Page 83 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #06

REVIEWS BOOKS

As well as familiar snow MEET THE AUTHOR
U
leopards are gharials and
corals and a memorable
peacock tarantula, a lonely Kate
victim of logging.
Young Vibrant, colourful spreads, Bradbu
readers which are as much about the The wildlife gardening
scientists working to limit
Red Alert extinctions as the animals expert transforms an Paul Debois
urban space in 365 days s.
by Catherine Barr themselves, remind readers
Otter Barry Books £12.99
that global conservation is a
While many children’s race and that there is an Why did you write The the sparrows were still
non-fiction books prefer to element of excitement in what Bumblebee Flies Anyway? bathing in the pond and the
y
sneak conservation messages scientists are working to I wanted to do some nature red mason bees were still
in here and there, Red Alert achieve. Exposition is delivered writing and tell a story. I nesting in the bee hotel.
boldly chooses to put wildlife here with refreshing humanity, had no idea my mum’s ill
conservation front-and-centre. inspiring readers to sit up, health would play such a What is your top wildlife
Readers begin by choosing champion the challenges that dramatic part in the book gardening tip?
an animal on the IUCN Red animals face and take action. – I had planned to write View your garden as part of
List, whose fate they must Jules Howard Naturalist about all the wildlife that a wider habitat and allow
uncover. Turning to came into the garden after wildlife to live without
the correct page, I’d created it. Which I did borders – if you have fences
they are greeted with as well, of course. and walls, make holes
a scene in which beneath them or in them.
their animal is Why garden for wildlife? Animals need access to
posed, alongside a I’ve always gardened and your garden in order to
description of the the natural world is just feed and breed.
conservation an extension of gardening,
challenges it faces. for me. My love affair with I MADE
bumblebees started with a
The 15 threatened nest made in an old duvet, `
animals featured are A LITTLE
thankfully diverse. which I wrote about in the OASIS OF
book. Everything else has
(and does) come after them. GREEN IN
A DESERT
What does wildlife
gardening mean to you? OF CEMENT.”
I grew up in the suburbs
and have always lived in
cities. My gardens have What are your plans for
been paved or decked, sliced the garden this year?
in two, stripped of life. I’ve just bought a house with
Far from Land Close Encounters Wildlife gardening is about my girlfriend that has a 27m
by Michael Brooke, with Humankind restoring habitats that others west-facing garden. My first
illustrated by Bruce Pearson by Sang-Hee Lee
Princeton University Press £24.95 W W Norton & Company $26.95 have taken away. It’s about job will be to take up the
creating a little oasis of green plastic lawn and reclaim the
In the last couple of decades, To describe this as a toilet book is in a desert of cement. And, borders from beneath weed-
research aided by micro-gadgetry not a criticism. The short, punchy, hopefully, it’s about making suppressant membrane
has revolutionised understanding stand-alone chapters (including a home for species to live. and pebbles. It seems I’m
of some seabirds, revealing the Are We Cannibals? Are Humans destined to restore destroyed
scale and complexity of their Still Evolving?) lend themselves How does nature help us garden habitats forever.
journeys. Each new finding perfectly to reflective moments in cope in tough times?
can amaze, such as how the smallest room of the house. Being in the garden and If you could have any
neighbouring puffins on a Unlike any other species, among wildlife is a constant species in your garden,
Welsh island can winter in utterly humans’ evolutionary story reminder that life goes on what would it be?
different parts of the North cannot be explained by biology around you no matter what Why, that would be the
Atlantic. Michael Brooke has alone. Sang-Hee Lee reveals how else is going on. When my nightingale. Sadly, only in
drawn on his knowledge of history, culture and politics make mum was ill in hospital, my dreams, for now…
current science to give a timely things really tricky, especially
summary of research so far and when we are inclined to project
a brilliant global overview of our own morality, prejudices and O THE BUMBLEBEE FLIES ANYWAY by Kate Bradbury
seabird behaviour. ideologies onto our ancestors. (Bloomsbury, £16.99) is about a year of gardening for
Kenny Taylor Puinologist Stuart Blackman Science writer wildlife in a tiny urban space: www.bloomsbury.com
June 2018 BBC Wildlife 83