Rivers, canals and Britain s glorious waterways are championed and
admired at every opportunity. They are the subject of countless photos,
television programmes and books and are places to visit and enjoy
whenever considering a walk in the countryside. Sadly, not so the humble
ditch; yet they are the all-important capillaries supplying the veins of
the UK s far more visual watercourses. As well as having a practical
farming purpose and being important in preventing flooding, ditches are
an essential habitat for many species of flora and fauna. In no way a
dry riverbed of hard facts, A Year in a Ditch is informative and a
source of knowledge to anyone interested in exploring the delights of
this vital habitat. The book is full of relevant quirky notes and
obscure snippets, the fanciful and factual; old wives tales; quotations
and snippets of poetry. Ditches are an integral part of some very
bizarre sports and pastimes indeed and there are even suggestions as to
how one can actually dine out in a ditch! A Year in a Ditch will be a
wonderful read for anyone wishing to know more about the 500,000
kilometres of these often-neglected waterways that have threaded their
way through the British countryside for millennia."
