Accompanying the major six-part BBC television series, Living Britain is a celebration of the rich and varied landscapes and wildlife that have survived in Britain to the end of the twentieth century.
Month by month, Living Britain chronicles the wildlife year, tracking the way the lives of native plants and animals change with the cycle of the seasons and react to the contemporary British way of life - both urban and rural. From the wild highlands of Scotland in the grip of deepest winter to the modern heart of London in high summer, this book presents a wildlife diary of a typical year up and down the country.
Interspersed with this unfolding portrait of living Britain are informative special features. Focusing on subjects of topical interest such as the return of the otter, the precarious future of the badger, and the demise of many songbirds, these features show how native plants, birds and animals respond to Britain's ever-changing landscape.
A unique feature of the book is the 'Guide to the Nature of Living Britain', which gives details, with maps and directions, of the key locations where British wildlife can be seen at its best. Featuring major nature reserves and other specialist locations from every region of Britain, this guide will prove indispensable to anyone wishing to seek out our unique landscapes and inhabitants.
In this programme, snow and ice bring drama to the spectacular Scottish Highlands, land of the golden eagle.
This programme about spring looks at migrant swallows landing on the beaches of the Scilly Islands, a rookery 70 feet above the ground in Cherhill, Wiltshire, red kites and goshawks nesting in Welsh woodlands and, all over the country, fox cubs emerging above ground for the first time.
This edition, filmed in early summer, features families of badgers in their woodland habitats, kingfisher fledglings plunging into rivers as they hone their feeding skills, and, in hill country, red kites, peregrines and golden eagles rearing their young.
In this edition filmed in the summer, even urban wastelands become playgrounds for fox cubs and fill with the buzz of insects and the vibrant colours of poppies and ox-eye daisies. On the ancient southern downland, glow-worms light their torches and blue butterflies flit gently through the summer air.
This programme looks at the glorious colours of autumn.
This programme gives an evocative portrait of the country at the turn of the year, and reveals much about the nature of today's Britain as well as looking to its future. Using time-lapse shots taken over three years, the film records dramatic changes to the landscape.