Nature Notes from the No 12 Bus

Writer and scientist Paul Board left corporate life washed up and burnt out, only to find himself getting to know his own patch – and rediscovering the joys of nature – one bus journey at a time. Nature Notes from the No 12 Bus is a month-by-month celebration of a life slowed down and transmuted through an alchemy of natural history and language, flora, fauna and foraging. Along the author’s local bus route – a sudden illness meant he could no longer drive – he finds himself meeting snakes, stinkbugs and sea slugs; dead man’s fingers and honeycomb worms; jellyfish, jelly ears and Great Orme goats. He discovers the geological history of the North Wales coast, ancient ruins, a steam-powered submarine … and some petrified monks. This is a joyful account of what it is to be shocked into a new way of life – and a new appreciation for the beauty that surrounds us as the seasons change.