Wild Pavements
Exploring Britain's Cities with an Urban Naturalist
Published on 5. March 2026
272 pages
978-1-80399-891-6 (ISBN)
Description
"For an urban naturalist, the simple act of walking down a city street is full of delightful distractions. I have to duck down this side street to see what's growing along that pavement edge. I'm compelled to stop for a 360-degree scan of the rooftops to locate the source of that bird call. And I can't resist crossing the road and kneeling down to get a closer look at what's buzzing around under that tree. Rambling along pavements and hunting for wildlife, I'm the opposite of the detached, purposeless 'flaneur' who idly observes city life of the human form. There's nature hunting to be done."
Feral pigeons, foxes and fireweed are fascinating, but there's more to urban nature. In Wild Pavements, naturalist Amanda Tuke shares her delight in the overlooked and under-appreciated wildlife in our UK cities, finds the people who care for it, takes groups out to enjoy it and explores what the current thinking in ecology and conservation means for the future of urban nature.
Join the author as she explores London from the City out to the suburbs and visits Manchester, Edinburgh, Belfast, Cardiff, Hull, Aberdeen and other cities in the British Isles, exploring the diversity of our urban nature and the surprising places you can find it. From wild bees living on a canal bank and peregrine falcons nesting on a civic centre, to rare plants in pavement cracks and new fish-life in trolley-filled urban rivers, her discoveries are there for anyone to enjoy. And noticing the wild world around you may just change the way you think about our cities for good.
Feral pigeons, foxes and fireweed are fascinating, but there's more to urban nature. In Wild Pavements, naturalist Amanda Tuke shares her delight in the overlooked and under-appreciated wildlife in our UK cities, finds the people who care for it, takes groups out to enjoy it and explores what the current thinking in ecology and conservation means for the future of urban nature.
Join the author as she explores London from the City out to the suburbs and visits Manchester, Edinburgh, Belfast, Cardiff, Hull, Aberdeen and other cities in the British Isles, exploring the diversity of our urban nature and the surprising places you can find it. From wild bees living on a canal bank and peregrine falcons nesting on a civic centre, to rare plants in pavement cracks and new fish-life in trolley-filled urban rivers, her discoveries are there for anyone to enjoy. And noticing the wild world around you may just change the way you think about our cities for good.
Reviews / Votes
'Fresh, immediate, and full of vim, it's like just being there with the author on her well-informed urban rambles.' -- Peter Marren, author of <i>Chasing the Ghost: My Search for all the Wild Flowers of Britain</i> 'Amanda Tuke is one of the most talented of a new generation of urban nature writers. Most importantly, she reaches out to a new cohort of readers: those who love the plants and animals around them but are put off by their lack of experience. By providing really helpful advice, hints and tips, in beautifully written prose, she makes nature - and nature writing - more inclusive and accessible.' -- Stephen Moss, author of <i>10 Birds which Changed the World</i>, shortlisted for the 2023 Wainwright Nature Writing Prize '"You don't need to travel far to find nature. Stay put in your city and it will come to you," Amanda Tuke writes in this splendidly informative, wide-ranging, insightful book. As she leads us through the rich beauty of the natural life which thrives around us even in the most urban of settings, Tuke provides us with the means of enlivening our daily city lives by sharing her knowledge and observations of every aspect of the interactions of place, people, flora and fauna, from fox to sweet violet, eel to moth, from the history of parks to environmental planning and much, much more. Stay in your city. Walk. Carry this book with you. Watch, listen, observe, enjoy.' -- Esther Woolfson, author of <i>Corvus: A Life with Birds</i> 'Amanda's deep connection to city wildlife shines through in this highly knowledgeable exploration of the urban environment. Wild Pavements offers a powerful reminder that our streets and communities are woven with nature's stories; it's a book that will open people's eyes to the treasures in the pavement cracks.' - Leif Bersweden, author of The Orchid Hunter and Where the Wildflowers Grow -- Leif BerswedenMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Stroud
United Kingdom
File size
9,83 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-80399-891-6 (9781803998916)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
03/2026
The History Press Ltd
€24.00
Shipment within 3-4 weeks
Person
AMANDA TUKE is an urban naturalist and nature writer based in South London. She works as a consultant botanist, leads urban plant walks and is an associate lecturer for the MA in Nature & Travel Writing at Bath Spa University. Amanda writes a monthly column for Bird Watching Magazine which often features urban birds, and she has also written for RSPB Magazine, BBC Countryfile Magazine, Resurgence Magazine and for the London Wildlife Trust Blog. Between April 2021 and March 2022, she was nature-writer-in-residence for the London Wildlife Trust's Great North Wood project. Her feature writing can be seen on her blog The Urban Naturalist and she tweets and instagrams as @suburbanwilduk.
