Wild Pavements: Exploring Britain’s Cities with an Urban Naturalist

‘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 -- Leif Bersweden