Is it any wonder...

A major new field guide was published recently, although you would be forgiven for not being aware of it. 'Collins Flower Guide' is the first major mainstream botanical field guide since 2002 and is well worth the £30 it will cost you. For that you get a hard-backed book of 700 pages that includes grasses, sedges and rushes. Keys are used alongside illustrations. This is the first time that all of this lot has been successfully brought together in a single volume. It forms a sister publication to the beautifully produced 'Collins Bird Guide' that most birders hold dear (that's the one with the black cover and Barn Owl).

This book was published in late May. For such a high profile publisher and a book in a popular series, I didn't order a copy but awaited it to appear in the High Street bookshops. And I waited. And waited. Finally, I enquired at both Waterstone's and WH Smith as to its whereabouts. I was informed that I would have to order it. I asked why such a popular subject from such a large publisher wasn't out on the shelves as soon as it was published. They didn't know. So I ordered and duly received the book in a matter of days. But I still tried to hunt it down in a bookshop. It became a personal crusade. Finally, a large branch of Waterstone's in Kingston had a copy. A single copy.

Three things - it's no wonder that our younger generation are not taking up the study of natural history in good numbers if it is this hard for them to get hold of a standard field guide. Secondly, during my hunt for this book I was saddened by the natural history book selection on offer in these stores. Dumbing down is obviously highly fashionable. Celebrity driven dribble is freely available. Field Guides seem to be as rare as a genuine British Black Woodpecker. And thirdly, the death of the independent bookseller has resulted in the high street stores stocking identical titles. People cannot browse a book on-line.

Here endeth this evenings sermon...