West London Wildlife

Ian Alexander writes the ObsessedByNature blog and has written for the London Wildlife Trust. His book "An English Love Affair with Nature" tells the story of the English people's long, tangled and passionate romance, how we fell in love, and why we are still obsessed by nature.Susanne Masters has written about culture and the outdoors intersecting around the world for publications including Guardian newspaper, The New York Times, BBC Travel, BBC Earth, BBC Countryfile, BBC Wildlife, Red Bull Adventure, Outdoor Swimmer, Distiller ..... Also see my wildlife column and features on orchids. Her book 'Wild Waters' about swimming among wildlife was published in 2022 (Vertebrate) to acclaim. James Yates is an award-winning photographer who lives in Chiswick and shoots wildlife photos in West London. Photographic Awards include: International Garden Photographer of the Year 2018, 2019, 2020Sue is a nature-loving photographer whose work has been featured in West London's TW and Teddington magazines as well as regularly featured on the website of the nature reserve that is the Royal Richmond Park. She particularly likes photographing birds and her photos can be found on Instagram @SueLind7

"This slim volume of 136 pages with hard covers and numerous colour photos immediately exudes quality...It consists of a series of 14 essays covering different sites or areas of West London, written by ten different authors, interspersed with many colour photos (including double-page spreads). The diverse writing styles of the different authors add to the charm of the book, each seemingly representing an authentic voice of experience and expertise. In addition, between each chapter, there is a full-page image opposite a short ‘inspirational quote’, generally well-chosen and apposite; while some may see these as ’padders’, we found them useful to give the book space to breathe, the rest of the pages being either full of words and photos, or completely given over to large images. All too often such places are suffering at the hands of Man, and so need the sorts of actions, understanding and care that are amply demonstrated here. Each individual story could provide such inspiration for somebody faced with similar challenges, wherever they are."  -- Chris and Jude Gilbert; "A gorgeous photography book showcasing some gorgeous wildlife featured in London. I often feel you see so much of the historical side and building ect so this is quite nice to see as well. I think readers will really enjoy it." ***** Jill Speedman - Librarian, Netgalley reviewer; "Having lived in West London all my life I was really interested to see what areas I knew here. My local venue in here is Ruislip lido, loved reading about the history of the lido. Many places in here I have visited and a few I haven't like the Wetland but this will be on my list. Beautiful photographs my favourites ones are the red deer and Jackdaw and mandarin duck both by James Yates, both stunning I would absolutely love to frame these photographs." ***** -- Lucy Cawte - Netgalley reviewer; "Beautiful photography throughout is interspersed with inspirational quotes by such diverse characters as William Shakespeare, Andy Warhol and Sir David Attenborough. Divided into chapters about different areas of open space in West London, there are a whole host of interesting facts about the biodiversity that can be found there. It has given me a taste for what I might see when next I venture to explore some of the beautiful parks and other wild spaces near me." ***** Sue Hill - Netgalley reviewer