The Wildlife Year is a beautifully written book to help you take a walk on the wild side. Nature is right on your doorstep – whether you live in the countryside or city, or somewhere inbetween. And although it’s trickier to find wildlife in some places, it can thrive in the most surprising spaces.
This book is a gentle introduction to the events that mark the natural cycle of the year. Discover and observe nature in all its glory. And from afar, enjoy observing the wildlife around you. Explore the unique properties of the seasons, and learn more about weather events and cloud formations. And also learn about how the moon and its cycle affect our natural world.
This glorious celebration of seasonal wildlife will help you identify our best-loved (and most misunderstood) plants, birds, mammals, amphibians and insects, with helpful information on where they are found. With wonderful illustrations, this guide will encourage you to get outdoors in nature.
In England, we have more than four seasons (and sometimes due to our unique weather – four seasons in one day!) But that’s for another day. What we can learn is to learn to balance our lifestyle, and live in harmony with the seasons. Be inspired by the natural world – trees drop their leaves in winter, flowers known when to bloom and when to let petals fly away. Our three hibernating mammals (hedgehogs, dormice and bats) know it’s time for a long winter sleep, and in nature, even domestic dogs would go to bed nearer a natural time (ie. when the light falls!)
But now our lives are all over the place, and a good many of our health problems (physical and mental) are due to living ‘the same life’ all year round. And harms wildlife too. Light pollution causes birds to wake up at midnight to sing, and sea turtles follow ‘the moon’ (multi-storey car park lights) to lay eggs. Ripping out old building facades to replace with lit glass buildings has caused increase bird strikes (learn how to help stop birds flying into windows).
