Читать книгу The Hebrides - J. M. Boyd - Страница 10

The Northern and Western Isles of Britain have long drawn the attention of naturalists by reason of their distinct landscapes and their exceptionally interesting communities of animals and plants. Added to this is the attraction of distant islands, with their own cultures and histories, and with climates subject to the severities of the North Atlantic ocean. The New Naturalist Series recognised this interest in the publication of Fraser Darling’s Natural History in the Highlands and Islands in 1947, a book which received acclaim from the wide audience of those generally or especially interested in the wildlife of Britain. More recently, the series has published The Natural History of Shetland by R. J. Berry and J. L. Johnston (1980) and The Natural History of Orkney by R. J. Berry (1985), both continuing the tradition of a broad approach to natural history combined with an expert background of the fauna, flora, environments and history of the islands. An outstanding need in the series has been an account of The Hebrides; the islands lying to the west of the mainland of Scotland, north of the Mull of Kintyre, including the great islands of Mull and Skye and the ‘Long Island’, from the Butt of Lewis to Barra Head of the Outer Hebrides. The diversity of the landscapes in these islands is vast, from the mountainous and fresh scenery of Skye to the ancient lake-filled plateaus of North Uist and the coastal machairs, all with their characteristic fauna and flora. Few know these islands and their natural history better than the authors of this new volume in the series. J. Morton Boyd and Ian L. Boyd both have long experience of the Hebridean islands. Morton Boyd has been intimately concerned with natural history and conservation in the Hebrides since he joined the Nature Conservancy in Scotland in 1957, continuing with the Nature Conservancy Council until recently. Ian Boyd is an authority on sea mammals, especially the Atlantic grey seal, that symbol of marine life in the Hebrides. At a time when issues of wildlife and its future are rightly being more actively considered than ever, the Editors welcome this volume on an area of such diverse and intrinsic natural history interest.