The project to find the UK's favourite nature book

What's the biggest page-turner you've ever read? Maybe it's Wind in the Willows that left you wanting more, or you were hooked on The Animals of Farthing Wood? 

A new project is seeking to find out what the country's favourite nature book is through a two-year project. The Arts and Humanities Research Council is focusing on the literary, social and cultural impact that writing about the natural world has. 

"As someone whose love of nature was rekindled through my work and having children, the written word played a vital role in helping me to navigate my way through the huge challenges facing the natural world and coming to terms with what it means to me and my family." says Mike Collins from the organisation.

On social media, BBC Springwatch fans have been nominating their favourite literary works. 

Jan Dyer wrote: "Sea Room by Adam Nicholson. I found myself enthralled by this passionate depiction of The Shiant islands out in The Minch, in the Outer Hebrides. I can virtually hear the cacophony of the thousands of sea birds nestling on the cliffs and feel the utter peace of a calm day amid the lush summer grassy slopes." 

Whilst Rosie Frost remarked on how as a child she "loved 'The Family Naturalist' by Michael Chinery when our girls were small. So many experiments and projects" that gave her children curiosity in wildlife forever.

But it isn't just members of the public revealing their favourites. BBC Autumnwatch's Martin Hughes-Games said "Mine is a slightly left field choice. Its “The Sword in the Stone" by T H White. It's about the young King Arthur (called Wart in the story) but the descriptions of the forests, the wildlife, the hawks, wolves, fish in the moat, utterly entranced me and encouraged my nascent fascination with the natural world.

For Chris Packham, it has to be The Peregrine "I was half way through by the time the Christmas roast was served, and it was done before the Boxing Day bubble-and-squeak. I had been ‘doing’ textbooks since I was six or seven, they injected me with knowledge. The truth is beautiful – graphs, tables and maps are just as magical as poetry."

Nominations are being sought for the UK's favourite books, you can submit your nomination at the AHRC website or join the conversation on Twitter using #FavNatureBook. The deadline for nominations is Thursday 30th November 2017.