Читать книгу The Sea Coast - J. Steers A. - Страница 6

SOMEWHERE in the heart of the Midlands of England is a spot which can claim to be the most distant in these islands from the sea. Yet the distance from the nearest tide water is less than 70 miles. If the sea is a part of every Briton’s natural heritage, then the sea coast is doubly so; and it must be rare to find an inhabitant of the British Isles of mature years who has never seen the sea. Another volume in the New Naturalist series has disclosed the richness of the flora of our coasts and that wealth in plants is due in large measure to the great variety of coastal habitats. The British coasts have indeed everything—from towering cliffs rising several hundred feet sheer from deep water to mud flats a mile or more wide uncovered by every tide; from restless shingle spits and moving sand dunes to granite headlands which see little change in a century. How is it that along some stretches, despite all the efforts of man, the sea succeeds in gnawing away several feet of land a year, only to throw back the discarded material a few miles away? In this book Professor Steers seeks to explain, as far as the present state of knowledge will permit, how the varied types of coastline have been evolved and how the changes still taking place provide such a remarkable range of differing conditions for plant and animal life.

Now Professor of Geography and President of St. Catharine’s College, in the University of Cambridge, and previously Dean and Tutor of his College, his special field of study has been the evolution of coasts and coastlines. His studies took him early to the Great Barrier Reefs and to the cays of the West Indies, but these expeditions were but holidays from the long continued detailed studies of the Norfolk coast—resulting in a book devoted exclusively to Scolt Head Island. When the Ministry of Town and Country Planning was set up he was commissioned by the Minister to make a comprehensive survey of the whole coastline of England and Wales. The lengthy report which resulted provides the essential basic information on which policies of coastal preservation and development can be based. When this was completed Professor Steers undertook a similar survey of Scottish coasts. As a natural consequence he became a member of The Nature Conservancy and so retains a continuing interest in work which must of necessity be greatly concerned with the natural history of coastal lands.

Clearly no-one is better qualified to write on the Sea Coast, and in this book we believe he has successfully combined a clear exposition of what we know, with an indication of the many directions in which the amateur observer can help in the elucidation of outstanding problems—in the true tradition of the field naturalist.

THE EDITORS