I was giving my copy of a great new book that is so hot off the press, it probably isn’t in the shops yet, but by the end of this week I am sure that it will be there. The book is simply called ‘Nature of Snowdonia’ and written by my landlord Mike Raine. Published by Pesda Press a small local company that specialise in outdoor books, including the title ‘How to Climb Harder’ by yours truly, which is due out later this year.
Basically this book is a font of all knowledge when it comes to, well the Nature of Snowdonia. I regularly deliver Mountain Leader Mountain Days, and over the years have learnt many plants and animals to tell people about. To learn these I had to get quite a few reference books and often spend hours looking through them to find the exact species.
What this book does is bring together virtually all the plants, lichens, mosses, fungi, birds, animals, geology and geography of the area.All of which will help any hillwalker, mountaineer, climber or instructor have a greater appreciation of what there is in them hills.
For the scientist there are latin names, for the rest of us there are the common English and Welsh names. There must be thousands of species identified in this book, which is splendidly illustrated. If you like to know more about the Mountains in which we work, rest and play then this is possibly the best book you can buy, as whilst the Nature of Snowdonia is its title, many of the species will be found in the other upland areas of the UK.
I already learnt one thing from the book, and that was the process know as frost heave, which has been very present in the hill over the last month or two. I just forgot what the process is called, and there it was in the winter section. Which is another factor of this book, split into the four seasons, to help you find thewhat your looking for based on the seasonal changes.
To find out more or to buy a copy visit www.pesdapress.com.