Marsh wo o d

My grandparents were farmers on the Fylde peninsula of Lancashire, between Preston and Blackpool. They eventually retired to a tied cottage on the farm, which meant my grandfather lived, worked, and died on the same patch of land. As a boy it was wonderful to have access to both the land and their tapestry of stories: embroidered tales of farming, folklore and country life. It was a treasure trove I managed to capture on tape before they died, and formed one of my first storytelling performance pieces, called Old Tom’s Tales

I was brought up on the outskirts of the town—now city—of Preston, but many of my early recollections are of the countryside. At weekends I’d explore the fields beyond my street and holidays were either spent with my grandparents, including haymaking in the summer, or in Cornwall where my uncle and aunt also had a farm. So perhaps it’s no surprise that I grew up with a fascination for the natural world and a connection to rural life. With such childhood passions, I went on to study ecology the University of East Anglia in Norwich. It was quite a new course in those days, with lots of outdoor based learning, and I was fortunate to be taught by some leading lights in the field. Insects became a specialist interest and I stayed on to do a PhD in farmland entomology, before moving to Bristol for a post-doc at Long Ashton Research Station, which also incorporated the Cider Research Institute. My research focus was on the