#602: Hitting the library

We now have the proposed subject content for the GCSE Natural History and you have some time to respond to the consultation to give your opinions. Please do... it's cheaper than buying books.

Don't forget to head off to your local library. It's vital to support it so that it doesn't go the way of many others and disappear. My main library is the Millennium Library at the Forum in Norwich.

However, this closed in April 2026 for a £1.3 million refurbishment and complete re-organisation. It reopens in mid-July 2026. I look forward to seeing what has been done there. There was a very large Natural History section in the library stretching for quite a while.

In the meantime, I headed for the library at Wells-next-the-Sea, which is a small one, and operates as as unmanned library for much of the week. I found these two books which look like being very interesting amd appropriate for the collation of materials and ideas and images that will have to take place fairly quickly once content is approved and we move onto draft specifications....

If they prove to be vital to have a physical copy of, there will perhaps be a budget provided for the development of the new specification and a library of books can be built up - some for teachers to refer to, and some for students to be inspired by.

Image: Alan Parkinson

#579: Natural History Reading List #26: Fenland Nature

A cross-posting from my GeoLibrary blog, which currently features over 700 books.

This was picked up in Topping Books just before the summer 2025. It's a really detailed and comprehensive guide to the nature to be found in the Fens. It's a book to dip into rather than read cover to cover, with chapters exploring different aspects of the Fenland landscape.

There are lots of excellent photographs, mostly taken by the authors themselves, who have certainly put in the legwork and mileage to cover the region they are writing about.

Publisher's description:

This book showcases the natural history and landscape of the Fens, an area now responsible for a third of Britain’s food production and worth over £3 billion to the economy every year. It describes the geology and geography across the Fenland Basin over the last 14,000 years, a period dominated by the flux of wetlands and movement of water. The human relationship with this landscape is traced through history: from Mesolithic hunters to the prosperity of a medieval economy based on the currency of eels, through the taming and draining of the vast wetlands, to modern farming on an industrial scale.

While recognising that only a fraction of the Fens is left, Fenland Nature celebrates the breadth of wildlife still to be found in the region, from vast flocks of visiting wildfowl in the winter months, to rare and specialised plants and insects – all illustrated with detailed and evocative photographs.

The book concludes by contemplating an uncertain future where there are possibilities for a sustainable agricultural industry alongside increasing biodiversity, requiring new ways of thinking and working with the land. The fenland landscape is a microcosm of the huge global challenges caused by habitat loss, ecological degradation and climate change. If solutions can be found to these complex issues in the Fens, then there is hope that these can also apply to similar places across the world.

It's written by two local authors who really know their local patch well. A great coffee table / browsing book.

A good review by Mark Avery.

It sits nicely with my other Fenland books - dipped into to inform my teaching about the local area.

My copy was published by Pelagic Publishing.

Paperback, 376pp

ISBN: 9781784274108

#577: Natural History Reading List #25: 'How to read a Tree'

Another really useful book by navigation expert Tristan Gooley.

I have a signed copy of his previous book: 'The Natural Explorer'

This book explores what a tree can tell us about the landscape. It says a great deal about the value of trees and how they interact with the soil, atmosphere, weather and biodiversity. They influence the drainage and fertility of the soil, and can also tell us a lot about where we are, and how the landscape is changing.

The loss of a tree can touch millions, as we saw with the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree.

It would make a useful book to add to the library for those who are considering work in local woodlands for fieldwork. We are still waiting to see to what extent woodlands are featured in the final specification.

My thinking would be that the final specification would involve students investigating a range of ecosystems and the value of a tree is something which students should certainly be asked to consider, perhaps when thinking about the wider 'value' of nature in our lives and landscapes.

Published by Hodder Press

Paperback, 320pp

ISBN: 978-1529339628

#567: Natural History Reading List #24: "Landmarks"

The latest in a series of posts on suggested books that could be in a GCSE Natural History subject library. The library is building but a long way from the contents of my GeoLibrary blog which has over 600 books on its virtual shelves.

'Landmarks' was written by Robert MacFarlane. 

It was published in 2016, so is coming up for ten years old, which makes me feel old.

There are several reasons for including this book on the reading list.

This description from a New York Times review provides some sort of sense of the contents of the book.

It includes some lists of words which describe some quite specific aspects of landscapes - particularly of words which are disappearing from dictionaries and common usage.

Expanding the vocabulary of young people with respect to Natural History will hopefully be an important part of the new course once the specification is revealed.

#356: Natural History Reading List #19: Fen, Bog and Swamp

One of my favourite books - I have a very nice compact edition with sailing ropes on the spine and cover - is 'The Shipping News' by Annie Proulx.

A more recent book is 'Fen, Bog and Swamp', subtitled as 'A short history of peatland destruction and its role in the climate crisis'.

It covers a great deal of ground, and starts with some useful definitions of the distinction between the three terms, which some people might feel can be conflated. 

There are differences between these three landscape (and habitat) types, and the use that people make of them. The index also provides a wealth of links to useful websites.

This Guardian review clearly explains why this should be on the shelf of any GCSE Natural History reading list / departmental library.

"Proulx conjures up the lost landscape, teeming as it was with eels and sturgeon, beavers and water voles, ospreys and cranes and populated by an unmourned fen people who “poled through curtains of rain, gazed at the layered horizon, at curling waves that pummelled the land edge in storms”. But for all her sadness at the destruction of our wetlands and what she calls “the awfulness of the present”, perhaps what’s most interesting about the book is her refusal to engage in the usual left versus rightpolitical debate."

We are all complicit in this destruction of the natural world.

My copy was borrowed from the Norfolk Library Service, but I shall be purchasing a copy 

Hardback, 196pp - paperback version now available.

ISBN: 978-0-00-853439-4

#342: New John Lewis Stempel in October

Due out in October is the latest book by John Lewis Stempel.

I have several of his books already, but this looks like it has the potential to be particularly valuable for teachers who want a larger picture drawing together the various elements which comprise England's 'natural history'. 

Here's a description from the publishers which provides a summary of the contents.

Our countryside is iconic: a series of distinctive habitats that unite to create a landscape that is unique for the rich diversity of our flora and fauna. In England, his most magisterial book to date, John Lewis-Stempel explores each in turn, taking us from coast to moor, from downs to field, from the park to the village to create a vivid living portrait of our natural history.

In his trademark lyrical prose, Lewis-Stempel reveals the hidden workings of each habitat: the clear waters and dragonflies; the bluebells, badgers and stag beetles; wild thyme; granite cliffs; rock pools and sandy beaches; red deer standing at ancient oaks; the wayside flowers of the lane; hedgehogs and hares; and snow on the high peak. Each landscape - be it calm green or wild moor, plunging cliff or flatland fen - has shaped our idea of ourselves, our sense of what it is to be in England.

In a stunning package, complete with decorated boards, endpapers, chapterheads and a map, England: A Natural History is the definitive volume on the English landscape and the capstone of John Lewis-Stempel's nature writing.

It has the potential to be an important book alongside others which we have been adding to our reading list. Seach 'Reading List' top left to see the previous books that we have added.

It would be good to have sight of a review copy if one were available. They are already going out.

His recent piece for 'Country Life' bemoaned the simplistic use of some management options, which took land out of food production, and turned areas of countryside into 'eco-Disneyland'.

"Rewilding wants us gone because we have no part in a reconstructed preagricultural, self-regulating ‘wild’ landscape, financed by carbon credits, biodiversity credits, nutrients offsets and other ‘public goods’ subsidies. That is, the taxpayer’s money. Why bother farming, producing food, if there is greater income from taking the wild green pound? Plus, of course, the income from the coach loads of Homo touristicus to your eco-Disneyland."

An advertisement for an Idler event includes the following information:

England’s landscape is iconic, a tapestry of differing environments that together make up a country unique in its rich diversity of flora and fauna. Discussing his new book England: A Natural History, author John Lewis-Stempel will take us through each habitat in turn, leading us from estuary to park, chalk downland to woodland, river to field, village to moor, lake to heath, fen to coastal cliffs.

The draft specification for the GCSE Natural History - which we are still waiting to appear in consultation form - includes reference to a number of habitats which students will need to be familiar with, along some of the flora and fauna that call them home.

#302: Natural History Reading List #18: 'Gathering Moss'

Robin Wall Kimmerer's book on moss is excellent and very readable. 

The author uses some excellent analogies and examples to explain why mosses are so important. This may well be the best book I've read so far in my reading.

Here's Robin Kimmerer on grass:

And on moss:

The book is now available free to listen to for those who have a Spotify Premium account. There are now hundreds of books available to listen to, and I will perhaps aim to create a list of these for those who have access to Audible ultimately.

#281: Natural History Reading List #17: 'Irreplaceable'

'Irreplaceable' is a book by Julian Hoffman.

It is subtitled 'The Fight to Save our Wild Places' and focusses on a number of locations which are threatened with being lost.

 It has a useful section on ancient woodlands which outlines very clearly what that term means, and the distinction between that and the wildwood.

Each section is relevant to particular types of ecosystems, and the book explores the nature of the threats they face, and the efforts being made to protect them. By the time I read through it, there were lots of post it notes for potentially useful sections.

A very good book as an introduction to the idea of wilderness, and the relationship between humans and nature.

He touches on the plastic threat when he visits the beach in the chapter entitled 'A world within water'.

He describes the discovery of the plastic nurdles which make up a part of any handful of beach sand in most of the world.

"For all its unquestionable usefulness for the human race, a convenience that's turned out to be irressistible to us, plastic places an unearthly burden on the rest of the living world."

My copy was loaned from Norwich Library service.

#247: Fungi: Entangled Life

Merlin Sheldrake's book is an important one, and I will be exploring it for the reading list. 

I will write a full review in due course and add it to the library as well once I get the chance to finish listening to it - which I will do during March.

I have an Audible copy of the book to explore and potentially use with students. The introduction to the book is an excellent start and nice introduction to the value of fungi in our lives. There is also plenty on how humans have used fungi for a range of applications from industrial to medical to recreational.

One of my favourite sequences from the upcoming IMAX movie, Fungi: Web of Life. Björk explains how a fungal spore becomes a mycelial network. The astonishing footage is by Wim van Egmond. I'll post a series of clips from the film in the coming days. Stay tuned! pic.twitter.com/TnAjjqFfQK

— Merlin Sheldrake (@MerlinSheldrake) October 23, 2023

“Entangled Life is a dazzling, vibrant, vision-changing book. Sentence after sentence stopped me short. I ended it wonderstruck at the fungal world and the earth-shaking, hierarchy-breaking implications of Sheldrake's argument. This is a remarkable work by a remarkable writer, which succeeds in springing life into strangeness again.” — Robert Macfarlane

A film has been made suitable for IMAX, so I will look out for a screening of that as well.

#233: Natural History Reading List #16: 'British Woodland" How to explore the secret world of our trees'

This is a new book written by survival expert and TV personality Ray Mears. I can attest to the power of Ray's storytelling as I attended an excellent talk he gave in Ely Cathedral several years ago, organised by Topping Books of Ely.

This book explores British Woodlands, and is very nicely designed.  The book is organised under themed chapters, but the trees themselves are arranged in alphabetical order, starting with Alder, and working through Beech, Elm, Horse Chestnut, Pine, Sycamore and many others, ending up with Yew. A final chapter explores the Future, and the book begins with a look at the past, when there were no trees in much of the UK as it had been scraped clean by glaciers. The trees soon returned to colonise the land, before people then stripped them all away.

There is some nice photography and the story of each tree is joined with a narrative. Each tree has a double page of information and a picture of their leaves, to aid identification perhaps. 

A focus for the narrative is on the usefulness of each tree for different things. The photography also explores toxic and edible plants and fungi as well as berries and other fruits which can be found in British woodlands. The book covers a whole range of associated topics e.g. Phototropism.

I liked the section on 'How not to get lost', which is all to easy of course in dense woodland. There are also photos of some of the indicator species of ancient woodlands towards the end of the book. 

This would make a fantastic addition to any library of Natural History books, and also a great gift for someone.

I obtained this book from the Norfolk Library Service. It was published in 2023.

The paperback edition comes out on the 21st of March, 2024 and I will be adding a copy to my GCSE Natural History library.

#201: Spotify Audiobooks

A cross posting from my GeoLibrary blog which has just reached its 600th post.

I have a Spotify Premium subscription, and have had for quite a few years now.

They have recently added thousands of audiobooks to the subscription, which is great news...

Many of these are of interest to Geographers and an equal number almost also connect with the themes which are likely to emerge in the GCSE Natural History.

Here's a sample that I just located from a few quick searches.

They include Brian Groom's Northerners, which I'm reading at the moment. 

This is likely to reduce my book purchasing and will also be an issue for Audible.

I'm really looking forward to listening to the Tristan Gooley book: 'How to read a Tree'. This will be of particular value for the section on woodlands and trees. I have a feeling that trees are going to be an important feature of the work that is completed by students, and as a destination for fieldwork.

There is a range of books from David Attenborough and George Monbiot.

I have also blogged elsewhere about how fantastic this book by Robin Wall Kimmerer is. Gathering Moss is excellent!

I shall aim to make a list of books for reference.

#138: Dorling Kindersley's book of all things Natural History

This is a weighty and impressive looking tome from Dorling Kindersley, who always do such a good job of these types of book.

It looks like an essential part of a Natural History library.

Description from the publisher:

A beautiful guide to Earth's wildlife and natural history, including its rocks, minerals, animals, plants, fungi, microorganisms and more!

Already featuring galleries of more than 5,000 species, The Natural History Book has since been updated to include dynamic discoveries such as the olinguito (the "kitty bear" of the Andean cloud forest), and a new species of deep-sea Bolosoma glass sponge photographed by the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer, alongside a reorganization of the groups of living things to reflect the latest scientific understanding.

- A full-colour gallery of over 5,000 species
- Over 500 rocks, minerals and fossils featured throughout
- Includes glossary of important natural history terms
- Specially-commissioned photographs showcase wildlife in close-up detail

This treasure-trove of natural history is accompanied with easy-to-read, accessible information and beautifully-striking imagery, making it a riveting reference guide to pass down for generations to come. The only book to offer a complete visual survey of all kingdoms of life, this nature book for adults is the perfect addition to every family bookshelf, as well as an ideal gift for the nature, animal and plant lover in your life! Gardeners, hikers, and visitors to wildlife park and natural history museums alike would also love this niche nature book, which also doubles up as the perfect coffee table book.

Split into 6 core chapters, covering Living Earth, Minerals, Rocks and Fossils, Microscopic Life, Plants, Fungi, and Animals - there truly is something for everyone to explore, love and learn. From granites to grape vines, from microbes to mammals, The Natural History Book is the ultimate celebration of the diversity of the natural world.

#55: Natural History Reading List #3. 'Divide' by Anna Jones

Divide is a book by rural affairs journalist Anna Jones, which was published towards the beginning of 2022. It is now available in paperback. The book explores the relationship between urban and rural areas.

Anna Jones is a journalist who has written widely in this area.

Its subtitle is: 'The Relationship Crisis between Town and Country', and it has a series of sections exploring different aspects of the 'broken' relationship which means that many urban dwellers don't really understand rural life.

Anna Jones' own website includes some useful additional reading and some details of her journalism pieces, which would be of use for some elements of the proposed draft specification.

The publishers' description:

“Divide is a ground-breaking exploration of the urban and rural cultural division. This book is a plea and a call to action. It warns that unless we learn to accept and respect our social, cultural and political differences as town and country people, we are never going to solve the chronic problems present in our food system and environment. As we stare down the barrel of climate change, only farmers – who manage two thirds of the UK’s landscape – working together with conservation groups can create a healthier food system and bring back nature in diverse abundance. But this fledgling progress is hindered and hamstrung by simplistic debates that still stoke conflict between conservative rural communities and the liberal green movement.Each chapter, from Home and Work, Politics and Diversity to Animals and Food, Environment and Community, explores a different aspect of the urban/rural disconnect, weaving case studies and research with Anna’s personal stories of growing up on a small, upland farm.

A rural affairs journalist, Anna Jones has a unique perspective and insight into the cultural, agricultural and social issues that often divide rather than unite. Having grown up on a sheep farm in the Welsh borders, and later lived in urban settings, her media sensibility sees the reasons why these two disparate sections of society need to respect their differences and recognise each other’s strengths and work together to protect and preserve the land.”

#51: Second hand bookshops

If you are planning on teaching the new specification, there will be a need for resourcing the new course.

If you are offering this course for the first time, perhaps alongside existing GCSE Geography groups, it is important to consider the cost of setting up a new course (SLT will also be considering these costs as well).

This may include raiding your local second hand bookshops, or some of the online options such as ABE Books and sites like VINTED.

You will perhaps know of some of the classic books that need to be in your collection, and we will be showcasing them on this site as time passes, particularly as first teaching approaches.

We are also putting together a suggested reading list for the course, and when the draft specifications emerge we will also produce specific reading lists for each topic, which will include books, journal articles and other texts.

We'd also welcome your suggestions for the most classic Natural History texts.

Image: Books at Looses Emporium in Norwich - image by Alan Parkinson, shared under CC license

#41: Remembering Barry Lopez

One of the proposed 'benefits' of the new specification is that it will introduce students to nature writing (along with other media such as paintings and literature...)

I hope that one of them is Barry Lopez. 

He is described in this piece as an author who tied people to place.

He deserves to be on any official reading list. We'll be suggesting our own Reading List as part of our proposed resources for those teaching the new specification.

Barry passed away in December 2020.

Thanks to Point Reyes Books for organising this webinar.

A special tribute to Barry Lopez (1945-2020), featuring John Luther Adams, Bathsheba Demuth, Jane Hirshfield, Robert Macfarlane, Colum McCann, and Rebecca Solnit, along with Barry’s wife Debra Gwartney. John Freeman served as moderate the conversation. 

This event was presented by Point Reyes Books, in partnership with Elliott Bay Book Company, Emergence Magazine, and Orion Magazine. 

This recording has been edited due to copyright issues. In the original, John Luther Adams' tribute was followed by a recording of "Sky With Four Suns." The event concluded with an excerpt from "Horizons," Jeremy Seifert's film about Barry Lopez, which can be found on the Emergence Magazine website. See later in the post.

I've read Barry's final collection of essays which came out over the summer 2022, and it is really rather wonderful and memorable, and shocking... and it will make you cry.

Get yourself a copy...

Here's Horizons:

Horizons from Emergence Magazine on Vimeo.

#40: Rachel Carson's prophetic 'Silent Spring'

Rachel Carson was the author of the classic book 'Silent Spring'.

This BBC World podcast explores the origins of the book, which is one of the more significant environmental books ever published.

She also wrote several other books which would be of relevance, including on the theme of the world's oceans: 'The Sea Around Us' and 'The Edge of the Sea' - I have copies of these in my library.

One would hope that Rachel Carson will be another person whose name is added to the list of people which those studying the new GCSE Natural History specification should be made aware of.

Details on the podcast:

Rachel Carson’s 1962 book Silent Spring has probably done more than any other to raise concerns about the damage that uncontrolled use of chemicals can cause to the natural world. Carson imagined a ‘silent spring’ in a world where birds no longer sang, killed off by indiscriminate spraying of pesticides.
Her plea for caution when using insecticides led to major changes in government regulation of agrochemicals both in the United States and elsewhere. So who was Rachel Carson? How did this scientist with a passionate interest in marine biology turn first into a best-selling author and then into an environmental campaigner? And - six decades on - have the warnings of Silent Spring been heeded? Bridget Kendall is joined by Dr. Sabine Clarke, Senior Lecturer in Modern History at University of York with a particular interest in the history of synthetic insecticides; Michelle Ferrari, an award-winning film maker who directed a documentary about Rachel Carson's life for the American public broadcaster PBS; and Professor David Kinkela, an environmental historian and chair of the Department of History at Fredonia, State University of New York whose books include 'DDT and the American Century'. The reader is Ina Marie Smith.

The book is available in a large number of editions.

Her story about a lack of insects has been in the news for some years.

In 2016 for example, The Guardian reported on it.

Several people have mentioned the obvious dearth of insects this spring...

Check out her Wikipedia article for plenty more information on her life of campaigning against pesticide use.