Nature and Exploration
100 Scotsman WalksFrom hill to glen and river
by Robin Howie
Hillwalking is a way of life for Robin Howie, whose name is very well-known in Scottish hillwalking circles and whose knowledge of the Scottish high tops is second to none. For over ten years his popular weekly hillwalking column has appeared in The Scotsman where his pleasure of walking in th... more...
A High and Lonely Place2nd Edition
by Jim Crumley
In the nine years since it was first published, A High and Lonely Place has become a classic of Scottish nature writing and of the literature of our mountains. It has also become a much-quoted source of inspiration to those who champion the cause of our wild places in general and the Cairngorm... more...
A Life of Ospreysby Roy Dennis
Winner of the Birds Illustrated Conservation/Monographs/Science category
Ospreys are one of our best known and best loved birds and the name Roy Dennis is not only synonymous with the successful return of the osprey to Scotla... more...
A Private Sort of Lifeby Bridget MacCaskill
Bridget MacCaskill has been observing otters for many years and studies undertaken with her late husband, Don, resulted in books and a film about otters and their environment. Otters are fascinating and delightful creatures but to watch them in their natural habitat requires immense patience o... more...
A Saga of Sea Eaglesby John A. Love
This is a much-needed update on a pioneering reintroduction project and its much-celebrated success. It also provides essential background and a logical and objective summary of its justification and significance in global conservation terms. It is very much a personal account, although fundam... more...
Alone in the Wildernessby Mike Tomkies
This is the story of a man who achieved what thousands only dream of. He shed the pressures of urban life as an international journalist and exchanged it for solitude, self-sufficiency and new purpose. He emigrated to Canada, found a plot of rock, trees and cliffs in a remote part of the Briti... more...
Backwoods Mates to Hollywood's Greatsby Mike Tomkies
This is a boisterous, roller-coaster of a story about Mike Tomkies' extraordinary adventures after he quit his full-time career as a celebrity journalist and began working as a logger with the lusty men of the wild Canadian forests and the sea salmon fishermen - men who led a free way of life now lo... more...
Between Earth and Paradiseby Mike Tomkies
After giving up a hectic life as a journalist in Europe and Hollywood in the late 1960s to return to his boyhood love of nature, Mike Tomkies found Eilean Shona, a remote island 'between earth and paradise' off the west coast of Scotland. There he rebuilt a rotting wooden crofthouse wh... more...
Big CatsFacing Britain's Wild Predators
by Rick Minter
Right across Britain, people are making remarkable claims - they are reporting large feral cats resembling panthers, pumas and lynx. Month after month the sightings continue with citizens from all walks of life having surprise encounters with big cats. They may be driving, walking their dog, o... more...
Brother Natureby Jim Crumley
Acclaimed nature writer Jim Crumley turns his poet's instinct, his naturalist's eye, and occasionally his camera on his core territory in Highland Perthshire to produce a book of rare intimacy.
Brother Nature is based on thirty years of exploring and thinking about the cou... more...
Call of the Eagleby Dave Walker
This is an account of one man's 30-year involvement with England's rarest bird, the golden eagle. Initially employed by the RSPB as a senior species protection warden at a secret location in Cumbria, the author describes the intricacies of establishing a protection regime by wardens th... more...
Days with the Golden Eagleby Seton Gordon
A reprint of the classic eagle book from one of the pioneeers of nature writing. Complete with photographs from original collections.
Writer and photographer, Seton Gordon, wrote 27 books over a period of several decades and most of these focused on the landscape and wildlife of t... more...
Eating Diamondsby Loren Cruden
The richness and necessity of living in harmony with a natural environment.
Extract from the Foreword by Jim Crumley '...There is a certain gentle charm at work in these pages. The participatory relationship with nature is compassionate rather than confrontational. ...Its simplicity says more... more...
Ferny WoodThe Story of a Fallow Deer
by Patricia Sibley
Based upon detailed observation in the New Forest, this delightful book tells the story of Buckie, a fawn from a small herd of fallow does which the author was first privileged to observe just before sunset one magical June evening.
Following this defining moment, the author, acco... more...
Flight of the Wild Geeseby Graham Uney
The sight of strings of wild Barnacle geese flying overhead, with a noisy chorus of honking, will be a familiar sight to many. However, following their migration, little is known about the lives of these sociable geese. Flight of the Wild Geese tells the story of the winter wildlife of the Sol... more...
Growing Barn Owls in my Gardenby Paul Hackney
The barn owl is a ‘flagship’ species, at the top of the food chain, and its presence or absence is a good indicator of the health of the countryside. This is the enjoyable and informative story of the author’s success in restoring this beautiful bird to areas of the country w... more...
Hadrian's Wildlifeby John Miles
Built in the years AD122-30 by order of the Emperor Hadrian ‘to separate Romans from Barbarians’, Hadrian's Wall was 73 miles long, running from Wallsend-on-Tyne to Bowness on the Solway Firth. It was originally almost 5 metres high with 16 large forts along its length and is t... more...
Just Before DawnThe Creation of a Wildlife Sanctuary
by May Parker
An inspiring story of a wildlife haven
The author describes the glorious but laborious work of converting what had been a general dumping-ground to a rich and productive wildlife haven. As work progressed, May took many photographs and kept observations of the varied wildlife she observed dur... more...
Kestrels for Companyby Gordon Riddle
An appealing book that rightfully raises the profile of the kestrel. It provides an extensive picture of this delightful falcon, including its lifestyle and the factors that affect its breeding success and survival. This is based upon almost 40 years’ monitoring of the kestrel in south-w... more...
Landscape and Garden DesignLessons from History
by Gordon Haynes
This book presents a chronological review of garden design which both simplifies the big picture and supplies a rationale, with examples, of the merits and demerits of each design period while reflecting on the social conditions which generated each one. It gathers together design ideas and th... more...
Landscape to Lightby Neil M. Gunn
Although Neil M. Gunn is well-known as one of Scotland's foremost writers of the 20th century, he is less well-known as a perceptive and meditative essayist who wrote on a variety of subjects - from landscape, nature and the sea to literature, politics and matters of the spirit. Written in... more...
Life with BirdsA Story of Mutual Exploitation
by Malcolm Smith
Life with Birds uncovers the fascinating story of our interdependence with birds. The author weaves an amazing web of inter-relationships, from the Parsi funeral in Mumbai where birds of prey eat the dead; to collecting eider down from nests in Iceland and standing on the once body-strewn batt... more...
Listen to the Treesby Don MacCaskill
In his introduction, Don MacCaskill wrote modestly, 'I think I became a naturalist'. He was, in fact, one of Scotland's foremost naturalists and a remarkable wildlife photographer as well. In a flashback to his early years in Kilmartin, a village in Argyllshire, we learn of his awakening interest in... more...
Mangroves and Man-Eatersand other wildlife encounters
by Dan Freeman
‘…In this entertaining book, which is as much about people and places as it is about wildlife, you’ll read of hair-raising encounters with giant crabs, lions and killer bees. But rest assured, with Dan Freeman you are travelling with the best of guides…’
E... more...
Monkey Puzzle ManArchibald Menzies, Plant Hunter
by James McCarthy
'This richly detailed account of the life and travels of Archibald Menzies is a most welcome addition to the literature of botanical exploration. ...we now have a satisfyingly comprehensive account of the life of a Scot who travelled the world as a surgeon naturalist in the Royal Navy'... more...
My Arctic Summerby Agnieszka Latocha
Spitsbergen is the largest island of the Svalbard archipelago which is situated between the Greenland and Barents Seas, approximately 600 miles from the North Pole. In the 16th century the islands were visited by Barents' expedition and in the ensuing centuries were used primarily as a bas... more...
My Wicked First LifeBefore the Wilderness
by Mike Tomkies
This is a boisterous, roller-coaster of a story about Mike Tomkies' extraordinary adventures after he quit his full-time career as a celebrity journalist and began working as a logger with the lusty men of the wild Canadian forests and the sea salmon fishermen - men who led a free way of l... more...
My Wicked First Life and Backwoods Mates to Hollywood's Greatsby Mike Tomkies
* SPECIAL OFFER - buy both books for the very special price of £25 *
To see a full description about each title follow the links below -
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Patrick NeillDoyen of Scottish Horticulture
by Forbes W. Robertson
Descended from a Haddington family of printers and booksellers, Patrick Neill became head of the most prestigious printing firm in Edinburgh. Leaving his manager to run the business, he devoted his life to writing, natural history, horticulture and civic duties. His early tour of Orkney and Sh... more...
Rare, Wild and Freeby Mike Tomkies
Rare, Wild and Free is a testament to the work of one of the finest nature writers Britain has ever produced - Mike Tomkies, who spent 35 years in the wildest and most remote places in Scotland, Canada and Spain to study and photograph the rarest and most dramatic wild creatures. The eminent c... more...
Scotland's HeritageA photographic journey
by John Hannavy
Scotland’s Heritage is a unique book. It combines John Hannavy’s stunning and original photography of Scotland with an engaging narrative on the country’s evolution from 4000 BC to the present day, using both the author’s own account of his tra... more...
Scott's Forgotten SurgeonDr. Reginald Koettlitz, Polar Explorer
by Aubrey A. Jones
'...In this year celebrating the centenary of the conquering of the South Pole … it is more than fitting to have one of the unregarded figures of Antarctic history brought into the limelight of remembrance'. Extract from Introduction by ... more...
Seton Gordon's CairngormsAn Anthology
by Hamish Brown
Seton Gordon really created himself as naturalist, photographer and writer, the first such in the country, his first book appearing when he was eighteen. In all he wrote 27 books, two specifically about the Cairngorms where he grew up and first explored and returned to many times throughout hi... more...
Seton Gordon's ScotlandAn Anthology
by Hamish Brown
Seton Gordon was only a boy when he began exploring the Cairngorms, fascinated by its wildlife and seeking to photograph all he saw - he later became a pioneer naturalist, photographer and folklorist. He wrote about the land that is Scotland, her flora and fauna, her people, her spirits, her o... more...
Something Out Thereby Jim Crumley
'Like many a Highland glen, the Fathan Ghlinne should be wooded but isn't. But I have sat long and often and listened to the ancient river speech, to the windsong of three birches and a rowan, the rowan above a meeting of waterfalls which should be a portentous place. And the word on t... more...
Tales from BraemoreCaithness legends and mysteries
by Robert P. Gunn
During the long winter nights and before the advent of television, people in Caithness used to hold informal gatherings in each other's houses, and spend the night in general conversation around the firesides. These gatherings were known as ceilidhs. The news of the day was always discusse... more...
That Curious FellowCaptain Basil Hall, RN
by James McCarthy
Son of a scientifically-minded Scottish aristocrat, Basil Hall joined the Royal Navy at the age of 13 in 1802. His first naval engagements in America and Spain during the Peninsular War are described, as are his travels in India and the Far East. His renowned interview with Napoleon, while sti... more...
The Hen HarrierIn the Shadow of Slemish
by Don Scott
The hen harrier is one of the iconic species of the bird world and its history is a mix of controversy, persecution, and recent patchy recovery. This book, a dedicated study of the bird in N. Ireland for over two decades, provides a detailed account of the life, habits and prospects for the bi... more...
The Joy of Climbingby Terry Gifford
A celebration of Terry Gifford's classic climbs.
Finalist in the Mountain Literature category of the prestigious Banff Mountain Book Festival
The Joy of Climbing is the result of a search through Britain, Europe and America for the esoteric gems at the easier end of climbing. This specia... more...
The Mountain of Lightby Jim Crumley
This is a unique mixture of folk-tale, magic, myth, love story and hymn of praise to the natural world of Scotland's high and low lands, their landscapes and creatures, and the poet-guardians who timelessly maintain their care for them.
It is the legend-story of the mysterious... more...
The Mountains Look on MarrakechA trek along the Atlas Mountains
by Hamish Brown
After an initial visit of three months to the Atlas Mountains in 1965, well-known travel writer, climber and photographer Hamish Brown has been back every year since, and this book is something of a love story about one man's lifelong devotion to the Atlas Mountains and the Berber Highland... more...
The Storm Leopardby Martyn Murray
'Books such as this must be published and reach a wide audience'. George Schaller, author and world-renowned conservation biologist
'A very-well written meditation on all aspects of travel in Africa'. Peter Matthiessen, American novelist and non-fiction writer, twi... more...
The Way We WereVictorian and Edwardian Scotland in Colour
by John Hannavy
This is John Hannavy's reflective look at how Scotland was depicted in photographs and postcards 100–170 years ago. In many ways, it redefines our view of Scotland's past as we are familiar with seeing Victorian and Edwardian people and views in sepia, but these are in colour, ad... more...
The Wind in my Faceby Bridget MacCaskill
Extract from the Foreword by Julian Pettifer
'He was a professional forester and a brilliant self-taught naturalist and wildlife photographer. Above all, from our point of view, he could communicate his enthusiasm to others. ...a huge portfolio of nature photographs of the highest qu... more...
Three Men on the Way WayA Story of Walking the West Highland Way
by Hamish Brown
The West Highland Way is Scotland’s first official Long Distance Route and runs near 100 miles from Milngavie to Fort William. It was nicknamed the 'Way Way' by a trio from Fife who set off to walk it in the year of the Millennium. This is not a guidebook but an account of their ... more...
Tooth & ClawLiving Alongside Britains Predators
by Peter Cairns, Mark Hamblin
Predators in Britain mean different things to different people. For some, they are a spectacle of the natural world and key to the ecological integrity of our countryside. For others, they are nothing more than an inconvenience, a financial drain on rural businesses. Love them or loathe them, ... more...
Waters of the Wild Swanby Jim Crumley
The book begins dramatically - a level flight of eight mute swans, occupying the entire width of a busy street in the centre of Edinburgh, sweep through the canyon of tenement walls at the height of second-storey windows, bringing traffic to a standstill. The reader cannot help but share insta... more...
Wildcat Havenby Mike Tomkies
Some seven years after abandoning the life of an international journalist for a life in the wilds, Mike Tomkies began a remarkable experiment, rearing the most ferocious animal to roam wild in Britain - the Scottish wildcat.
The true wildcat is now an endangered species and only t... more...
Wildlife CrimeThe Making of an Investigations Officer
by Dave Dick
‘This is an important book. It is written by an expert who probably knows more about wildlife crime in the UK, and especially in Scotland, than anyone else. It is important because so little is known and understood about a widespread and deeply disturbin... more...
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Force Z Shipwrecks of the South China Sea
The tragedy of the loss in 1941 of two Royal Navy capital ships, HMS Prince of Wales and HMS R...