Wild Pavements

"For an urban naturalist, the simple act of walking down a city street is full of delightful distractions. I have to duck down this side street to see what's growing along that pavement edge. I'm compelled to stop for a 360-degree scan of the rooftops to locate the source of that bird call. And I can't resist crossing the road and kneeling down to get a closer look at what's buzzing around under that tree. Rambling along pavements and hunting for wildlife, I'm the opposite of the detached, purposeless 'flâneur' who idly observes city life of the human form. There's nature hunting to be done." Feral pigeons, foxes and fireweed are fascinating, but there's more to urban nature. In Wild Pavements, naturalist Amanda Tuke shares her delight in the overlooked and under-appreciated 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 the author as she explores London from the City out to the suburbs and visits Manchester, Edinburgh, Belfast, Cardiff, Hull, 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 peregrine falcons nesting on a civic centre, to rare plants in pavement cracks and new fish-life in trolley-filled urban rivers, her discoveries are there for anyone to enjoy. And noticing the wild world around you may just change the way you think about our cities for good. AUTHOR: Amanda Tuke is an urban naturalist and nature writer based in South London. She works as a consultant botanist, leads urban plant walks and is an associate lecturer for the MA in Nature & Travel Writing at Bath Spa University. Amanda writes a monthly column for Bird Watching Magazine which often features urban birds, and she has also written for RSPB Magazine, BBC Countryfile Magazine, Resurgence Magazine and for the London Wildlife Trust Blog. Between April 2021 and March 2022, she was nature-writer-in-residence for the London Wildlife Trust's Great North Wood project. Her feature writing can be seen on her blog The Urban Naturalist and she tweets and instagrams as @suburbanwilduk.