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| | | NATURE
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| | | Nature offers a window on global natural history, providing a unique insight into the natural world, the environment, and the magnificent creatures that inhabit it.
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|  | | | A close up of a Bumble Bee. |
One Hundred New Naturalists
Chewing moths, nibbling spiders and the psychology of the bumblebee all turn up in the first of a new series of Nature on BBC Radio 4. As the world's longest running series of natural history books marks its 100th title this month, Brett Westwood tells the extraordinary story of the Collins New Naturalists.
From its beginnings as the Second World War drew to a close, this eclectic range of titles set out to "recapture the enquiring spirit of the old naturalists" by presenting British wildlife in a completely new way, examining how animals and plants related to each other and to their environments.
It was the first real series of books to feature ecology and some of the titles show the wide variety of subjects on offer from Weeds and Aliens and British Mammals to A Country Parish and Caves and Cave Life. With their authority and sense of wonder that they evoked, the books are unique.
Brett meets the authors, publishers and of course the collectors of the series which can fetch up to £20,000 in fine condition, and learns of the rise and fall of the New Naturalist as television and the appearance of highly-illustrated books and field guides took their toll. | | |
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