1: BLOODY BUDDLEIA
In which we meet the chimney sweeps of Brixton, learn of The Great Smog of 1952, visit the offices of engineering firm Cundall, go swarm collecting in Hatton Garden, hear of Thomas Coram, his Foundling Hospital and Coram's Fields, and discover the story of Adam Buddle (buried at the church of St Andrew Holborn) and the Buddleia plant named in his memory.
READ ESSAY HERE
4: BEE BREAD, TEETH OF LION
& EYE OF THE DAY
A secret garden in the Bank of England and a governor bee-keeper; the lawns of the city; hives at Mark and Spencer; the rewards of leaving grass to become meadow; and the delights of clover, dandelions and daisies.
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7: GOOD SCORPION WITH YELLOW LEGS
In which some unusual lost property on a railway train leads to an expedition in search of a rare specimen.
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2: DEW FLOWERS FROM JAPAN
An exotic visitor to Soho takes us on a journey to the Far East, by way of Yves Klein Blue, inks, dyes, indigo, woad, and the most precious of kimonos.
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5: SPIDERS, RABBITS
& OTHER HOUSEMATES
In which we meet some of the many creatures that share the author's habitation on the Isle of Sheppey and watch them eat and be eaten on the banks of the canal.
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8: BARTON'S POINT
A journey down the Thames' Estuary in search of Joseph Conrad, Charles Dickens, oyster beds, shipwreck and shifting sands.
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10: TURNING WORLDS
We watch the world turn and the seasons change; the harvest is brought in, the sea defences are closed against the winter weather, the days shorten and honey is ripened.
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3: URBAN JUNGLE
A tour of London through unexpected places, from unnoticed rooftops to forgotten waterways, and the creatures – bird, beast and insect – that inhabit them, with digressions down the Thames Estuary and encounters with rat catchers, falconers and beekeepers.
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6: BEOCOERLS, SWARMS & DANCING BEES
Of beekeeping in the city from earliest times to the present day, with discursions on truffle hunting, the greenness of London, and the collecting of swarms.
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9: GOLDEN SAMPHIRE, NETTLES & HERB ROBERT
Foraging adventures on the Isle of Sheppey and in the heart of Soho.
READ ESSAY HERE
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