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This page lists selected nature related books published by Aurum Press that do not fit into one of the other Aurum Press categories listed below.

The books are arranged by publication date with the most recent at the top.

Aurum Press

- Bird related books

- National Trail Guides

- other nature books

The Hedgerows Heaped with May: The Telegraph Book of the Countryside

Editor: Stephen Moss

2012

"An exploration of everything the countryside means to us, from a hundred years of the Telegraph's archive. The Telegraph is, as its former editor Max Hastings identified, more than any other national broadsheet the newspaper of the countryside, which over the years has been written about in its pages by such distinguished writers as J.H.B. Peel, John Betjeman and W.F. Deedes, alongside eminent modern naturalists like Richard Mabey and even unlikely proponents of the rural life like Boris Johnson. This anthology is no bland celebration of bucolic idyll, but rather an exploration of everything that the countryside represents to the British. For some it means the reintroduction of long-lost wildlife such as the red kite, or ancient crafts like thatching. For others it means jouncing along a green lane in a four-wheel-drive Range Rover. To the Prince of Wales, his new town of Poundbury is the countryside while subjects as diverse as crop circles, second homes, Mad Cow Disease and polytunnels are all flashpoints in the modern debate about what, and who, the countryside is for. Hugely varied, by turns funny and provocative, this is an essential exploration of a central aspect of our national identity."

Trees of New Zealand: Stories of Beauty and Character

Peter Janssen and Mike Hollman

2012

"This is a new kind of tree book, not a guide to species or simply a photographic study, it is a collection of individual portraits of the most remarkable trees in New Zealand. Mysterious and awe-inspiring, these mighty and often sacred trees have fascinating lives and histories - many have been around for hundreds of years, some for thousands. From the 800-year-old pohutukawa that stands at 'the place of leaping' at Cape Reinga to the Moriori carved 'kopi' (karaka) trees of the Chatham Islands. "Trees of New Zealand" covers not only the oldest (the kauri 'Te Matua Ngahere' in Waipoua forest) and largest trees, but also trees that have histories that are linked to the history of New Zealand, such as the Gallipoli Pine at Taradale Cemetery, grown as a memorial from the seed of Gallipoli's Lone Pine Tree. Landscape photographer Mike Hollman's beautiful photographs make these trees come alive and highlights the gorgeous landscapes that often surround them."

Wild City: On The Trail Of Britain's Urban Wildlife

Martin Wainwright

2011

"Ever since people began building towns and cities, they have had to share their habitats with another group of urbanites - those from the natural world. Nature has often thrived on the fringes of human settlements, but now more and more of Britain's wildlife is heading for the bright lights of the city - not to mention its darker corners, dingier gutters and abandoned industrial wastelands. With raptors nesting in tower blocks, deer using railway lines to make forays into city centres, parakeets courting in suburban gardens and foxes flourishing in the subways, the city has never been so wild. In this fascinating account of humans and nature living cheek-by-jowl, Martin Wainwright explores the hidden and not-so-hidden flora and fauna of Britain's most populated areas. In Manchester, Britain's fastest bird, the peregrine falcon, lays on an air show for visitors glued to telescopes below. Outside a supermarket in Gateshead, red kites wheel and dive to scavenge rubbish. And in more than thirty towns and cities, the staff of Britain's bat hospitals release cured 'patients' back into the company of similar species. We join a deer-stalker in Bristol, a promoter of 'green' roofs in the East End and a horse-rescuer in Bradford, and spend a night at the moth traps at Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament. But not all wildlife has been welcomed: some has been resisted, or even engaged in mortal combat. We visit a pest controller in Leeds who has stalked rats for 34 years with the cunning of the creatures he hunts, and check out Cardiff fruit market for imported spiders, snakes and frogs. These entertaining and informative encounters with our feathered, furry and foliate neighbours, and the enthusiasts who spot them, protect them or pursue them, reveal the importance of these creatures to even the most sophisticated urban society."

Living Landscapes: Creative Visions in the Wild

Andy Rouse

2009

"Using award-winning wide-angle techniques, abstracts and some very creative usage of light and motion, Andy Rouse shows why he is one of the best and most creative wildlife photographers in the world. Themed portfolios explore the concepts of wilderness, dimensions and dark light whilst galleries show Rouse's stunning project work on snow geese, the wildebeest migration and the Galapagos Islands. The essays that introduce each chapter show Rouse's passion for the natural world and seek not only to question but also to inspire. In a final chapter which takes the form of an in-depth interview, Rouse explores the sources of his vision and explains the way in which he tries to tell a story through his images. Aspects of Nature is a must-read for anyone who is passionate about nature and loves photography as the ultimate art form of self-expression."

Scotland's Mountains: A Landscape Photographer's View

Joe Cornish

2009

"Following the success of Scotland's Coast, acclaimed landscape photographer Joe Cornish trained his lens on another outstanding feature of the country for which he holds so much affection – its mountains. He sets out to capture the unique character of each range, from the soaring peaks of the Southern Highlands to the fortress-like Torridonian and Assynt hills in the far north; from the Cuillin of Skye, almost Alpine in character, in the west, to the lofty Cairngorms, with their windswept plateaus and jewel-like ice formations to the east. With a brilliant eye for a picture and a masterly use of light, Joe depicts not only the peaks and ridges, the cliffs and buttresses of each mountain range, but the corresponding valleys and glens, the deep lochs, fast-flowing burns and spectacular waterfalls that are as integral to the landscape as the mountains themselves. Accompanying the photographs are Joe's fascinating accounts of his experiences in each region. He describes the physical and creative challenges he faced in order to capture the images, and his reflections on the remarkable landscapes and features he encountered. The result is one of the most acutely observed, engaging and inspirational portraits of Scotland's mountains ever published. It will delight not only Joe Cornish's numerous admirers but anyone who is drawn to this most magical of landscapes."

A Gleaming Landscape: A Hundred Years of the Guardian's Country Diary

Editor: Martin Wainwright

2008

"In 2006, the Guardian's much-loved Country Diary column is a hundred years old, and to commemorate the anniversary Martin Wainwright has compiled a collection of the best of a century's writing. Where Harry Griffin's A Lifetime of Mountains, Aurum's first and extremely successful collaboration with Guardian Books, was essentially a collection of writing about the Lake District, this new book covers the landscape of the whole of the United Kingdom, from Wales to Northern Ireland, Scotland to Norfolk. Also the Country Diary column has consistently attracted some of Britain's best writers on natural history and the countryside: Jim Perrin the mountaineering writer, whose biography of Don Whillans won the Boardman-Tasker Award, writes the dispatches from Snowdonia; Mark Cocker, author of the bestselling Birds Britannica, writes the Country Diary from Norfolk. There are also diaries written by a leading Suffragette, one of Rupert Brooke's mistresses, and even one of the Guardian's printers! And Martin Wainwright (who also edited A Lifetime of Mountains) has found diaries to reflect the changing of the countryside over a hundred years: from the prevalence of owls in First World War trenches full of vermin to the plant surveys of Second World War bombsites."

Concepts of Nature: A Wildlife Photographer's Journey

Andy Rouse

2008

"Split into three parts, Concepts of Nature begins with 'Visions', in which Rouse presents the photographs, many published here for the fist time, which he feels were the landmarks in his career and in his development from a one 'big shot' specialist to an artist who can capture the whole story of a species and its environment. In 'Expression' he then discusses and illustrates the ideas and techniques that have enabled him to create a series of themed portfolios devoted to a single species or ecosystem -such as those he made in South Georgia and Antarctica. Finally, in 'Inspiration' Rouse turns to the work of other wildlife photographers who have inspired and influenced him. There is also an appendix giving technical details of the individual photographs."

Landscape Beyond: A Journey into Photography

David Ward

2008

"In David Ward's critically acclaimed first book, Landscape Within, he asked questions about human perception, the creative process and why photographers make images. Ward takes these explorations of photography a step further in his second book by studying what he considers to be the essential attributes of a successful landscape photograph: simplicity, ambiguity and beauty. Ward looks in detail at how these concepts relate to one another and how they relate to his own images. He also sets them within a wider context. He focuses for instance, on how 'beauty' has been viewed by artists and psychologists, suggesting that although interpretations have changed over the centuries, the concept remains as relevant as ever today. In discussing the notion of 'simplicity', the author highlights the reductive approach adopted by photography in contrast to the complex process of creating a painting from layers of pigment."

Developing Vision and Style: A Landscape Photography Masterclass

Joe Cornish, Charlie Waite, David Ward

2007

"The authors of Developing Vision and Style are three of Britain's most respected landscape photographers; in this book they have combined forces to share their wide-ranging experience and expertise with those who aspire, as they do, to create images that reflect their own visions of a chosen landscape and which have a distinctive personal style. Alongside a portfolio of their latest work, each of the three authors writes about the genre for which they are so well-known: how they came to it, what inspires them, how each developed his own particular style."

Easy Butterfly Guide

Ted Benton

Easy Nature Guides

Aurum Press

2006

"This guide is directed at people who want a simple, easy-to-use book that covers all the species they are likely to encounter and provides clear, authoritative guidance on identification together with concise information on range, food plants and habitat. The secret is the "Easy Guide" formula which combines photographs, which give lively, natural impressions of each species in the wild, and artwork, which emphasizes key features as well as depicting the caterpillar and chrysalis stages."

Easy Wildflower Guide

Nick Fletcher

Easy Nature Guides

Aurum Press

2005

"This is the latest book in a series that already includes the Easy Tree Guide and the Easy Edible Mushroom Guide, like its predecessors it is unique in using a combination of photography and artwork. The photographs show the plants in bloom in their natural habitats while the annotated paintings show details of leaves, seeds, fruit and other key features to assist identification. Over 230 of the commonest wildflowers are covered, with a spread being devoted to each species. Rather than arranging the species in taxonomic order, the book starts with white flowers and moves through the spectrum to end with violet."

The Tree Collector: The Life and Explorations of David Douglas

Ann Lindsay and Syd House

2005

"David Douglas was one of the most important botanical collectors there has ever been. Thanks to his heroic and often unimaginably arduous explorations, during which he collected and discovered over 200 species, our forests and gardens are immeasurably richer. Not only is the Douglas fir named after him, but also many of our most established conifers, like the Sitka spruce, Grand and Noble firs and the Monterey pine were introduced to Britain by him. Modern-day suburban gardens would be without the flowering currant, lupin, penstemon, alpines, lilies and primroses had Douglas not travelled so widely. He grew up on the Scone Estate near Perth, studied at the Botanical Gardens in Glasgow under William Hooker, the greatest botanist of the nineteenth century, and then made his name through his remarkable excursions to western Canada - once walking nearly 10,000 miles between the Pacific coast and Hudson Bay."

Scotland's Coast: A Photographer's Journey

Joe Cornish

2005

"Following the success of his best-selling First Light, Joe Cornish has now turned his attention to the magnificent scenery of Scotland's 6,000-mile coastline. He has travelled from the Mull of Galloway in the south to the tip of Unst in the Shetlands, the northernmost point in the British Isles, and from remote St Kilda out in the Atlantic to the Sands of Forvie National Nature Reserve on the North Sea to capture the enormous variety of scenery that characterises the Scottish seacoast. Some of the sites he has photographed, like St Kilda or the sandstone peaks overlooking Loch Torridon, belong to the National Trust for Scotland, but many others are privately owned; some, like the majestic Cuillins on Skye, are well-known to tourists, others are hidden coves or remote sea stacks that few visitors will ever have seen. Whatever the subject, be it a wide Hebridean vista or fragmentary patterns of ice on a frozen beach, Joe Cornish, with his artist's eye and his dramatic use of light, helps us to look at it afresh and reveals new and unsuspected beauties. In the text which accompanies his photographs he explains the aspects of each particular landscape that made it special to him, its geology, its flora, its history or its associations. The result is a stunning book which will delight Cornish's legion of admirers and all those who have found enchantment on Scotland's wonderful coastline."

Scotland's Wildlife

Niall Benvie

2004

"Working with the help of scientists and conservationists, including those on the staff of the National Trust for Scotland, wildlife photographer Niall Benvie has compiled a portrait of the creatures which we all think of as characteristically Scottish - red deer, pine martens, otters, mountain hares and red squirrels among the mammals, and birds such as golden eagle, ptarmigan, and red and black grouse. In all 73 species are illustrated in photographs, mostly the author's own, and described in a text which focuses upon the status of endangered species and threatened habitats, and the efforts which are being made to preserve them and, in some cases, to re-introduce species that have been lost to Scotland in the past."

First Light: A Landscape Photographer's Art

Joe Cornish

2002

"Drawing on decades of experience, Joe Cornish, one of Britain's most distinguished landscape photographers, has distilled the key elements of his craft into a collection of thought-provoking essays accompanied by a stunning selection of his photographs. From his beloved North Yorkshire, to the rocky canyons of the Colorado Plateau, the photos in First Light have been chosen to reflect the breadth of Joe's work and to illustrate how he puts his working philosophy into practice. Each picture is accompanied by text describing the conditions that must be taken into consideration before taking a photo; the composition of the image, including viewpoint, selection of film and filters; and post production treatments. First Light is replete with supporting technical data and Joe's own explanations of the thought processes that lay behind the creation of each of these wonderful photographs. These fluent and very personal accounts are full of practical advice on subjects ranging from anticipating changes in the weather or lighting conditions, to the relative advantages of using colour filters."

In the Kingdom of Gorillas

Bill Weber & Amy Vedder

2002

"Weber and Vedder realised that, unless the needs of the local Rwandans were addressed, the mountain gorillas were doomed. Over Diane Fossey's objections, they launched the Mountain Gorilla Project one of the world's first experiments in ecotourism, and quickly it proved hugely successful."

The Easy Tree Guide to Britain and Europe

Keith Rushforth

2001

"Aiming to provide the user with a handy, portable and comprehensive aid to swift and accurate identification in the field, this text devotes an entire spread to each species accompanied by a colour photograph of a tree or trees."

David Douglas: Explorer and Botanist

Ann Lindsay Mitchell and Syd House

1999

"David Douglas became a celebrated scientist and explorer. He explored the area of western Canada, collecting and classifying its flora and recording the life of its native American population, and was the first to record the fir named after him."

The Easy Edible Mushroom Guide: Britain and Europe

David Pegler

1999

"Prof. David Pegler's concise, well-illustrated and informative guide is a timely antidote to the mythology surrounding the much misunderstood – and often maligned - wild mushroom. The book begins with an introduction to fungi and mushroom biology, a mushroom calendar and a crash course in hunting for edible mushrooms, together with useful tables containing information on classifying and identifying edible fungi. Twenty different varieties are then explored in depth – from the edible to the poisonous (and even the hallucinogenic!). Extensive photographs and colour illustrations will aid the amateur mushroom gatherer in the tricky (and potentially dangerous) task of identification. Finally, this fascinating book offers recipes and food preparation tips. Pegler's considerable expertise and clear delivery make the Easy Edible Mushroom Guide an absolute must-have for anyone new to the world of mushroom hunting."

The Wildwood

Gareth Lovett Jones and Richard Mabey

Aurum Press

1993

"An exploration of Britain's ancient woodlands in which the author describes fifteen sites and includes a passionate plea for preservation. A stunning photographic book with a serious ecological message."

The Practical Geologist

Dougal Dixon

1992

"An introduction to the world of geology, with basic principles, instructions on how to put them into practice and how to collect specimens."

The Practical Entomologist

Rick Imes

1992

"An illustrated introduction to the insects and the fascinating miniature world they inhabit."

Fossils: The Evolution and Extinction of Species

Niles Eldredge

Introduction: Stephen Jay Gould

Aurum Press

1991

"In this fascinating exploration of the fossil record, Niles Eldredge overturns the traditional view of evolution as a slow and inevitable process, and he shows that lifeforms generally do not evolve to any significant degree until after massive extinction. This rhythm of life - a concept developed by Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould known as punctuated equilibria in evolution - is revealed by the fossilized remains of the earth's ancient flora and fauna. Distinguished photographer Murray Alcosser augments Eldredge's text with 160 luminous color plates illustrating more than 250 different fossil specimens."