STILL WATER: THE DEEP LIFE OF THE POND (PB)

Nothing in the countryside is humbler or more valuable than the pond. It’s the moorhen’s reedy home, the frog’s ancient breeding place, the dragonfly’s kill zone. From the mayfly larvae in the mud to the patrolling bats in the night sky above, more than a hundred threatened plants and animals depend on it. This is a loving seasonal biography; an evocation of an era when unpolluted ponds shone everywhere, sustaining life for all; and an alarm call on behalf of a precious but overlooked habitat.