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Product Description
Product Description
During the early 1970s Richard Mabey set about
mapping his unofficial countryside. He walked
crumbling city docks and World War II bomb-sites, he
navigated inner city canals and car parks, he returned
again and again to sewage works, reservoirs, gravel pits,
rubbish tips. What he discovered runs deeper than a
natural history of our suburbs and cities. The Unofficial
Countryside prescribes another way of seeing, another
way of experiencing nature in our daily lives.
mapping his unofficial countryside. He walked
crumbling city docks and World War II bomb-sites, he
navigated inner city canals and car parks, he returned
again and again to sewage works, reservoirs, gravel pits,
rubbish tips. What he discovered runs deeper than a
natural history of our suburbs and cities. The Unofficial
Countryside prescribes another way of seeing, another
way of experiencing nature in our daily lives.
A bank of wildflowers glimpsed from the window of
a commuter train. Kestrels shimmering above waste
grounds and town parks. Enchanter's nightshade
growing through pavement cracks. Fox cubs playing
on the scrubby fringe of a motorway embankment. It is
easy to forget the abundance of wildlife thriving so near
our routines and our homes, yet there is scarcely a nook
in our urban landscapes incapable of supporting life. It
is an inspiration to find this abundance, to discover how
plants, birds, mammals and insects flourish against the
odds in the most obscure and surprising places.
From the Publisher
Little Toller Books republishes nature writing classics. Our new edition of Richard Mabey's groundbreaking book is illustrated - for the first time - with artwork by Mary Newcomb and includes a new introduction by Iain Sinclair.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
39 of 41 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a re-issue of one of Richard Mabey's early books and is well worth re-visiting. As he states in his new foreword, he has deliberately not updated the text as this is a document of how London and environs was in the early seventies, still with some bomb sites and dirty polluted streams and canals. And it sounds almost idyllic in a way, as Mabey shows us that there is beauty and interest in even the most unlikely places. It might be worth him writing a modern follow up to be honest because some of what he sees as interesting back then, grey squirrels and urban foxes for example, are now seen as pests as they have prospered in the intervening years. There have also been many developments in environmental care where the differences may be worth noting.
So well worth a read then, especially if you look for parallels or differences with today.
There are some decent enough black and white arty prints but I would have liked to see some more illustrations, which would be my only criticism.
So well worth a read then, especially if you look for parallels or differences with today.
There are some decent enough black and white arty prints but I would have liked to see some more illustrations, which would be my only criticism.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
When this book was first published in 1973 the idea that ecologically valuable sites could be found in the waste lands and dumps of our urban areas must have been rather novel. Today it seems remarkable that people could have missed the diversity and vigor that can spring from waste-lands.
However, such a change of perspective does not render this either an old fashioned or irrelevant book - far from it. In his sensible, lucid prose Mabey explores many sites in England's SE and finds wildlife to be abundant - often short lived, but still abundant.
He calls such areas the Unofficial Countryside, in clear contrast to the Official Countryside of national parks, nature reserves and ANOB's and such like.
Some of the things that he identified have been overtaken by time, - urban foxes, squirrels, Japanese Knotweed and such like, but the central message remains the same - given a chance, some form of natural ecosystem will form in most places over time.
This is still an important message. The official countryside, for all its protection (assuming it does not get sold off to the highest bidder!) is almost certain to lose species over time, that's what islands do. Other areas - the unofficial bits - are needed to connect these high value sites together. But beyond that the Unofficial Countryside has value of its own - but we may need to change our perspective to see it.
This is an excellent and insightful book which is worth reading in the light of modern habitat change, as well as being a historical insight into the development of the urban ecology movement.
Recommended.
However, such a change of perspective does not render this either an old fashioned or irrelevant book - far from it. In his sensible, lucid prose Mabey explores many sites in England's SE and finds wildlife to be abundant - often short lived, but still abundant.
He calls such areas the Unofficial Countryside, in clear contrast to the Official Countryside of national parks, nature reserves and ANOB's and such like.
Some of the things that he identified have been overtaken by time, - urban foxes, squirrels, Japanese Knotweed and such like, but the central message remains the same - given a chance, some form of natural ecosystem will form in most places over time.
This is still an important message. The official countryside, for all its protection (assuming it does not get sold off to the highest bidder!) is almost certain to lose species over time, that's what islands do. Other areas - the unofficial bits - are needed to connect these high value sites together. But beyond that the Unofficial Countryside has value of its own - but we may need to change our perspective to see it.
This is an excellent and insightful book which is worth reading in the light of modern habitat change, as well as being a historical insight into the development of the urban ecology movement.
Recommended.
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