THE NATURALIST'S BEDSIDE BOOK, by "BB".

1980 1st edition. 8vo (136 x 222mm). Pp192. B/w scraperboard illustrations by the author. Green boards, spine titled in gilt.

"'BB' describes the secret life of woods and fields in a collection of essays on the seasons of the British countryside. Though there is a sporting flavour to this book, it is mostly concerned with the secret life in wood and field. 'BB' shares with us his minute and fascinating observations on birds, butterflies, fishes, the beauty of wild flowers and insects, as well as sporting excursions with gun and rod." Contents include: Winds of Winter - the last flight, down to earth, the north wind, the last 'cocks only', memories stirred, amid the tangled thorns, whoopers over Godolphin, the ancient fear, hedgerow homes; Promise of Spring - blackbirds and butterflies, the creeping tide, spring is here, rooks and frogs, vanishing butterflies, a charming case, golden chieftains, spring thoughts, Coax! Coax!, a tragedy, miniature trees; Summer Solstice - swift mystery, the Bowcase Stone, the old barn, summer solstice, song to the sun, true countrymen, birds and their young, goose feast, smell of the summer, in the woods, emperor and empress, grebes and gremlins, as the days pass, seasonal reflections; Autumn Glory - the little pond, foreshore mallard, in the Colonel's clover, rise of the 'Fall', Indian summer in Hammer Wood, September sunshine, Harker's Brook, East Anglian landscape, a rural web, wren song, owls and others, November days, at autumn's end, wintersweet.