Nature’s Top 40: Britain’s Best Wildlife. Chris Packham

      

Dedication

       Dedicated to my dad … you would have been chuffed to bits

      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

Dedication

Foreword by Chris Packham

Introduction

40 Mating natterjacks

39 Wood ant nests

38 Displaying glow-worms

37 Playing fox cubs

36 Trapping moths

35 Grey seals pupping

34 Winter high tide roost

33 Machair in summer

32 Wild goats rutting

31 Swallows and martins feeding

       30 Otters fishing

       29 Roosting rooks

       28 Pipistrelle bats swarming

       27 Clouds of butterflies

       26 Terns attacking

       25 Pine martens hunting

       24 Roosting parakeets

       23 Dancing cranes

       22 Hunting peregrines

       21 Spiders’ webs

       20 Wheeling puffins

       19 Autumnal trees and toadstools

       18 Wild orchid displays

       17 Whale watching

       16 Courting great crested grebes

       15 Leaping dolphins

       14 Boxing hares

       13 Sea eagles fishing

       12 Rutting red deer

       11 Flocking pink-footed geese

       10 Barn owls hunting

       9 Basking sharks feeding

       8 Dancing adders

       7 Bluebell displays

       6 Dawn chorus

       5 Meadows in summer

       4 Lekking black grouse

       3 Leaping salmon

       2 Roosting starlings

       1 Diving gannets

       Index

       Acknowledgements

       Keep Reading

       Copyright

       About the Publisher

Foreword

      by Chris Packham

      I made my first list when I was about eight. I thought nothing of it; it seemed perfectly natural. I was obsessed with reptiles at the time, which seemed normal too, and I’d come down from the heady heights of the dinosaurs to the British Six, as my list was called. Adder, grass snake, smooth snake, sand lizard, common or viviparous lizard and slow worm were the words so neatly inscribed in my book, even if I didn’t know what viviparous meant and had to be careful spelling it. I had four out of six ticks alongside them, not bad thinking about it now, but seriously disappointing for the obsessive young naturalist who had to wait an eternity – until he was twelve – to put the final mark alongside sand lizard. Lying in bed that May night wrapped in the warmth of smug satisfaction, I then wondered if I could be the youngest person ever to see the all of the UK’s native reptiles.

      Several things are revealed by this admission: that list-making is a very important part of any naturalist’s behaviour; that an incomplete list can cause real distress and lead to an increase in obsessive behaviour; and that lists have a strong competitive component. When