Meet the rare, obscure, and utterly British species found nowhere else on earth.
Around 70,000 species call Britain home, but how many of them can be found here and only here? Join conservationist James Harding-Morris as he uncovers the stories of our endemic wildlife – the plants, animals and fungi that are unique to these islands.
Determined to give these irreplaceable species their moment in the spotlight, James goes in search of them across the length and breadth of Britain, from wild and rugged Orkney, the only known location for the Orkney vole, down to suburban Plymouth where the horrid ground-weaver spider faces global extinction at the hands of developers. He explores Devon’s depths on the hunt for ghostly cave shrimp, seeks out alien fungi on Norfolk roadsides, and traces the tribulations of interrupted brome, the grass that has gone extinct not once, but twice.
Along the way, he meets the experts devoted to the study and survival of these vanishingly rare creatures and plants, individuals working tirelessly – and often single-handedly – to save them from the brink of global extinction. Because many of these species are at risk of disappearing forever, before most of us have even realised they exist.
A tapestry of wonder and weirdness, tragedies and triumphs, Endemic celebrates what makes our natural history so special and calls on us all to cherish and protect it.
Introduction
1. Stone Cold Survivor – Northern February Red
2. In a Flap – Scottish Crossbill and other (supposed) endemic birds
3. Celtic Creatures – Celtic Woodlouse and Chater's Bristletail
4. Blown Away – False Fen and Bertha's Dandelion
5. Just Right – Goldilocks Buttercups
6. The World's Unluckiest Plant – Interrupted Brome
7. Shrimply Amazing – British Cave Shrimp
8. Devon's Galápagos – Lundy Cabbage and Beetles
9. Purple Prose – Purple Ramping-fumitory
10. Back from the Dead – York Groundsel
11. Roadsides and Seasides – No Parking and Menai Strait Whitebeams
12. Berry Good – Great Orme Berry and South Stack Fleawort
13. Mantle Peace – False-toothed Lady's Mantle
14. Rooting For You – Elms
15. By a Single River – Baker's Hawkweed
16. Down to Earth – British Earthstar
17. Between a Rock and a Wet Place – Derbyshire Feather-moss
18. Orcadian Adventures – Scottish Primrose and Orkney Vole
19. The Rarest Tree on Earth – Catacol Whitebeam
20. Small Wonders – Horrid Ground-weaver and the British False Flat-backed Millipede
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
References and Bibliography
Height:
Width:
Spine:
Weight:0.00