Before me lies a field of sunflowers, more than I have ever seen in one place. There are hundreds of them crowded there. This field has always been empty before.
The flowers have already started to wither, their perfect Fib-onacci spirals crumbling away, but in the late-summer light they have taken on the season’s reddish glow, now flaunting autumnal shades of red: amber and sienna and terracotta. The impression is of a sheet of rusting metal, or an evening sun hung low over water. They look as if they are blushing – embarrassed, perhaps, that they are beginning to show their old age. I struggle to absorb it all – the colours, the light, the scale. More than anything, I’m conscious of the serendipity of this moment; I have arrived at exactly the right time to see the sunflowers just before they fade away.
Rhiannon Bull, 2016
Wasps.—Abundance of wasps are said to denote a good fruit year. We have remarked also the converse of this, for in the present season, 1824, perhaps the worst for apples and stone fruit that we remember, there is scarcely a wasp to be seen. In general towards the close of summer they are very numerous, particularly in the month of September. In 1821 they were prodigiously plentiful, and in 1822 there were a great many of them, while 1824 scarcely presented a solitary wasp even where they usually abound.
Thomas Furly Forster, The Pocket Encyclopaedia
of Natural Phenomena, published 1827
Now the rosy- (and lazy-) fingered Aurora, issuing from her saffron house, calls up the moist vapours to surround her, and goes veiled with them as long as she can; till Phoebus, coming forth in his power, looks everything out of the sky, and holds sharp, uninterrupted empire from his throne of beams. Now the mower begins to make his sweeping cuts more slowly, and resorts oftener to the beer. Now the carter sleeps a-top of his load of hay, or plods with double slouch of shoulder, looking out with eyes winking under his shading hat, and with a hitch upward of one side of his mouth. Now the little girl at her grandmother’s cottage-door watches the coaches that go by, with her hand held up over her sunny forehead. Now labourers look well resting in their white shirts at the doors of rural ale-houses. Now an elm is fine there, with a seat under it; and horses drink out of the trough, stretching their yearning necks with loosened collars; and the traveller calls for his glass of ale, having been without one for more than ten minutes; and his horse stands wincing at the flies, giving sharp shivers of his skin, and moving to and fro his ineffectual docked tail; and now Miss Betty Wilson, the host’s daughter, comes streaming forth in a flowered gown and ear-rings, carrying with four of her beautiful fingers the foaming glass, for which, after the traveller has drank it, she receives with an indifferent eye, looking another way, the lawful twopence. Now grasshoppers ‘fry,’ as Dryden says. Now cattle stand in water, and ducks are envied. Now boots, and shoes, and trees by the road side, are thick with dust; and dogs, rolling in it, after issuing out of the water, into which they have been thrown to fetch sticks, come scattering horror among the legs of the spectators. Now a fellow who finds he has three miles further to go in a pair of tight shoes is in a pretty situation. Now rooms with the sun upon them become intolerable; and the apothecary’s apprentice, with a bitterness beyond aloes, thinks of the pond he used to bathe in at school. Now men with powdered heads (especially if thick) envy those that are unpowdered, and stop to wipe them up hill, with countenances that seem to expostulate with destiny. Now boys assemble round the village pump with a ladle to it, and delight to make a forbidden splash and get wet through the shoes. Now also they make suckers of leather, and bathe all day long in rivers and ponds, and make mighty fishings for ‘tittle-bats.’ Now the bee, as he hums along, seems to be talking heavily of the heat. Now doors and brick-walls are burning to the hand; and a walled lane, with dust and broken bottles in it, near a brick-field, is a thing not to be thought of. Now a green lane, on the contrary, thick-set with hedgerow elms, and having the noise of a brook ‘rumbling in pebble-stone,’ is one of the pleasantest things in the world.
Now, in town, gossips talk more than ever to one another, in rooms, in door-ways, and out of window, always beginning the conversation with saying that the heat is overpowering. Now blinds are let down, and doors thrown open, and flannel waistcoats left off, and cold meat preferred to hot, and wonder expressed why tea continues so refreshing, and people delight to sliver lettuces into bowls, and apprentices water door-ways with tin-canisters that lay several atoms of dust. Now the water-cart, jumbling along the middle of the street, and jolting the showers out of its box of water, really does something. Now fruiterers’ shops and dairies look pleasant, and ices are the only things to those who can get them. Now ladies loiter in baths; and people make presents of flowers; and wine is put into ice; and the after-dinner lounger recreates his head with applications of perfumed water out of long-necked bottles. Now the lounger, who cannot resist riding his new horse, feels his boots burn him. Now buck-skins are not the lawn of Cos.* Now jockies, walking in great-coats to lose flesh, curse inwardly. Now five fat people in a stage-coach hate the sixth fat one who is coming in, and think he has no right to be so large. Now clerks in office do nothing but drink soda-water and spruce-beer, and read the newspaper. Now the old clothesman drops his solitary cry more deeply into the areas on the hot and forsaken side of the street; and bakers look vicious; and cooks are aggravated: and the steam of a tavern-kitchen catches hold of us like the breath of Tartarus. Now delicate skins are beset with gnats: and boys make their sleeping companion start up, with playing a burning-glass on his hand; and blacksmiths are super-carbonated; and cobblers in their stalls almost feel a wish to be transplanted; and butter is too easy to spread; and the dragoons wonder whether the Romans liked their helmets; and old ladies, with their lappets unpinned, walk along in a state of dilapidation; and the servant maids are afraid they look vulgarly hot; and the author, who has a plate of strawberries brought him, finds that he has come to the end of his writing.
Leigh Hunt, ‘A “Now”: Descriptive of a Hot Day’, 1820
Author Biographies
Nick Acheson grew up in wellies, watching bog bush-crickets in North Norfolk. A year spent in the Camargue during his degree inspired him to seek wilder landscapes and for ten glorious years he lived in Bolivia. Since returning to the UK he has worked the world over, from Arctic tundras to the Antarctic. He proudly works closely with Norfolk Wildlife Trust, for whom he regularly features in local press and media.
Richard Adams is most famous as the author of Watership Down, as well as many other international bestsellers, most of which reflect his fascination with and love for nature. He served in the British Army in World War II and afterwards worked in the Civil Service. He lives in Hampshire.
Kenneth Allsop (d. 1973) was a presenter of current affairs programmes, most famously BBC’s Tonight programme, in the 1960s and early 1970s. He wrote many novels and short stories which explored his love of birds and the natural world, and was a tireless conservationist, playing a crucial role in saving two hundred acres of ancient woodland in Dorset from being felled for oil drilling.
Jacqueline Bain lives in Paisley, Scotland. She is a former nurse, unable to work due to extensive knee surgery. She enjoys writing fiction and non-fiction in which nature will always feature somewhere. Her main hobbies include bird watching and creating space and homes in the garden for mini-beasts, in between throwing a ball for Bonny, her fourteen-year-old Border collie.
W. N. P. Barbellion was the pseudonym under which Bruce Frederick Cummings (d. 1919) published The Diary of a Disappointed Man after discovering he was suffering from multiple sclerosis and only had a short time to live. Described as one of the most moving diaries ever written, it recorded his reflections on nature and on both the brevity and the beauty of life.
Simon Barnes writes about the wild world. He contributes a weekly column to the Sunday Times Magazine and his latest book is The Sacred Combe: A Search for Humanity’s Heartland. He lives in Norfolk with his family and a horse or two.
Juli
an Beach, originally from Staffordshire and now living in Laugharne, Wales, recently returned to writing after a two-decade estrangement from the muse. He is currently applying the finishing touches to ‘The Needwood Poems’, inspired by memories of growing up in the ancient Needwood Forest, most of which fell to the encloser’s axe in the nineteenth century. He blogs at: julianbeachwriting.wordpress.com.
Katy Bell always wanted to work with wildlife in some form; it has fascinated her ever since she was young. This led her to study Zoology at the University of Edinburgh followed by a Master’s in Conservation Biology. She has worked on research projects around the world but always loves coming home to our own special wildlife. She now works for Ulster Wildlife in Northern Ireland.
Kate Blincoe is a nature-loving mother of two and freelance writer for publications such as the Guardian. She is the author of The No-Nonsense Guide to Green Parenting and is never happier than when exploring the countryside with her family.
Ronald Blythe is the author of more than twenty books, most famously Aken-field: Portrait of an English Village (1969), a fictionalised account of a Suffolk village from 1890 to 1966, which became the record of ways of rural life that were rapidly vanishing from Britain. He is also the author of the much-loved and long running ‘Words from Wormingford’ column in the Church Times.
Alison Brackenbury is the author of seven collections of poetry for which she has been the recipient of several awards. Born in Lincolnshire, she was educated at Oxford and now lives in Gloucestershire.
Dawn Bradley has, for the past thirty years, almost always found a home on one side of the Tamar or the other. She grew up in Cornwall and currently resides in Plymouth, where she attended university. The natural world is her greatest source of creative inspiration, whether raising awareness through citizen journalism, painting or simply studying the wildlife spectacles around her.
Nicholas Breton (d. 1626) was a prolific writer of religious and pastoral poems, satires and prose works. Little concrete detail is known about his life, but he was well regarded as an author in his lifetime, although forgotten quickly afterwards. His final book Fantastickes (1626), offers great insight into the customs of the era.
Rhiannon Bull has studied at Durham University and the University of Essex, where she is currently working towards an MA in Wild Writing. She is interested in using the written and visual arts to portray the relationship between people and place, exploring the landscape, memories, languages and mythologies that form these relationships.
Jo Cartmell is a lifelong naturalist with a special interest in water voles and wildflower meadows. She runs the Twitter accounts @WaterVole and @NearbyWild and also blogs for nearbywild.org.uk about her local wildlife.
Nicola Chester writes about the wildlife she finds wherever she is, mostly roaming the North Wessex Downs where she lives with her husband and three children. She has written professionally for over a decade. Nicola is particularly passionate about engaging people with nature and how language can communicate the thrill of wild experiences. You can read her blog here: nicolachester.wordpress.com.
Mark Cocker is a naturalist and the author of ten books about nature, as well has having written on the topic for most national broadsheets, including the Guardian’s ‘Country Diary’ column since 1988. For the last three decades he has been dedicated to the restoration of a fen called Blackwater where he lives in Norfolk, and his latest book is Claxton: Field Notes from a Small Planet.
James Common is a dedicated naturalist, birder, writer and graduate conservation scientist from Northumberland. He is passionate about all aspects of natural history though his greatest interests lie in the realms of biological recording, ecology and ornithology. Elsewhere James is a keen blogger (commonbynature.co.uk) and a member of A Focus on Nature, the youth nature network.
Charles Dickens (d. 1870) is one of Britain’s most famous known and best-loved novelists. Besides establishing, editing and writing for two weekly publications, Household Words (1850–9) and All The Year Round (1859–1870) and campaigning tirelessly for social justice and reform, he also wrote fourteen novels, including Oliver Twist (1837–9), A Tale of Two Cities (1859) and Great Expectations (1861).
George Eliot was the pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans (d. 1880), a Victorian novelist whose Middlemarch (1871–2) was recently voted the greatest British novel of all time by a BBC poll of world critics and academics. Her other major works include Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1860) and Silas Marner (1861).
Paul Evans is a poet, author, broadcaster university lecturer and regular contributor to the Guardian’s ‘Country Diary’. He contributes regularly to many publications, including BBC Wildlife and Country Living, and is most recently author of Field Notes from the Edge: Journeys Through Britain’s Secret Wilderness. He lives in Much Wenlock, Shropshire.
Samantha Fernley is an online writer and keen church explorer with a background in ecology and volunteering for nature groups. She is based in Cheshire where she is involved in local heritage and church bell ringing.
Thomas Furly Forster (d. 1825) was a botanist who compiled many lists and drawings of plants. After his death, his natural history journals were collated and published by his son as The Pocket Encyclopaedia of Natural Phenomena.
Alexi Francis is an artist and illustrator living in Sussex. All her life she has been a lover of wildlife and studied zoology at university. She is interested in writing, especially about the natural world, and has had several articles published in anthologies and magazines such as Earthlines.
Jan Freedman is the curator of natural history at Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery. Through writing and talks, he is very passionate about sharing the wonders and beauty of nature, both past and present. He runs a joint blog with two friends, opening a window into the magnificent world of Ice Age beasts. www.twilightbeasts.wordpress.com
Jennifer Garrett grew up in south-east London and has lived in Bristol for nine years. She works in communications and is interested in our engagement with nature in urban settings. She is also co-founder and chair of Bristol Nature Network, a popular group for 18–30s that offers free training to young naturalists, talks and film screenings, networking and social events.
John Green is the author of Wings Over the Valley, a lyrical account of a mid-Wales birdwatcher’s experiences over several years, condensed into one year. It was nominated by Guardian readers as a classic of British nature writing. He is also the author of In Search of Birds in Mid-Wales and Afon Ystwyth: The Story of a River.
Caroline Greville is writing a book on her involvement with badgers in the context of her family life and wider rural setting. This memoir forms the main part of her PhD at the University of Kent, alongside research into new nature writing. She is Secretary of the East Kent Badger Group and teaches creative writing.
Sir Edward Grey (d. 1933) was a Liberal statesman, and the longest serving foreign secretary of the twentieth century (1905–16). He was also a keen ornithologist, and published The Charm of Birds in 1927, a record of his observations of birds and their song.
Vivienne Hambly is a writer and editor. She grew up in rural South Africa among hills writer Alan Paton described as being ‘lovely beyond any singing of it’. Vivienne took a degree in geography and journalism at Rhodes University and is especially interested in the interactions between people and place. She lives in London.
Thomas Hardy (d. 1928) wrote several famous works including Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) and Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891). Rural society was a major theme in his books; most were set in the partly imagined region of Wessex, based largely on areas of south and southwest England.
Zach Haynes, age twelve, lives in the wonderful North Yorkshire countryside. From an early age he has loved getting outside and exploring. He’d like all young people to love nature and understand how important it is to look after it. As well as exploring the countryside for new species to learn about, Zach writes regular blog po
sts about nature, volunteering and his campaigning for nature.
W. H. Hudson (d. 1922) spent his early years exploring the Argentinian landscape and he wrote several romances which are imbued its magic and beauty. After moving to London he achieved fame with a number of books about British and Argentinian ornithology, and the English countryside, including A Foot in England (1909) and A Shepherd’s Life (1910), which helped encourage the ‘back to nature’ movement in interwar Britain.
Leigh Hunt (d. 1859) was first known as a critic for the notorious Examiner newspaper, founded by his brother John. Both brothers served two years in prison after publishing scandalous (but true) details about the Prince Regent in 1813. Hunt was friends with Shelley and Keats (who he introduced to each other), and after release from prison became well known as a poet himself.
Richard Jefferies (d. 1887) was a nature writer of both essays and novels, inspired by his upbringing on a farm. His works include The Amateur Poacher (1879), Round About a Great Estate (1880), Nature Near London (1883) and The Life of the Fields (1884). The collection Field and Hedgerow was published posthumously in 1889.
Ebenezer Jones (d. 1860) was born in Islington, London. His poetry was influenced by Thomas Carlyle and P. B. Shelley, and was not critically successful in his lifetime. He became friends with Robert Browning and Gabriel Dante Rossetti, the latter being responsible for Jones’s modest critical reappraisal ten years after his death, aged forty, from consumption.
Miles King is chief executive of charity People Need Nature, which promotes the value and need for nature in people’s lives. Miles has worked in nature conservation for thirty years, leading the conservation work at Plantlife, The Grasslands Trust and Buglife. He is the co-author of Arable Plants: A Field Guide and The Nature of God’s Acre.
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