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Join renowned naturalist Peter Marren on an exciting quest to see every species of wild plant native to Britain.
The mysterious Ghost Orchid blooms in near darkness among rotting leaves on the forest floor. It blends into the background to the point of invisibility, yet glows, pale and ghostly. The ultimate grail of flower hunters, it has been spotted only once in the past twenty-five years. Its few flowers have a deathly pallor and are said to smell of over-ripe bananas.
Peter Marren has been a devoted flower finder all his life. While the Ghost Orchid offers the toughest challenge of any wild plant, there were fifty more British species Peter had yet to see, having ticked off the first 1,400 rummaging in hedges, slipping down gullies and peering in peat bogs. But he set himself the goal of finding the remaining fifty in a single summer. As it turned out, the wettest summer in years.
This expert and emotional journey takes Peter the length and the breadth of the British Isles, from the dripping ancient woods of the New Forest to the storm-lashed cliffs of Sutherland. He paddles in lakes, clambers up cliffs in mist and rain, and walks several hundred miles, but does he manage to find them all?
Partly about plants, partly autobiography, Chasing the Ghost is also a reminder that to engage with wild flowers, all we need to do is look around us and enjoy what we see.
Praise for Rainbow Dust:
‘Beautifully written and thoroughly researched... a truly marvellous book’ Telegraph
‘A scholarly and captivating excursion into the history of natural history’ Independent
The mysterious Ghost Orchid blooms in near darkness among rotting leaves on the forest floor. It blends into the background to the point of invisibility, yet glows, pale and ghostly. The ultimate grail of flower hunters, it has been spotted only once in the past twenty-five years. Its few flowers have a deathly pallor and are said to smell of over-ripe bananas.
Peter Marren has been a devoted flower finder all his life. While the Ghost Orchid offers the toughest challenge of any wild plant, there were fifty more British species Peter had yet to see, having ticked off the first 1,400 rummaging in hedges, slipping down gullies and peering in peat bogs. But he set himself the goal of finding the remaining fifty in a single summer. As it turned out, the wettest summer in years.
This expert and emotional journey takes Peter the length and the breadth of the British Isles, from the dripping ancient woods of the New Forest to the storm-lashed cliffs of Sutherland. He paddles in lakes, clambers up cliffs in mist and rain, and walks several hundred miles, but does he manage to find them all?
Partly about plants, partly autobiography, Chasing the Ghost is also a reminder that to engage with wild flowers, all we need to do is look around us and enjoy what we see.
Praise for Rainbow Dust:
‘Beautifully written and thoroughly researched... a truly marvellous book’ Telegraph
‘A scholarly and captivating excursion into the history of natural history’ Independent
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Review:
"Peter Marren is the unsung hero of Britain's nature writers. His luminous prose sheds light on the forgotten corners of Britain's natural heritage – our diverse and sometimes bizarre flora – and his quest to see every single species in the country. He is the perfect guide, leading us along the highways and byways, through wayside and woodland, as he tracks down some of our rarest and most fascinating plants. Delightful." (Stephen Moss, naturalist and author)
"Planting hunting here or abroad has always pulled in great enthusiasts. In Marren’s case it is a quiet enthusiasm, not academic, but companionable and intimate. He delivers easily all kinds of fascinating thoughts and information about the natural world... There is philosophy too. He understands that no ecosystem has a perfect moment to which it ought always to be restored. Environments change for better and worse, populations of plants and animals wax and wane. Ecology is flux. And does he find the ghost orchid? Well, he’s philosophical about that." (The Times)
"Peter Marren writes with such knowledge and affection for plants, and in such a modest and winning manner that few could help wanting to be a plant spotter in this image... If you already have the botany bug then you’ll want to read this book, and to own it so that you can dip into it in future years, but even for the confirmed non-botanist like myself, this is a very good read and one which makes me slightly uneasy about how much I have been missing by looking up rather than down and how blinkered is my view of the natural world." (Dr Mark Avery)
"A poignant reminder to us all to engage with the wild flower that grow around us" (i Newspaper)
"Wonderful... This book would appeal to anyone with an enthusiasm for wildflowers or an interest in the history of natural history" (Hannah Gardner Gardens Illustrated)
Book Description:
"Planting hunting here or abroad has always pulled in great enthusiasts. In Marren’s case it is a quiet enthusiasm, not academic, but companionable and intimate. He delivers easily all kinds of fascinating thoughts and information about the natural world... There is philosophy too. He understands that no ecosystem has a perfect moment to which it ought always to be restored. Environments change for better and worse, populations of plants and animals wax and wane. Ecology is flux. And does he find the ghost orchid? Well, he’s philosophical about that." (The Times)
"Peter Marren writes with such knowledge and affection for plants, and in such a modest and winning manner that few could help wanting to be a plant spotter in this image... If you already have the botany bug then you’ll want to read this book, and to own it so that you can dip into it in future years, but even for the confirmed non-botanist like myself, this is a very good read and one which makes me slightly uneasy about how much I have been missing by looking up rather than down and how blinkered is my view of the natural world." (Dr Mark Avery)
"A poignant reminder to us all to engage with the wild flower that grow around us" (i Newspaper)
"Wonderful... This book would appeal to anyone with an enthusiasm for wildflowers or an interest in the history of natural history" (Hannah Gardner Gardens Illustrated)
Join renowned naturalist Peter Marren on an exciting quest to see every species of wild plant native of Britain.
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- PublisherSquare Peg
- Publication date2018
- ISBN 10 191093111X
- ISBN 13 9781910931110
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages320
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Chasing the Ghost: My Search for all the Wild Flowers of Britain
Published by
Square Peg
(2018)
ISBN 10: 191093111X
ISBN 13: 9781910931110
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Book Description Condition: NEW. 310, b/w illus. . HB. NEW. New copy - signed by author. Join renowned naturalist Peter Marren on an exciting quest to see every species of wild plant native to Britain. Some people decide to go skydiving when they turn fifty. Others travel to a long dreamed-of place: Antarctica, perhaps, or the Galapagos. Others run the London Marathon. But to mark his most significant birthday, Peter Marren decided on an entirely different sort of mid-life challenge: to track down the last fifty British wild plants he'd yet to see, having ticked off the first 1,400 over a half-century well spent rummaging in hedges, slipping down gullies and peering into peat bogs. This expert and emotional journey takes him the length and the breadth of the British Isles, searching for our most elusive plants. He travels from Skye to the Scilly Isles, from mountain to forest floor but does he manage to find them all? [9781910931110]. Seller Inventory # N34694
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