A Summer of British Wildlife

James Lowen is a wildlife writer, travel guide and photographer, who is enthused by bringing nature to life for the non-specialist. This book is the result of 30-odd years of exploring Britain's wildlife-rich areas, from Scilly to Shetland and Kent to the Cairngorms. The breadth of coverage reflects James's personal evolution from a juvenile birdwatcher to a fully-fledged naturalist, from being interested only in feathered creatures to getting excited about every single dimension of British nature - be it winged or furry, whether it blooms or slithers. James is well known as the author of Bradt Travel Guides' 52 wildlife weekends: a year of British wildlife-watching breaks. He writes a monthly column for Bird Watching magazine and contributes regularly to BBC Wildlife magazine.

Contents
1: May 15 Purple haze
Northamptonshire for Britain's best bluebell wood, nightingale & Goldilocks buttercup
2: May 16 Cuddly fish?
Devon for common cuttlefish, spiny spider crab & Eurasian beaver
3: May 17 String of pearls
Sussex for pearl-bordered fritillary, nightingale, two-banded longhorn beetle, burnt orchid & early spider orchid
4: May 18 Metamorphosis
Oxfordshire for club-tailed dragonfly, monkey orchid & lady orchid
5: May 19 Hills & holes
Cambridgeshire for pasqueflower, man orchid, yellow meadow ant & dingy skipper
6: May 20 Black Isle bottlenose
Highland for common bottlenose dolphin, harbour seal & long-tailed skua
7: May 21 Dukes, without hazard
Gloucestershire for Duke of Burgundy, Adonis blue, sword-leaved helleborine & pasqueflower
8: May 22 The Emperor's dawn
Suffolk for the dawn chorus, stone-curlew, woodlark & emperor moth
9: May 23 Fertility rites
Dorset for marsh fritillary, Adonis blue, Duke of Burgundy & grizzled skipper
10: May 24 The early bird...
Denbighshire, Powys & Ceredigion for black grouse, common redstart & lesser twayblade
11: May 25 Ephemera
Hampshire for mayflies, brown trout & bullhead
12: May 26 Ladies and gentlemen
Kent for lady orchid, man orchid & monkey orchid
13: May 27 Spider(crab)man and Batman
Pembrokeshire for spiny spider crab, otter, greater horseshoe bat & chough
14: May 28 Puffin without the huffin'
Northumberland for the Amble Puffin Festival & roseate tern
15: May 29 Military bearing
Buckinghamshire for military orchid, fly orchid, greater butterfly orchid & bird's-nest orchid
16: May 30 Snowdonia, in black and white
Snowdonia for Snowdon lily, moss campion, starry saxifrage & raven
17: May 31 Ma'n Lesard goz dinerby
Cornwall for twin-headed clover, thyme broomrape, heath spotted orchid, thrift clearwing & red-veined darter
18: June 1 The Wight stuff
Isle of Wight for Glanville fritillary, small blue, common wall lizard, Dartford warbler & red squirrel
19: June 2 Does the Lady's slipper fit?
Cumbria for lady's slipper orchid, lily-of-the-valley, white-spotted sable & pearl-bordered fritillary
20: June 3 Beetlejuice
North Yorkshire for tansy beetle, & East Yorkshire for gannet & puffin
21: June 4 Skip, skip, skip to the Loy
Highland for chequered skipper, pearl-bordered fritillary, argent and sable, & pine marten
22: June 5 Whiteface
Highland for white-faced darter, lesser twayblade, red squirrel & osprey
23: June 6 Rain goose
Shetland for red-throated diver, red-necked phalarope & whimbrel
24: June 7 Gull able not gullible
Cumbria for lesser black-backed gull, herring gull, 'Walney pink', coralroot orchid & natterjack toad
25: June 8 Eype of the tiger
Dorset for cliff tiger-beetle, & Devon for wood white
26: June 9 Streaky
Cambridgeshire for black hairstreak, six-belted clearwing, glowworm & moon carrot
27: June 10 Water into wine
Suffolk for great bittern, common crane, golden-bloomed grey longhorn beetle, elephant hawkmoth & reed dagger
28: June 11 Flitting fritillaries
Essex for heath fritillary, shrill carder bee, horehound longhorn & slowworm
29: June 12 Fragrant flora
Kent for common poppy, late spider orchid, lizard orchid, black-veined moth & Rambur's pied shieldbug
30: June 13 Frozen in time
County Durham for spring gentian, Teesdale violet, mountain pansy, shrubby cinquefoil & whiskered bat
31: June 14 Bee good to yourself
London & Hertfordshire for bee orchid, early marsh orchid, white-legged damselfly & hairy dragonfly
32: June 15 A swallow's tale
Norfolk for swallowtail, Norfolk hawker, scarce chaser & Chinese water deer
33: June 16 Shingle sensations
Kent for Nottingham catchfly, sea pea, toadflax brocade & white-spot
34: June 17 Musky frogs
Hampshire for musk orchid, frog orchid, common juniper & bastard toadflax
35: June 18 Largin' it
Somerset for large blue, six-belted clearwing, pyramidal orchid & 'wasp' orchid
36: June 19 Manxie and thrifty
Gwynedd for thrift clearwing, chough, Manx shearwater & grey seal
37: June 20 Pretty in pink
Suffolk for proliferous pink, field wormwood, Spanish catchfly, powdered grass-veneer & marbled clover
38: June 21 Small is beautiful
Powys for small white orchid, heath fragrant orchid, wood bitter vetch & small pearl-bordered fritillary
39: June 22 Seabird cityscape
Northumberland for Arctic & Sandwich terns, puffin & guillemot
40: June 23 For peat's sake
Shropshire for white-faced darter, common hawker, large heath & common raft spider
41: June 24 Heddon on earth
Devon for high brown fritillary, dark green fritillary & silver-washed fritillary
42: June 25 Festival of fauna
Somerset for great white egret, bittern, argent and sable, & Iberian water frog
43: June 26 Gorge yourself
Somerset for for Cheddar pink, slender bedstraw, peregrine, greater horseshoe bat & water vole
44: June 27 Where there's muck...
West Yorkshire for bittern, marsh harrier, avocet & black-necked grebe
45: June 28 The perfect mea