A Country Parish: Book 9 (Collins New Naturalist Library) - Hardcover

Boyd, A. W.

9780007308040: A Country Parish: Book 9 (Collins New Naturalist Library)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0007308043 ISBN 13: 9780007308040

Publisher: Collins, 2009

The natural history of an ordinary English country parish was one of the first subjects that suggested themselves when the New Naturalist series was planned. This edition is exclusive to newnaturalists.com

Being chiefly farmland and therefore practically all man-made, most country parishes are extremely complex from the naturalist’s point-of-view and also inevitably contain a vast amount of human history. Any attempt to describe their plants and animals has to be closely related with the ways of man himself, who must be regarded as the chief element in the community – a fact which has been obvious enough to naturalists ever since the days of Gilbert White.

For this book we are fortunate to have found an author who combines a thorough all-round knowledge of natural history with a sound insight into human customs, history, pastimes and farming methods. Arnold Boyd has lived in Cheshire all his life – since 1902 in the parish of Antrobus, part of the old parish of Great Budworth, the character of which is typical of much of the Cheshire Plain. In keeping with the best tradition of English amateur naturalists, he excels as a collector of facts, as has been apparent from his previous books, his writing in the Manchester Guardian and other journals, and in his assistant editorship of British Birds. By weaving together his collection of facts he presents us with a book of remarkable unity which shows a wide grasp of every aspect of the living communities. This charming yet erudite portrait will protect his beloved parish forever from the ravages of human forgetfulness.

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Synopsis:

The natural history of an ordinary English country parish was one of the first subjects that suggested themselves when the New Naturalist series was planned. Being chiefly farmland and therefore practically all man-made, most country parishes are extremely complex from the naturalist's point of view and also inevitably contain a vast amount of human history. Any attempt to describe their plants and animals has to be closely related with the ways of man himself, who must be regarded as the chief element in the community -- a fact which has been obvious enough to naturalists ever since the days of Gilbert White. For this book we are fortunate to have found an author who combines a thorough all-round knowledge of natural history with a sound insight into human customs, history, pastimes and farming methods. Arnold Boyd has lived in Cheshire all his life -- since 1902 in the parish of Antrobus, part of the old parish of Great Budworth, the character of which is typical of much of the Cheshire Plain.In keeping with the best tradition of English amateur naturalists, he excels as a collector of facts, as has been apparent from his previous books, his writing in the Manchester Guardian and other journals, and in his assistant editorship of British Birds.

By weaving together his collection of facts he presents us with a book of remarkable unity and which shows a wide grasp of every aspect of the living communities. This charming yet erudite portrait will protect his beloved parish forever from the ravages of human forgetfulness.

About the Author:

1885-1959. Countryman and naturalist, author of A Country Parish (1951). One of the last of the old-style amateur naturalists; agent of the family yarn business James Boyd & Son. A Cheshire man to his fingertips, the GIlbert White of Great Budworth. Great field skills; among the most active pioneer bird-ringers. Original papers on the tree sparrow, greenfinch and swallow; put sewage farms and the Staffordshire lakes on the birdwatcher's map. Left vast archive of notebooks and nature diaries, all in his characteristic neat minuscule hand. Editor of British Birds 1944-58, and a leading light of the BTO, BOU and RSPB in the 1940s and 1950s. His long-running column in Manchester Guardian resulted in The Country Diary of a Cheshire Man (1946).

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