Description

‘Fresh, immediate, and full of vim’ – Peter Marren

‘Carry this book with you. Watch, listen, observe, enjoy.’ – Esther Woolfson

In Wild Pavements, naturalist Amanda Tuke shares her delight in the overlooked and underappreciated wildlife in our UK cities, finds the people who care for it, takes groups out to enjoy it and explores what the current thinking in ecology and conservation means for the future of urban nature.

Join Amanda as she explores London from the City out to the suburbs and visits Liverpool, Edinburgh, Belfast, Cardiff, Sheffield, Aberdeen and other cities in the British Isles, exploring the diversity of our urban nature and the surprising places you can find it.

From wild bees living on a canal bank and black redstarts nesting in London’s Oxford Street, to rare plants in pavement cracks and new fish life in trolley-filled urban rivers, her discoveries are there for anyone to enjoy. Noticing the wild world around you may just change the way you think about our cities for good.

Publisher Review

‘Fresh, immediate, and full of vim, it’s like just being there with the author on her well-informed urban rambles.’ — Peter Marren, author of Chasing the Ghost: My Search for all the Wild Flowers of Britain ‘Amanda Tuke is one of the most talented of a new generation of urban nature writers. Most importantly, she reaches out to a new cohort of readers: those who love the plants and animals around them but are put off by their lack of experience. By providing really helpful advice, hints and tips, in beautifully written prose, she makes nature – and nature writing – more inclusive and accessible.’ — Stephen Moss, author of 10 Birds which Changed the World, shortlisted for the 2023 Wainwright Nature Writing Prize ‘”You don’t need to travel far to find nature. Stay put in your city and it will come to you,” Amanda Tuke writes in this splendidly informative, wide-ranging, insightful book. As she leads us through the rich beauty of the natural life which thrives around us even in the most urban of settings, Tuke provides us with the means of enlivening our daily city lives by sharing her knowledge and observations of every aspect of the interactions of place, people, flora and fauna, from fox to sweet violet, eel to moth, from the history of parks to environmental planning and much, much more. Stay in your city. Walk. Carry this book with you. Watch, listen, observe, enjoy.’ — Esther Woolfson, author of Corvus: A Life with Birds ‘Amanda’s deep connection to city wildlife shines through in this highly knowledgeable exploration of the urban environment. Wild Pavements offers a powerful reminder that our streets and communities are woven with nature’s stories; it’s a book that will open people’s eyes to the treasures in the pavement cracks.’ — Leif Bersweden, author of The Orchid Hunter and Where the Wildflowers Grow ‘It’s a simple truth that most people in Britain live in towns and cities, and the wildlife of these metropolises is, therefore, the most immediate to us, if only more of us knew about it. In Wild Pavements, Amanda Tuke discovers and celebrates in vivid, sparkling prose the rich natural heritage that should and could be encountered and loved by so many more of us. There has never been a more thorough and fascinating celebration of our urban wildlife.’ — Michael J. Warren, author of The Cuckoo’s Lea We have to change the narrative that we are somehow separate from nature, and Amanda Tuke shows us nature knows no such boundaries! She compels us to expect nature where we are, drawing back a curtain most of us didn’t even know was closed, with a joyful flourish. The result is the gift of our urban spaces in a whole new, wild and accessible light. Importantly, Wild Pavements further disabuses the idea that nature is to be found only in the countryside, and that’s where it’s custodians are. We’ve only got to learn how to look and engage, for a richer experience. Lively, delightfully curious and adorably eccentric, I want to see cities through Amanda Tuke’s eyes! — Nicola Chester Ghosts of the Farm ‘A heart-lifting revelation for anyone who lives in a town or city and longs for wild nature. It was there all along! In the night skies, in the cracks in our masonry and paving, in every leat and riverbank; in every corner in fact. Tuke takes us by the hand into the subtle creep of indomitable wildness, whether it’s cuckoos or peregrines, hawkweeds, anthills or dragonflies. Companionably informative, always curious, this heart-lifting story draws us by the senses to where we want to be; surrounded by unquenchable nature.’ — Miriam Darlington, columnist for The Times and author of Otter Country and Owl Sense ‘If you live in a town or city and let’s face it you probably do, then this book is for you and your soul. Brilliantly written, it’ll help you tune in to nature wherever you are. An inspirational guide on how to spot, hear, sniff and feel your way around town!’ — Nick Baker, naturalist and TV presenter