Our Publications
Flycatcher Books has been working with the designers at MYST to produce a series of iBooks for Wildlife Gardening author Jenny Steel. These publications, together comprising 'A Year in the Wildlife Garden' are lavishly illustrated multi-touch iBooks containing hundreds of photos of Jenny's garden in South Shropshire and the wildlife that uses it. Follow the wildlife through a whole year and find out about the activities and maintenance required to manage this unusual garden. From wildflower meadows and wildlife ponds to nectar borders and woodland, these books, available as individual seasons or as the whole year, take you through the four seasons in a garden that is brimming with life.
“It’s always a pleasure to work with passionate and committed authors and publishers, especially when they have such an important message to deliver. I believe 'The Year' series finally delivers on the promise of electronic publishing.”
Myst MD, Michael Maloney on working with Flycatcher Books.
“It’s always a pleasure to work with passionate and committed authors and publishers, especially when they have such an important message to deliver. I believe 'The Year' series finally delivers on the promise of electronic publishing.”
Myst MD, Michael Maloney on working with Flycatcher Books.
MOST RECENT
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A Year in the Wildlife Garden is a series of multi-touch full colour iBooks designed especially for the iPad. Together these four books cover the life of a rural wildlife garden, from January through to December, in the English county of Shropshire. With page filling galleries of Jenny Steel's photographs, these beautifully designed iBooks show you how a garden of this type is managed and some of the wildlife that has made its home here. These four books are now available as one volume covering a whole Year in The Wildlife Garden with over 200 pages and hundreds of photos of the plants and wildlife around this extraordinary garden. |
WINTER ''There is something rather enticing about misty January weather. As I wander around the garden or the field next door on a cold, damp day there is always a feeling of anticipation that something exciting might appear out of the gloom. Bramblings, Redpolls or Siskins in our Silver Birches, Hazels and on the nyjer feeders perhaps or, at the end of the month, a hint of white on the first Snowdrop buds gleaming in the dead leaves beneath the hedge on the verge outside the house.
Wildlife gardens can be particularly beautiful at the beginning of the year as they are still full of stems and seed heads, often sparkling with frost or laden with ice or snow. To cut down this resource would be to remove an important habitat. I always leave the flowering stalks of herbaceous plants in the borders uncut through the winter to provide safe places for hibernating invertebrates and seeds for finches and sparrows. As well as making space for wildlife my garden must earn its keep by supplying us with plenty of fruit and vegetables, and the natural balance between pest and predator here is achieved by actively encouraging beneficial insects such as ladybirds, hoverflies, solitary bees and lacewings. All of these invertebrates in one form or another need undisturbed places to pass the colder months and uncut herbaceous borders contribute greatly in this way.''
These books are available to download from iBooks, either as separate seasons or as the whole year.
REVIEWS OF OUR BOOKS
'The Wildlife Garden in Spring is a beautifully illustrated book about a wonderful wildlife garden in South Shropshire. I would recommend this lovely book to anyone who would like to create their own wildlife garden' C.D.G.
'This book on Wildflower Gardening by Jenny Steel is so thoroughly and seriously thought out and written, as well as being photographed in such a charming and helpful way, that you cannot find a better instruction to realize your dream wildflower garden.' H.F
'If you thought Wildflower Gardening was too difficult, too specialised, or too much of a contradiction in terms, think again; this lovely book will guide you gently into a beguiling new world. It doesn’t matter what kind of garden you have, or whether your gardening style is hands-off or high-maintenance; there are wildflowers to suit every garden, and every gardener. Jenny Steel’s enthusiasm is infectious, and she is at pains to point out how easy wildflower gardening can be (though if you’ve seen her garden, you’ll appreciate the heights the skill can reach). There’s no limit to what you can do with wildflowers – and this book is an excellent place to start. ' G.B.B. Editor of Organic Gardening Magazine
'The Wildlife Garden in Spring is a beautifully illustrated book about a wonderful wildlife garden in South Shropshire. I would recommend this lovely book to anyone who would like to create their own wildlife garden' C.D.G.
'This book on Wildflower Gardening by Jenny Steel is so thoroughly and seriously thought out and written, as well as being photographed in such a charming and helpful way, that you cannot find a better instruction to realize your dream wildflower garden.' H.F
'If you thought Wildflower Gardening was too difficult, too specialised, or too much of a contradiction in terms, think again; this lovely book will guide you gently into a beguiling new world. It doesn’t matter what kind of garden you have, or whether your gardening style is hands-off or high-maintenance; there are wildflowers to suit every garden, and every gardener. Jenny Steel’s enthusiasm is infectious, and she is at pains to point out how easy wildflower gardening can be (though if you’ve seen her garden, you’ll appreciate the heights the skill can reach). There’s no limit to what you can do with wildflowers – and this book is an excellent place to start. ' G.B.B. Editor of Organic Gardening Magazine
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COMING SOON - Native Trees, Shrubs and Climbers for Wildlife Gardens by Jenny Steel A description of every UK native tree, shrub and climber and its value to our garden wildlife |
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Coming Soon -The Diary of a Wildlife Gardener
by Jenny Steel
'January is renowned for being the most depressing month of the year but I can never understand why! I love January (although I must confess to doing very little outside in the garden) because, in spite of the freezing, grey weather it is during this month that wildlife ‘wakes up’. From the very beginning of the month great tits were singing from the woodland alongside my garden and a foray around the borders revealed several plants in flower, including a Hebe, yellow jasmine and periwinkle - all glimpses of the spring to come.'
Also in Preparation - Second Nature - An Introduction to Wildlife Gardening
