Please visit the River Friend Website for more details about the books and the authors
In 2010, world renowned author and Cambridge University Botanist, Dr Sylvia M. Haslam, teamed up with professional artist and desktop publisher, Tina Bone, to co-author a series of riverine/riparian small books.
The series of books is designed to bridge a gap: pond-dipping for primary schools does little; nor does scientific or school literature; or EU Law. The people who need to be made aware of loss, however, do turn up in their thousands to visit not only Nature Reserves, but also Cathedrals, National Trust properties and such-like, and often drop in to a gift shop afterwards to buy a memento by which to remember their visit. We would like these people to buy a River Friend book instead of the usual trinket, and to be encouraged by their purchase to look out for others in the series—compact easy-read, A5-size publications, attractive, modestly priced, and most of all informative.
All titles also available from Amazon, etc.
Individually the books cover one aspect of rivers and the riverine environment, so each one is both a stand-alone and, hopefully, a taster for the series. To assist novices to the subject, the whole Series of [17] books is tied together by the Prologue which aims to assist the reader in identifying aquatic plants. It also contains a glossary of terms mentioned in the series, and a reference section for further reading.
What is the worst that can happen to a river? That it vanishes, and all its life vanishes with it: the people, the plants, the animals: not just the fish, but the crops, the cattle, the forests, the everything. All are made mostly of water. Look around: what is in that leaf, that spider, that deer, that petal? WATER! And although many animals and (mostly tiny) plants live in the sea in salt water, it is the fresh water in the land, derived from rain, which supports us and our main natural resources.
Rivers and riverscapes are deteriorating surprisingly fast. Very few people know or have recognised this, partly because large rivers like the Trent or Dee are still there, “the same” as usual, partly because there is (rightly) good publicity for new beavers or reed buntings and “good habitat”—but unfortunately no mention that this good work usually applies to 0.5–2km-reaches. Even the small stream in your nearest valley is probably 5–10km in length, and the length of British streams and rivers in all is many thousands of km. Improving 2km, however valuable locally, does not halt a seemingly unstoppable general decline.
Thanks, largely, to Dr Oliver Rackham, the term “Ancient Woodland” has entered the British language, and many people now understand that it exists and that it is a valuable national asset which needs conserving.
But what about rivers? On television there are plenty of pretty pictures and many interviews with commentators who live or work by rivers. But outside the angling and watery ecological communities—nothing; thousands protesting at the loss of, say, Lemna trisulca (star duckweed/Ivy-leaved duckweed)—none!
