Collins New Naturalist Library
108
Southern England
Peter Friend
SARAH A. CORBET, ScD
PROF. RICHARD WEST, ScD, FRS, FGS
DAVID STREETER, MBE, FIBIOL
JIM FLEGG, OBE, FIHORT
PROF. JONATHAN SILVERTOWN
The aim of this series is to interest the general reader in the wildlife of Britain by recapturing the enquiring spirit of the old naturalists.
The editors believe that the natural pride of the British public in the native flora and fauna, to which must be added concern for their conservation, is best fostered by maintaining a high standard of accuracy combined with clarity of exposition in presenting the results of modern scientific research.
Table of Contents
Author’s Foreword and Acknowledgements
CHAPTER 1 Looking at Southern England’s Landscapes
CHAPTER 2 Time, Process Southern England’s Landscapes
CHAPTER 3 Movement of the Earth’s Surface from Within
CHAPTER 4 The Southwest Region
CHAPTER 5 The South Coast Region
CHAPTER 6 The Severn Valley Region
CHAPTER 7 London and the Thames Valley Region
CHAPTER 8 The East Anglia Region
CHAPTER 9 The Making of Southern England
L. DUDLEY STAMP’S Britain’s Structure and Scenery was one if the earliest books of The New Naturalist Library, published in 1946. Repeated . later editions in the period to 1986 testified to the success of his approach towards providing a geological framework for understanding Britain’s landscapes and natural history. He began his account in these words: ‘The wealth of a country’s fauna and fauna and flora is not to be measured by numbers of species alone. Its wealth lies rather in variety, and to a naturalist in the British Isles, the fascination of the native fauna and flora is in the great variety to be found in a small space.’ This variety has its foundation in the underlying geology and the landscapes which are derived from the geology, as Dudley Stamp described so well. For some time, it has been the ambition of the Editors to approach this subject again, since our understanding of the geology and associated landscape evolution has increased so very significantly in the last few decades. The author, Peter Friend, has had long experience of active field research in geology and landscape in many parts of the world, as well as having an intimate knowledge of the subject in the British Isles. He has been able to take full advantage of modern developments in computer mapping and colour printing, making it possible to present the subject in a novel fashion, with great clarity, following the New Naturalist tradition emphasising the importance of illustration. The individual treatment of regions and areas of Southern England brings to the fore the significance of geology and landscape for naturalists who have local or wider interests at heart, giving a necessary basis for relating biodiversity to geodiversity. These two aspects of natural history have come to be seen to be widely significant in understanding plant and animal distribution as well as the problems of conservation. The book is therefore a very ti mely addition to the New Naturalist Library.
THE PHOTOGRAPHS and other illustrations that form such a key part of this book have come from many sources, and I am grateful to the following organisations and individuals for kindly allowing me to use their material:
Aerofilms (Figs 133, 232, 249, 252, 256, 258, 259, 261, 270, 280, 309, 312)
British Geological Survey (Figs 152, 284)
Cambridge News (Fig. 233)
Cambridge University Collection of Air Photographs (Figs 25, 118, 120, 243, 253, 282, 300, 310)
Cassini Publishing (Figs 26, 27)
Sylvia Cordaiy Photo Library (Fig. 141)
Robert Harding Picture Library (Fig. 313)
English Heritage (Figs 83, 308)
Landform Slides – Ken Gardner (Figs 17, 18, 43, 55, 70, 75, 76, 85, 88, 104, 161, 162,
