The essays
Newest first. The contents page arranges the same pieces by subject.
The Notebook ·How to record the first signs of spring
The study of when things happen goes by an ugly name and has a beautiful history. It also needs almost no equipment.
Reading ·Where to start with British nature writing
You do not need to begin at the beginning. A first shelf, chosen by what sort of reader you are.
The Notebook ·How to keep a nature notebook
Nature notebooks have a habit of dying in February. Here is how to give yours a longer life, with no drawing talent required.
History ·What is the ‘new nature writing’?
A magazine issue, a very sharp book review and a prize: how a loose label attached itself to a generation of British books.
History ·Why people still read Gilbert White
A country curate writes letters about one parish, some of which he never posts. Two centuries later, they are still in print.
Reading ·Why The Living Mountain waited thirty years
Nan Shepherd finished her book about the Cairngorms in the 1940s. It reached print in 1977. The delay is a shorter story than the legend suggests.