How to Read the Landscape

Book excerpt: Patrick Whitefield has spent a lifetime living and working in the countryside and 20 years of that taking notes of what he sees, everywhere from the Isle of Wight to the Scottish Highlands. This book explains everything from the details, such as the signs which wild animals leave as their signatures and the meaning behind the shapes of different trees, to how whole landscapes, including woodland, grassland and moorland, fit together and function as a whole. Rivers and lakes, roads and paths, hedgerows and field walls are also explained, as are the influence of different rocks, the soil and the ever-changing climate.