Multi-award winning photographer Stephen Dalton’s new book My Wood is an insight into the diversity of life found inside his nine-acre broadleaf woodland.
Stephen Dalton’s new book is a journey through the seasons, taking an up-close look at the world of the mammals, birds, reptiles, plants and fungi that the wood, known as Rookery Wood, supports. Stephen Dalton pioneered a ground-breaking technique for photographing insects and animals in free-flight and there are 150 amazing examples of this photography in My Wood.
We caught up with Stephen to find out more about the book.
How would you describe your book? My Wood is a photographic account of the plants and animals great and small that live in the wood and describes my efforts to improve their habitat. It also describes how I saved it from the ravages of fallow deer which otherwise would utterly destroy the wood’s diversity. I think the book will appeal to those interested in the countryside, wildlife or even photography.
What do you hope the book will achieve? I hope this book encourages people to look at this beautiful woodland environment and gives them an understanding – and a sense of urgency – because, simply put, if we do not act now, our environment as we know it will be devastated. My Wood is an optimistic account enhanced by 150 photographs of the plant and animal life that live in it. Sadly though, the state of health within the natural world is mind-numbingly depressing.
Have you always been an observer of wildlife or is it something that has developed over time? I have been interested in all animals since I was knee-high to a grasshopper!
What made your want to own your own woodland? Healthy woods are among the richest of terrestrial habitats and are glorious places to spend time in. The woodland also adjoined my small farmland property and was an especially unusual one with at least three defined zones of habitat. The potential to improve this habitat to encourage the life that lived in it was considerable.
The photography is amazing – do you carry your camera with you at all times when you are in the wood? No I rarely carry a decent camera with me, just a mobile phone. The vast majority of my photography is not ‘shot from the hip’ but considered, and that often takes time.
Is Rookery Wood easier or more difficult to manage than you imagined when you bought it? It certainly presented all manner of challenges and consumed much time and energy, particularly in the form of labour. As we all know physical energy is something one becomes increasingly short of later in life!
Stephen Dalton’s new book My Wood is available from all good bookshops or directly from the publisher Merlin Unwin Books from September 7 2017. RRP: £14.99 (http://www.merlinunwin.co.uk)
For information on how to make a wildlife pond, click here.
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