Introduction
This is actually the second book I’ve read by Dave Goulson, however, it is the one I’ve finished most recently and hence will cover the other book (A Sting in the Tail) at a future date.

As for other books to come through the review, over the past couple of months I purchased some field guides and natural history books, and am currently reading John Fowles’ The Collector, which is maybe not directly a “nature” book but is pretty good and about a butterfly collector, sort of …

Comments
As I stated above, this is the second book I’ve read by Mr Goulson. It is also his second book and follows up nicely from the first with many links between the two.

In 2003, Mr Goulson purchased a farm in France that came with 13 hectares (130,000 m2) of land. Since then he’s been working on the buildings and slowly letting the land get back to a more natural state of flowery meadows … although he has created a little brook and pond to attract wildlife that needs water (e.g. dragonflies). The main thing is that he’s letting the land recuperate after being fertilised and treated with pesticides etc. throughout the time that it was “productive” land for the farmstead.

The book is divided into 3 sections. The first (and longest) consists of 9 chapters covering the animal (mainly insect) life to be found around the farm. This includes bees, butterflies, dragonflies, beetles, newts etc. Birds aren’t really covered. The second section (3 chapters) is about plant life and the last section (also three chapters) is how the natural world is interlinked and what man’s effect has been on that natural world.

Each chapter starts on one topic, but often it meanders from there on, going from one related subject to the other. It is like listening to someone extremely knowledgeable on a multitude of topics and that person is excited to tell you something and then he or she just continues talking and you have the feeling they can go on for ever.
Mr Goulson has a pleasant manner of writing, which explains everything quite clearly and thus it becomes quite fun to read the book. So much so that at times I had to stop myself from reading, as there is an overload of information and it becomes impossible to remember all that is told. In other words, I’ll probably re-read chapters on specific topics in the future to remember what was said.

I enjoyed this book and it inspired me, but hey, I was probably going to enjoy the book anyway considering my interests … It was a fluid read, even though some subjects can be quite scientific, but it is never boring. The only thing is that I sometimes longed for more, but I think this is inherent with nature, in that it will take many more years before the farm gets to full potential and Mr Goulson discovers all the interesting things happening in the fields, as everything needs time to adapt, change and grow. For example, he’s doing an experiment over various plots (to do with growth of plants), but it a will take many seasons before the results are finally known and a bit more conclusive. I can easily see a “part two” in 10 years time to give us an update on how the farm’s changed.

The Edition
Title: A Buzz in the Meadow: The Natural History of a French Farm
Author: Dave Goulson
Publisher: Picador
Year: 2014
Edition: Hard cover, first US edition (2015), 1st printing, 265 pages
Additional Info: Includes index.

Further Reading
– Dave Goulson’s Twitter page.
– Mr Goulson’s page at the university where he works.