Roger Crofts – författare

This is the complete story of Scotland's remarkable landscape.Scotland is justly famed for its magnificent scenery - mountains, lochs, islands, wild rocky places and sandy beaches. All this is evidence of an exciting geological history which began 3,500 billion years ago and is still continuing. The sheer diversity of Scotland's rocks and landforms are the physical reminders of a fascinating journey through time. They reveal that the land that makes up Scotland today has travelled the world and has not always even belonged to one single continental landmass. At different times, too, continents formed and split apart, ancient volcanoes erupted vast quantities of lava and Ice Age glaciers shaped the landscape. In Land of Mountain and Flood three eminent Earth scientists explain Scotland's rich geological heritage, unravelling and explaining the present-day landscape and its place in the geological history of the planet. Containing a huge amount of clearly presented information and enhanced throughout with specifically commissioned illustrations, diagrams and photographs, this is an essential book for anyoine interested in the world around them.

Donald Watson was a seminal figure in the wildlife art and ornithological world from the late 1950s onwards. Since his death in 2005, his work has lived on through active public demand for his outstanding paintings of birds and the continued reading of his books. This is the first time his status and standing in the world of bird art and ornithology has been assessed.This definitive book is a series of biographical essays written by those who knew him and his outstanding contributions. There are so many perceptive insights about him and his work, and many previously untold stories that enliven the text. Reading the stories will bring back memories for all who knew him and hopefully inspire those who didn’t but who follow in his footsteps.Readers will find detailed accounts of his life, his character, his work ethic, his link with his ornithologist son Jeff, his high standing in the world of raptor workers written by his daughter Louise, his daughter-in-law Vanessa and by his close friend and neighbour Chris Rollie. His high standing in raptor protection and especially his outstanding Hen Harrier work is updated by Des Thompson and Colin Galbraith. The author reviews his writing skills and describes how his conservation campaigns are still relevant today. They will also learn so much about his art from the perceptive in-depth account by John Threlfall, himself a very successful wildlife artist.Beautifully illustrated with his outstanding paintings, examples of his exquisite scraper board sketches and family photographs, readers will want this book for its images alone.