In a season of walks through the margins of urban existence Richard Mabey reveals the ways that these often neglected and unpromising areas can foster the most extraordinary life. It is the breadth of knowledge that he brings to the subject that lifts his writing out of the ordinary and makes him such a joy to read. Such an inspiring teacher and guide to the natural history that surrounds us if only we would but look around.
During the early 1970s Richard Mabey explored crumbling city docks and overgrown bomb-sites, navigated inner city canals and car parks, and discovered there was scarcely a nook in our urban landscape incapable of supporting life. The Unofficial Countryside is a timely reminder of how nature flourishes against the odds, surviving in the most obscure and surprising places.
Richard Mabey is the author of the bestselling, award-winning and ground-breaking FLORA BRITANNICA (which sold nearly 90,000 at -35), as well as many highly praised books about nature and the environment, including FOOD FOR FREE and THE UNOFFICIAL COUNTRYSIDE. His book about Gilbert White won the Whitbread Biography of the Year.