Our Book of the Month for June 2022 is Where the Wildflowers Grow: My Journey Through Botanical Britain by Leif Bersweden.
‘When was the last time you stopped and noticed a wild plant?’
An intriguing and timely exploration of the importance of Britain and Ireland’s plant life.
Leif Bersweden has always been fascinated by plants. From a young age, his afternoons were spent hunting for and cataloguing the plants in his local area. But it is a landscape that is fast disappearing.
Since the end of the Second World War, 97% of Britain’s wildflower meadows have disappeared. Climate change, habitat destruction and a declining pollinator population mean that the future for plant life looks bleaker than ever before. Many of us are also unable to identify, or even notice, the plants that grow around us.
Now a botanist, Leif decides to go on a mission, to explore the plants that Britain and Ireland have to offer and to meet those who spend time searching for them. Over the course of a year, Leif goes on a journey around the UK and Ireland, highlighting the unique plants that grow there, their history and the threats that face them. His journey takes him from the Cornish coast to the pine forests of Scotland – even to the streets of London, proving that nature can be found in the most unexpected places. Along the way, Leif highlights the importance of wildlife to our wellbeing and health, the joy and positivity that can be found through understanding nature, and why it is so desperately important to protect our wildflowers.
Watch Leif introduce Where the Wildflowers Grow:
Where the Wildflowers Grow: My Journey Through Botanical Britain by Leif Bersweden is available now for £20.
Author Biography:
Leif Bersweden is a writer, botanist and science communicator with a lifelong interest in nature, focusing on wild plants from the age of seven. He grew up in rural Wiltshire where he taught himself to identify the local flora. Leif graduated from the University of Oxford in 2016, going on to complete a genetics PhD at Kew Gardens. His first book, The Orchid Hunter, was shortlisted for the Adventure Travel Book of the Year at the 2017 Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards.