From childhood dens in the grounds of a derelict mansion, through explorations of the wild, bird-haunted fringes of the north Norfolk coast, and the final rediscovery of his roots in the Chiltern woodlands, this book traces the growth of Richard Mabey's view of nature. Yet the book is more than a series of autobiographical episodes, for it presents a critique of our traditional attitudes towards nature and the coutryside. This reaches a dramatic climax with his account of the environmental crises of the 1980s: Scottish afforestation, the seal plague and the great hurricane of 1987. Richard Mabey also wrote The Frampton Flora, Gilbert White: A Biography, The Flowering of Kew and Natural History of Selbourne.