The River Wye in the UK Luza Studios/Getty Images
The tradition of the English nature writer is long, proud and distinctly genteel. Its origins lie with the pioneering 18th-century curate Gilbert White, writing from his inherited family home in Selborne, Hampshire. He features in a fine new piece of nature writing, England: A natural history (Doubleday/Transworld) when the author observes that “the parson had the time to stand and stare”.
That author, John Lewis-Stempel, also has the parson’s luxury. A successful writer with a string of nature books behind him, he explores 12 English landscapes, from the Thames estuary to…
