Wildlife Books of Beds, Cambs and Northants

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Wildlife Books

Explore the range of books available that cover the wildlife of Beds, Cambs and Northants.

Why books matter

We’re fortunate to live in a country whose wildlife has been carefully documented for centuries, and our three counties are among the best documented of all.

Indeed, the first ever ‘local Flora’—books documenting the wild flowers of an area—published in Britain, is John Ray’s Cambridge flora (‘Catalogus plantarum circa Cantabrigiam nascentium (Catalogue of Plants Growing Around Cambridge) of 1660. Since then, there have been several Floras for each of our counties.

These detailed summaries of local plants and other wildlife provide the factual basis for nature conservation: they tell us which species are rare or common, which are increasing and decreasing, and which were formerly resident in our area but are locally extinct. These are the basic facts for setting conservation priorities and in the long run, for assessing how well we are doing.

Wildlife enthusiasts often seem to be almost as interested in books as they are in nature, so here are a few books which might be of interest. This section of our website will expand over time. It begins with three recent publications, and the latest botanical guides to the three counties. If there's a book you think should feature in the meantime, please get in touch with us at editor@wildlifebcn.org.

Please note that some of the books mentioned may be out of print, but we hope are either available as e-books or in secondhand bookshops, either online or in person. Where possible, we have provided links to places where these books may be available to purchase.

Animals

Books that explore the fauna in our area, including specialist books on birds, mammals, reptiles etc.

The Birds of Bedfordshire

by Tony Ploszajski

Published by Bedfordshire Natural History Society, 2025. 506 pages, 399 colour photos plus maps, graphs and tables. £50.

This new standard guide appeared late last year, produced by Bedfordshire Bird Club. It is a beautifully-illustrated, large-format book, which details the occurrence of all of the species that have occurred in the County. A must-have for any birder in the county. The proceeds are shared between the Wildlife Trust and the Greensand Trust. Book Launched 2025 – The Birds of Bedfordshire | Bedfordshire Bird Club

General Nature

Books that contain information about wildlife across the plant and animal kingdoms.

Fenland Nature

by Simon Stirrup and Duncan Poyser.

Published by Pelagic, 2025. 366 pages. £35

A beautifully-illustrated overview of the natural history and landscape of the Fens, from geology and the history of the last 14,000 years, to current land use and the wealth of wildlife surviving in remaining habitats between intensive farmland. Particularly engaging are four detailed chapters on the wildlife to expect in winter, spring, summer and autumn.

The Nature of Cambridge

Edited by Mark Hill

Published by NatureBureau, 2022. 322 pages. £27.50

A close look at wildlife within the city limits. The city's habitats, geology, climate and the development of the city are all covered, with chapters on the flora, mosses and liverworts, fungi and lichens, on the major orders of insects, spiders and molluscs, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. It details some of the most interesting and best-studied sites within the city, and reviews conservation initiatives. It concludes with an ecological essay on the distinctive features of city wildlife, putting Cambridge in a wider context. You may never look at Cambridge in the same way again.

Flowering Plants and Ferns

The following four modern county Floras are indispensable to anyone interested in the plants of our area, or in the habitats and conservation of Beds, Cambs and Northants.

Flora of Bedfordshire

Boon Christopher R & Outen Alan R

Published by Bedfordshire Natural History Society, 2011. 718 pages, A4 size.

One of the largest and most comprehensive county Floras ever produced in Britain. It includes a history of botanical recording in the county, and a summary of the geology, soils and plant communities. A well-illustrated chapter on site conservation provides a detailed introduction to the main habitats and richest locations for plants in the county (which are examined in more detail in a later chapter on Botanical Hotspots).

An analysis of changes in the plants of Bedfordshire 1949-2004 not only looks at species changes, but refers back to the pioneering studies of habitats by the late John Dony (author of two previous county floras). Dony carried out these detailed surveys of over 100 small plots explicitly so future generations of botanists could see how things have changed.

The bulk of the book—530 pages—is a species-by-species account of the flowering plants and ferns, with a map for all but the rarest, showing the current and former distribution, a summary of the ecology of each species, the first know record for each, and for the scarcer and more interesting plants, a summary of all records, including the most recent date for each site. There are high quality colour photos of many species. The next section covers the mosses and liverworts of Bedfordshire in similar style and detail, with some outstanding photographs, very largely the work of the late Alan Outen.

No-one interested in the plants of Bedfordshire, or in the habitats and conservation of the county, can manage without this book.

>> Thankfully, as it is now out of print and rather expensive to acquire second-hand, a digital copy of The Flora of Bedfordshire is now available as an e-book for a small charge, courtesy of BNHS, from the BSBI website.

The Flora of Northamptonshire and The Soke of Peterborough.

by Gill Gent and Rob Wilson.

Published by Robert Wilson Designs, 2012. 594 pages, 25 x 17cm.

The second Northamptonshire Flora produced by the dedicated team of Gill Gent and Rob Wilson, it is a much enlarged and more detailed volume than its 1995 predecessor. It provides a highly readable summary of the county’s geology and soils, an introduction to the diverse landscapes within the county (which, for recording purposes, covers the vice-county of Northamptonshire, and thus includes most of Peterborough too), and an account of the key habitats and their plant species, beautifully supplemented by 30 pages of colour photographs, bot portraits of characteristic species and of some of the finest examples of the habitats.

The systematic section describes the distribution and ecology of each species, gives the first county record, and notes their status as reported in Druce’s Flora of 1930, Gent and Wilson (1995) and in this current flora, indicating clearly which species are expanding and which declining. Maps of most species (generally, the native or long-established ones with an interesting distribution) follow in a separate section. Finally there is a glossary of sites which feature in the species accounts, with grid references and a brief description.

Flora of Cambridgeshire

by Alan C Leslie

Royal Horticultural Society, Peterborough, 2019. 912 pages, A4 size.

This is one of the largest and most thorough county floras ever produced, and is a summation of modern survey but also of the history of plants in the county, as recounted in the previous eight county floras from John Ray in 1660.

It begins with a short account of topography and climate, including colour maps of geology, elevation and main water courses, and the road and rail networks (important in the dispersal of some plant species). There is a detailed and entertaining history of recorders and recording, including photographs of many of the main contributors to the book. A review of selected sites of botanical interest includes excellent habitat photographs. The species accounts are remarkably thorough and detailed, including synonyms used in the earlier floras, the status of each species, and its distribution by 10km squares, separating records pre-1950, 1950-1986, and 1987 onwards, which allows one to assess how common or rare each species is, and how this had changed through time.

For the scarcest species, all records are listed, including whether there are voucher specimens available in the main British herbaria. For many species, the text also discusses variation within the species, including flower colour forms as well as described subspecies and varieties. Hybrids are treated as comprehensively as species, and non-native and recently introduced or escaped species likewise. The book concludes with a gazetteer and comprehensive indexes.

The Flora of Huntingdonshire and the Soke of Peterborough

By Terry C.E. Wells. Published by Huntingdonshire Fauna & Flora Society, 2003. 203 pages, A4 size.

Although there were a couple of checklists of Huntingdonshire plants in 1926 and 1965, this is among the last first floras of any English county. It covers the historical vice-county of Huntingdonshire, plus the Soke of Peterborough and a small part of ‘old Cambridgeshire’ which were combined in the new county of Huntingdon and Peterborough in local government reorganisation in 1972. It thus overlaps a little with the Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire floras. The book follows the familiar format, with a history of recording, a summary of soils, geology and climate, an account of nature reserves within the county, then the species accounts, with a map of almost all species, a summary of its status and distribution, and for scarcer species, a list of sites. A photographic section illustrates some of the best-known sites in the county, and some of the most characteristic plant species.

Orchids

These two books provide considerably more detail on the distribution, ecology and history of orchids in the two counties than there is space for in a county Flora, with numerous photographs of the species and their habitats.

Wild Orchids of Bedfordshire

By Richard Revels & Chris Boon & Graham Bellamy.

Published by the Bedfordshire Natural History Society, 2015. 156 pages, 25 x 19cm.

A digital copy of Wild Orchids of Bedfordshire is now available free of charge, courtesy of BNHS

The Orchid Flora of Huntingdonshire and the Soke of Peterborough.

By Peter Walker, Barry Dickerson & Rober Orbell.

Published by UK: Huntingdonshire Fauna & Flora Society, 2019. 133 pages, A4 size.

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