Brrrrrrrrr, it’s chilly down in the wood but not as cold as it was a few weeks back. This week we’ve seen two Roe deer running through the trees along with a brown hare and we’re having fairly frequent visits from our two red Squirrels Tip and Flash.
Tip is one our our two squirrel kittens born last year in a drey just a short distance from our back door and so named because of the light colour to the end of its tail.
Flash on the other hand has a distinctive tuft of pale fur further up his tail. Both Tip and Flash come to the feeders everyday.
Living as we do in an area of such diverse plant and animal species, we feel very strongly about the environment that they exist in. From the microscopic mycelium of fungi that spread unseen beneath the leaf litter to the largest wild animal in the UK, the Red Deer and with mountains, moorlands, forests and coastlines we have a responsibility to care for and protect these habitats and their occupants.
With that in mind, The Book Warren has become a Proud Supporter of the Galloway & South Ayrshire Biosphere and we’ve dedicated a page on our website so pop over and take a look!
Now on to our new favourite books! And first up a delightful new colouring book with the most beautiful illustrations
Always fancied making your own metal garden ornaments or candle sticks? Blacksmithing for Beginners is a complete guide for the metalwork novice, this book provides thorough and detailed overviews on a variety of blacksmithing tools, techniques, and projects. Expert instructions lead you through every stage of each project and show you how to make your own forge as well as how to build, maintain, and use a suitable fire. Including sections on safety, taking heats, finishes, cutting steel and buying a forge, this book is the ultimate resource for anyone interested in learning the fundamentals of metalwork.
Our next must have book is This Volcanic Isle by Robert Muir-Wood
From the natural geometry of the Giant’s Causeway to the sarsen slabs used to build Stonehenge, we are surrounded by evidence for the extraordinary geological forces that shaped the British Isles.
Running coast to coast through Devon is ‘Sticklepath’, Britain’s ‘San Andreas’, a geological fault with the two sides displaced horizontally by several kilometres, all within the recent geological past. The Sticklepath Fault is just one manifestation of the rich tectonic history of the British region since the asteroid collision that ended the reign of the dinosaurs, 66 million years ago. Raised out of the Chalk Sea, the original Albion was a thickly forested island a thousand kilometres long, surrounded by chalk cliffs, punctuated with great volcanoes, and the site of two trial ‘spreading ridge’ plate-boundaries. As the volcanoes shifted west, and Greenland separated from Europe, the wind-blown volcanic ash laid the strata on which London was founded. The vertical Needles, known to every Isle of Wight sailor, are part of the northern foothills of the Pyrenees. When the collision subsided, rifting created a garland of Celtic lakes from Brittany to the Outer Hebrides.In This Volcanic Isle Robert Muir-Wood explores the rich geological history of the British Isles, and its resulting legacy. Along the way he introduces the personalities who shared a fascination for Britain’s tectonic history, including Charles Darwin the geologist, Tennyson the science-poet, and Benoit Mandelbrot, the pure mathematician who labelled the west coast of Britain a fractal icon. Here is the previously untold story of how earthquakes and eruptions, plumes and plate boundaries, built the British Isles.
Next we feature the new book by Alistair Moffat, Scotlands Forgotten Past: A History of the Mislaid, Misplaced and Misunderstood which publishes this month. We’ve been firm fans of Alistair and have enjoyed his other books which include, Scotland A History from the Earliest Times; The Hidden Ways and The Secret History of Here
A charming, lively and often amusing tour of 36 forgotten episodes and overlooked people and places of Scottish history.
While Scotland’s history cannot be separated from its kings and queens, saints and warriors, there is a rich story to tell about the country’s lesser-known places, people and events. This colourful history of Scotland tells those other tales, half-forgotten or misunderstood, that have been submerged by the wash of history. Bringing these stories to light and to life, this entertaining book reveals the richness and complexity of this nation on the northwest edge of Europe.
Alistair Moffat guides us from the geological formation of the land that makes up Scotland to the first evidence of human habitation right up to modern times. In the process, we learn about the cave of headless children, the origins of the Scottish kings and the real heroes of Scottish independence, the invention of tartan and the romance of the Highlands, Scotland’s answer to Shakespeare, and the many U.S. Presidents with Scottish heritage, among many other fascinating tales brought to life by Joe McLaren’s attractive woodcut-style illustrations. Even the most knowledgeable Scot will experience a sense of newfound knowledge and appreciation for this unique country, its history and people.
And to wrap up our wander through the Book Warren bookshelves, no self respecting Scottish household should be without its copy of the poetry and songs of Robert Burns especially as Burns Night looms large on the calendar! So remember to get your copy so you can address your Haggis on the big night!
This title includes all of Burns’ poems and songs, with a helpful glossary explaining difficult words, a chronology of Burns’s life and a bibliography.
Right that’s us away for another day! Enjoy your reading…..Oh, and one more squirrel photo…..
