From the River Cottage forager and author of The Forager’s Calendar and A Natural History of the Hedgerow

Take a walk in the countryside and so many questions come up. Why is this field laid out the way it is? What is a pond doing on top of that chalk hill? What is the mass of twigs in the middle of this tree? What is the enormous bulge on the trunk of that tree? Sit down for a rest and you might ponder why a traditionally green grass grows a white sheath on its stem, and where on earth did that tiny orange lollipop sticking out of the ground come from?

And what of the fuzzy red balls on roses? Or choke (one of the commonest fungi on the planet but how would you recognise it?) How do tussocks come about? How do squirrels build their dreys (and did you know that as well as red and grey squirrels, there is a black squirrel?) And what does cause a ‘fairy ring’ anyway?

One of Britain’s best-known naturalists, John Wright provides a thrilling guide to the natural (and unnatural) mysteries of the countryside throughout the UK and Ireland. He provides the tools to identify Witch’s Broom, Robin’s Pincushion, Dew ponds and Hollow Ways, and also their histories, how they come to be, and where to find them. And he introduces us to Stinkhorns, Rust Fungi, the intriguingly named Smut Fungi and Slime Moulds. From the enormous to the truly tiny he illuminates the oddities that pepper our countryside and the pleasure of spotting and understanding them.

* Copies of A Spotter’s Guide to Countryside Mysteries will be avaialbe to purchase on the night for the special price of £15