Oceans, rivers, forests, caves, deserts, skies and soil are home to extraordinary species from the tiny dragon-like olm to the colossal sequoia tree. They have survived for hundreds of thousands of years by adapting to unique environments, but their future remains far from certain. Their story is our story too. This book is a stunning homage to the planet's most mysterious, bizarre and wondrous creatures and plants, a love letter to life on Earth and an urgent summons to protect what is precious and lovely in our world. Exquisitely illustrated with beautiful full page, double page and other artworks in colour throughout, we meet the Amur tiger, Chinese crested tern, Kakapo, Sunda pangolin, dusky gopher frog, Andean condor, Javan rhinoceros, Ethiopian wolf and African grey parrot, all vanishing species that are diminished by wildlife trading, hunting or destruction of habitat. In the insect world we meet the pine hoverfly, dung beetles, lesser long-nosed bat, European turtledove and Iberian lynx and rust lemur, all species that grow out of soil, nourish it, or have been made rare by our use of land. Then there are species that live in the deep ocean, in coral reefs, mangroves and some of the species affected by Australian bush fires. The book is organised by air, water, soil and homo sapiens, and each beautiful drawing has been engraved, printed and coloured by hand by the author Beatrice Forshall in this beautiful Bloomsbury publication. 256 pages, 18.5 x 27cm.

Award winning photographer Art Wolfe has worked in hundreds of locations and this is THE book of his career recording with great sensitivity a rapidly vanishing natural world. He has taken an estimated two million images in his lifetime and travels nearly nine months out of the year photographing new projects and giving inspirational presentations to educational, conservation and spiritual groups. In 1978 he published his first book 'Indian Baskets of the Northwest Coast' and worked for the world's top magazines such as National Geographic, Smithsonian, Audubon, GEO and Terre Sauvage. Magazines all over the world publish his photographs and stories and he is known for having the broadest range of excellence of any nature photographer. He has said, 'It is in the wild places, where the edge of the earth meets the corners of the sky, the human spirit is fed.' Often haunting compositions, his wildlife portraits show cormorants sitting being petted by Chinese men on a gaslit raft at night, the piercing brown eyes of a Tuareg man in Morocco, the watchful Bengal tiger, ghostly gam trees in Australia, the Milky Way in spectacular colour behind two boulders, naked Bumi children splashing their way into the sea, the painted bodies of Karo Ethiopian tribesmen and the colourful beads and rainbow colours of the costumes and necklaces worn by the Maasai Mara tribespeople. An adult male lion stares vacantly into his camera, a plains zebra amidst white bearded wildebeest, greater and lesser flamingos pictured in Kenya and gemsbok African elephant, springbok and zebras all pictured together in the Etosha National Park, Namibia. There are colourful carpets, Dogon hunters and a spectacular series of gatefold pages including Moroccan architecture and women husking corn, landscapes of unbelievable beauty such as the Antarctic Peninsula, blue glaciers in Iceland, colourful wild flowers and snowy owlets in Alaska, a penguin stranded on a small iceberg, Arctic wolves in Canada, polar bears and cubs in Manitoba Canada, eagle hunters in Mongolia, whirling dervishes and fairy chimneys in Cappadocia Turkey, a crescent moon or a bright blue and red sky. Mountains and clear lakes, the reds, greens and yellows of giant sequoia in California, a rippling patchwork of colourful fields, a bison covered in icicles in Yellowstone and the Sahara Desert in Mali with a long line of camels. The book is organised by Mountain, Polar and Subpolar, Desert and Savannah, Ocean and Island and Tropical and Subtropical. Wolfe's images take us through the world's ecosystems and geographical regions in a vivid display of the fragility and interconnectivity of life on Earth and the book is undeniably breathtaking, an elegantly crafted masterpiece that will thrill collectors of nature photography. 396 enormous pages with dozens of gatefold pullouts, 28 x 3.8 x 35.5cm, spectacular colour.

Hannah grew up loving birds and her parents taught her about the wonders of the British countryside from a young age. Years later she moved to Ghana for her husband's work. Without a job or purpose of her own, and striving to belong in the rural grasslands far from home, she felt any sense of normal life and connection falling away. It was the birds that offered a glimmer of hope and, fuelled by their quiet nature, her book is the raw and uplifting account of Hannah's unexpected bonds with two wild birds that she rescued, hand-raised, and released back into the wild. 'My reward was one of purpose, tinted with magic. There he was, a wild bird, born from a little egg high up in a grass nest between the dark leaves of a mango tree. Now he was with me, comforted by the beat of my heart and the sound of my voice. A wild creature in the palm of my hand...' A memoir brimming with determination and compassion exploring our instinctive connection to nature and a timely reminder that wildlife can provide solace in the most unexpected ways. 290pp.

From tools and devices to construction and artistic expression, Max Adams explores wood, the material that has shaped human history. An archaeologist and woodsman, he explores themes of landscapes, knowledge and human connectiveness with the earth. As a material, wood has no equal in strength, resilience, adaptability and availability and has been our partner in the cultural evolution from woodland foragers to engineers of our own destiny. Tracing that partnership, Adams explores the role that wood has played in our own history as an imaginative, curious and resourceful species. He begins with an account of how early humans learned the properties and uses of wood and trees and investigates the influence of six basic devices - lever, wedge, windlass, sprig, cordage and float. From the simple bivouacs of hunter-gatherers to sophisticated wooden buildings such as stave churches, from the decorative arts to the humble woodworking of rustic furniture, he shows the great transformations through stories of carpenters, wheelwrights and fire bringers, potters and their kilns, of copper, tin, bronze, colliers, purification, alchemy and stories about the technology of bushfire told by the Ju/wasi hunter-foragers of the Kalahari Desert and their mastery of fire. An endlessly fascinating collection brought right up to date with wood management. Engravings and many illustrations, 441pp.

Sponsored by the WWF and based on a Netflix original documentary series, this is the official children's book to accompany it. It is a glorious visual celebration of the natural world combining extraordinary photography from the series with stunning illustrations from acclaimed artist Richard Jones. In spectacular close-up detail we appreciate the humpback whale which roams the open ocean, a fox in a Ukrainian forest, pelicans in Australia, cheetahs hunting wildebeest, an elephant reaching for ana leaves and a desert elephant family, plus learning about our deserts and grasslands, wild meadows, anchovies and fancy fishing and all about our coastal seas, jungles, frozen worlds, forest and fresh water. There is a useful glossary and some images about filming behind the scenes of the series and a beautiful colour map of our planet's different habitats. 96 very large pages packed with colour, 21 x 30cm.

Sub-titled 'Madagascar from the Deep Past to the Uncertain Present', this is a moving account of Madagascar is told by a researcher who has spent over 50 years investigating the mysteries of this remarkable island. A place of change, a biodiversity hotspot, and the fourth largest island on the planet, Madagascar has been home to a spectacular parade of animals from giant flightless birds and giant tortoises on the ground, to agile lemurs leaping through the treetops. Some species live on and many have vanished forever. Spanning everything from botany to geology to climatology and the binding of the Malagasy people and their relationship to the landscape, Madagascar's forests have expanded and contracted in response to shifting climates and the impact of human activities during the last thousand years or so. Today it is a microcosm of global trends - what happens there in the decades ahead could provide helpful insights into the battle to turn the tide of the environmental crisis now sweeping the world. Alison Richard takes us on a journey through space and time, from Madagascar's ancient origins as a landlocked region of Gondwana and its emergence as an island, to the modern-day developments that make the survival of its plants and animals increasingly uncertain. She weaves together scientific evidence with her own experiences and captures the magic as well as the tensions that swirl around this island nation. The text is peppered with interesting photographs, a table of major national actions concerning the environment since 1970, plus 31 beautiful colour plates including the stunning blue Babakoto singing and the almost human shape of the Baobab tree standing sentinel. 342pp.

The uplifting true story of a family who left their old life behind to spend a year living wild in a tent around Britain. With a baby and a toddler, mounting debt, work demands and stress trampling over their desire to spend time together as a family in nature, Jen and Sim Benson move out of their rented accommodation, sell up their possessions, and decide to live in a tent for a year as nomads around rural Britain in the search for a simpler, more meaningful way of life. This is the story of that year, the doubts, epiphanies and the weather, the hardships of each season experienced in the great outdoors. Chapters include At Home in Wiltshire and the Peak District, From London to Wilder Places, A Cottage on Dartmoor, Christmas Under Canvas in the Blackdown Hills, Restorations in Cornwall and the South Hams, The Kindness of Strangers in Dorset and on Exmoor, The Highs and Lows in the Lake District, Idyllic Summer Days in the Welsh Borders, Festivals and A Return to Dartmoor. With map and photos, 254pp.

Beginner and aspiring artists can learn to paint their favourite ferns, leaves, trees, florals and even squirrels and birds and woodpecker, mushrooms, rocks or purple pampas grass in a contemporary style using the popular watercolour medium. Start by learning about the tools and materials and dive into a thorough and fun painting technique section which covers washes, glazes and how to add detail in watercolour. There are inspirational tips on viewing and gathering natural painting subjects or working from photographs, and there are bark studies of the white ash, black walnut, cherry and sycamore trees. 128 very large page softback, 22.5 x 29.7cm.

French flower painter Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759-1840) devoted himself exclusively to capturing the diversity of flowering plants in watercolour paintings which were then published as copper engravings, with careful botanical descriptions. The darling of wealthy Parisian patrons including Napoleon's wife Josephine, he was dubbed "the Raphael of flowers," and is regarded to this day as a master of botanical illustration. His illustrations of the Botanical Alphabets of D. N. Guillamain were a landmark in flower painting and he was an innovator in the techniques of printing including 'stipple-engraving'. This glorious and completely faithful reproduction includes Roses from 1817-1824 following The Lilies 1802-1816 and Selection of the Most Beautiful Flowers, each exquisite botanical illustration afforded one full page in colour. Quality heavyweight paper, stitched binding, one for all lovers of nature and art. With text in English, French and German. Beautiful colour artworks, new from Taschen, superheavyweight luxury hardback. This collection brings Taschen?s best-selling XL-sized edition to a smaller, more convenient format, still gathering some of the finest colour engravings from Redouté's illustrations of Roses, Lilies, and Choix des plus belles fleurs et quelques branches des plus beaux fruits (Selection of the Most Beautiful Blooms and Branches with the Finest Fruits). Offering a vibrant overview of Redouté's mixture of accuracy and beauty, it is also a privileged glimpse into the magnificent gardens and greenhouses of a bygone Paris. Text in English, Italian and Spanish. 16 x 22cm, rich with colour, 512 pages. New from Taschen.

Original illustrations from Audubon's masterwork Birds of America. Favourites include the Blue Jay, Golden Eagle, colourful flycatchers, warblers, waterbirds, the Barred Owl, Passenger Pigeon, Belted Kingfisher, Red-shouldered Hawk, Carolina Wren, Baltimore Oriole, American Flamingo, Yellow-billed Magpie, all with vibrant plumage and ideal subjects for colouring in. John James Audubon (1785-1851) was born in Haiti and raised in France, emigrating to North America when he was 18 to avoid conscription into the Napoleonic Wars. His true passion was ornithology and he spent many years identifying and recording bird species. Peter Gray, a long established illustrator of books, provides the outline on each right hand page, some portrait some landscape orientation, and we can follow the colours of Audubon's originals in situ on branches and sometimes with berries and flowers on the opposite page. 96 pages, 22.5 x 28cm, softback.