No one who writes a book of this sort does so alone. I didn’t, anyway. From start to finish I was reliant on the insight, knowledge and generosity of a whole load of other people. Some were already friends; others didn’t know me from Adam. I’m hugely grateful to them all.
Let’s name names. I would never have got to write this book without the support of Matt Merritt (who also, getting on for ten years ago, commissioned my first article as a freelancer, and therefore has a lot to answer for). And I wouldn’t be writing about nature for a living without the help of Mark Cocker, Anne-Marie Conway, Ben Hoare and Steve Warrillow.
Several brilliant people took the time to speak to me and to come up with intelligent answers to my vague, stumbling questions; in doing so, they made this book a dozen times better than it would otherwise have been. Heartfelt thanks to Elizabeth Eva Leach, Graham Shortt, Bernie Krause, Helen Dickson, Dr Peter Tickle and Brian Briggs.
The list of people who contributed in other ways to A Sweet, Wild Note is a long one. In no particular order, I would like to say thank you to Steve Rutt, Nic Allan, Vanessa Woolf, Tim Lozinski, Gethin Jones, Helen Macdonald, Lee Jackson, Paddy Bullard, Owen Shirley, Dan Stowell, Heidi Stiene, Sophie Coulombeau and Clare Heal. The staff of the Leeds Library and the British Library at Boston Spa also deserve the highest praise, (a)for helping me write this book and (b)just generally.
Jennie Condell and Pippa Crane, my wonderful editors at Elliott & Thompson, were endlessly supportive throughout the writing process and did a terrific job of knocking my drafts into shape. Lynn Hatzius’s stunning cover design, Tim Oakenfull’s illustrations and Linden Lawson’s all-seeing copy-editing transformed my manuscript into the fine-looking book you now hold in your hands. Thanks to them all.
I want to thank my mum and dad – for all those bird books, all those drives out to Pugneys and Fairburn Ings, among so much else – and I want to remember my granddad, Arthur Heaton: without him and his hardback AA Book of British Birds I don’t think I’d ever have been a birdwatcher.
Finally, the biggest of all imaginable thank yous to my wife, Frin, who amazes me, and makes everything possible.