sea-level rise should not cause the inhabitants of rocky shores too many problems. They will climb the rocks in time with the water. But other anthropogenic effects are quite likely to be catastrophic. Animals that depend on their shell for protection are living in an increasingly hostile world. Everywhere in the North Atlantic outside Europe, as the Dutch evolutionary biologist Geerat J. Vermeij has written, an increase in shell thickness has been taken as a response ‘to the spread of the introduced European green crab (Carcinus maenas), but these changes may also have resulted from an overall increase in the abundance of native shell-crushing crabs (Cancer spp.) and lobsters (Homarus americanus) as the predators (including cod) of these crustaceans were overfished’.

The destruction of the cod and the collapse of their position as an apex predator in the Atlantic has made it a sea of claws. That hugely increased claw count, and competition between the clawed animals, has risen to the point where the shell-dwellers are feeling the pressure and have responded as shell-dwellers and shell-wearers must: by thickening their defences and toughening their lives.

But modern life has provided them with another hurdle: the acidification of the world ocean. One-third of all the carbon dioxide that has been emitted since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution has been absorbed by seawater, turning it acid. Making shells and skeletons, drawing calcium carbonate from the water, is more difficult in an acid sea. All kinds of ripple effects will spread out from that: more crabs, fewer winkles, denser algae and a disruption of the entire coastal ecosystem.

The effect is more than purely chemical. When sea-fish are exposed to acid water, their senses of smell and hearing are both disrupted. Young fish find it more difficult to learn, become less frightened by danger and are even attracted to the smell of predators. The same now seems to be true of shellfish. Acid water is distorting the minds of animals in the entire ecosystem.

Do you have any further projects or books in the pipeline?

I do! I am writing a long piece on English chalk-streams and also slowly researching a book about the birds in the wood at home. And I would love to write something one day about the mammals of the Scottish sea. Otters, seals, whales and dolphins. One day!

The Sea Is Not Made of Water
By: Adam Nicolson
Hardback | Due June 2021 | £16.99 £19.99

 

All prices correct at the time of this article’s publication.