James Canton and Kate Bradbury

Nature writer Dr James Canton and wildlife gardener Kate Bradbury explain that we can all do things in our own spaces to combat climate change and habitat loss and reconnect with the natural world.

Canton moved from London to the English countryside 20 years ago. He realised the field at the back of his new home had great potential and set about rewilding it. In Renaturing: The Life of a Small Field Canton explains how he dug a pond, created meadowlands and installed habi-tats for birds and insects. He says his project raises interesting questions about rewilding and whether it’s possible on the scale of a field or a garden. Canton runs an MA in wild writing at the University of Essex. His books include Grounded: A Journey into the Landscapes of Our Ancestors, The Oak Papers, Ancient Wonderings: Journeys into Prehistoric Britain and Out of Essex: Re-Imagining a Literary Landscape.

Bradbury is a well-known wildlife gardener whose garden has featured on BBC’s Springwatch, Autumnwatch and Gardeners’ World. In One Garden Against the World: In Search of Hope in a Changing Climate she urges us to reconnect with the natural world via the spaces outside our back door. Bradbury explains how she has taken a stand in her own garden by welcoming wild-life from bees, birds and bats to hedgehogs and frogs. Bradbury is also author of The Bumble-bee Flies Anyway, edits the wildlife pages for BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine and has a country diary column in the Guardian.