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Theo Chalkstreams, Environmental policy, Freelance copywriting, London, Trout in Dirty Places, Writing

Books etc

Between bursts of freelance copywriting and other life interruptions like running the launch of the new South East Rivers Trust, the last couple of months have had a kinda bookish flavour in and around south London…

First there was the very enjoyable task of reading and reviewing a proof copy of my good pal Charles Rangeley-Wilson’s superb forthcoming Silt Road: the Story of a Lost River for Salmo Trutta, the Wild Trout Trust’s annual journal which should be hitting doorsteps right about now.

There’s been a second signing session for Chalk Stream Fly Fishing, this time joining all my fellow contributors to inscribe pre-printed labels which will be pasted into the leather-bound collector’s edition. Reviews have been appearing too, and one of my favourites so far, from Graham Mole in January’s Trout & Salmon magazine, says:

Chalk Stream Fly Fishing: A 21st Century Anthology is a goldmine of wisdom and information for trout fishers.

This book has been written by members of the renowned Salisbury Angling Club. Chapters include a contribution on fly-life by highly respected entomologist Dr Cyril Bennett and there are explanations of chalkstream ecology and seasonal tactics.

Other chapters reveal how to present the fly, nymph-fishing, grayling expeditions and even fly-fishing for coarse-fish. And the final chapter is a must-read – a scholarly look at the future from River Wandle expert Theo Pike…

And then here was the pleasant shock of ducking into Waterstones on Piccadilly to shelter from one of this month’s sudden hailstorms, on the way back from a client meeting in the West End – and being confronted with a whole stack of books entitled Lost in London.

Hang on, I thought, I’m sure that rings a bell.

So I flicked through the pages… and sure enough, there were two double-page spreads on the Wandle, one of them quoting me as a local conservationist and angler on how we’ve developed the Wandle Trust and Piscators over all these years (something I’d talked about with Lost in London editor Lucy Scott almost a year ago, and then mostly forgotten).

What with Caught by the River, last year’s River Wandle Companion, and now Lost in London, the lineup of books on my shelf quoting things I’ve said to their authors is suddenly looking longer than the row I’ve actually written… but I’m working on this.

Next up is another exciting and possibly even groundbreaking environmental writing project I’m developing with my very inspiring publishers at Merlin Unwin Books.

More news when I can reveal it. In the meantime, that’s my summer’s writing sorted…