Stephen Moss

Welcome to The Accidental Countryside. This is the fascinating and remarkably empowering story of our influence upon the landscape and wildlife of these crowded islands, and of how wildlife has co-opted its most unlikely corners - even when we least expected it. From the seabirds sheltering in the prehistoric stone structures of Shetland to the peat diggings in Somerset teeming with life, and from the rare insects hidden in Belfast's docklands to the falcons that make London's Shard their home, Stephen Moss reveals the unexpected oases which foster the crucial links in the chain that bind the natural world together.

Swallow and starling, puffin and peregrine, blue tit and blackcap. The words we use to name birds are some of the most lyrical and evocative in the English language. Through fascinating encounters with birds, and the rich cast of characters who came up with their names, Stephen Moss shows how these names reveal as much about ourselves and our relationship with the natural world as about the creatures they describe.

This is a very personal celebration of why the natural world matters to all of us, wherever we live. The book is nature writing at its finest, expressed through the natural history of one very special place.