Two new books in the pipeline...

It's been rather a long time in the offing, but very pleased to announce that I will be working with Bloomsbury (publisher of the sex and the death books - did I not mention?) on not one but two new book projects, working with two of my favourite NGOs.

The Wildlife Pond Handbook is going to be, well, a handbook about how to create SPECTACULAR oases for wildlife. There were a few books like this back in the nineties, but there isn't really anything recent that pulls together all the exciting new research into urban wildlife, sustainable urban drainage and all the latest unbelievable things we are coming to learn about the value of ponds to more than just frogs and dragonflies. This builds on my work pond designing and building wildlife ponds for schools a while ago (I secretly think this is why I got those hernias, but I probably won't put that in the book). Really pleased to be doing this for The Wildlife Trust, whom I've never properly worked with before. Exciting! Thanks to Bloomsbury for making this happen! I am a happy man. Not sure when it will be out - sometime in late 2018 possibly? Or maybe early 2019? Obviously I'll shout about it because, well, it's me.

And the other book? Frogs and Toads is part of the RSPB's successful SPOTLIGHT series (published by Bloomsbury) and my addition will be, I hope, a wide-ranging foray into a group of creatures that have always been very close to my heart. It'll include the usual stuff -how to spot them, how they evolved, how they captured the attentions of humankind, historically and culturally today- but also I am hoping to bring a new perspective to the market, based on my early years running a frog help-line, for starters. I think this will be out in late 2018, but not totally sure. Again, thanks to Bloomsbury and, if you're from the RSPB and you're reading this, I hope I do a good job for you!

Right, update over. I'm off to shove a camera down a wildlife tunnel once I've cleaned it of spider webs. I hope you can metaphorically achieve something similar with your Friday. Goodbyes x