Description
Book SynopsisThe second volume of a major new series of books on British natural history.Meadows provide one of the most wide-ranging and eloquent treatments of this most quintessential British habitat. Yet the flower-rich hay meadows that have inspired writers and artists for hundreds of years have almost disappeared from our countryside. In this exceptional work, George Peterken, one of our most respected ecologists, brings together years of research and discovery from his travels across Britain and Europe, as well as an understanding borne out of caring for his own meadows, to produce a book that will put this often misunderstood habitat back in the public's eye. Filled with beautiful images of meadows and their denizens, this is a book everyone with an interest in this iconic habitat will want to own.
Trade Review...an exceptional book,
Meadows ... is a proper, scientific treatise by one of Britain’s leading ecologists, but it is so well written and so spectacularly-illustrated ... that it is accessible to the general reader. -- Michael McCarthy * The Independent *
Part of the excellent British Wildlife Collection ... George Peterken unpicks all elements of meadows. -- Katy Merrington, cultural gardener * Gardens Illustrated *
Table of ContentsForeword 1 Introducing meadows 2 The meadow flora 3 Classification and the variety of meadows 4 Origins 5 Making hay the traditional way 6 The geography of traditional meadows 7 Improving meadows 8 Diversity 9 Change in the meadows 10 European meadows 11 Translocating meadows to the colonies 12 Birds, bees, butterflies and other fauna 13 Meadows in the mind 14 Loss and survival 15 Looking forward
