A journey like mine relies heavily on the generosity of fellow naturalists, and the warm spirit in which so many old and new friends responded to it will remain with me for the rest of my days. To all who took part in The Quest, my warmest thanks. My principal helpers and guides were, in alphabetical order, Ashley Arbon, Steve Berry and Pat Millard, Ian Bonner, Chris Boon, Alan Bowley, Andrew Branson, Nick Button and Kate Stephen of Natural England, Andy Byfield, Clive Chatters, Bob Gibbons, Ben Jones, Richard Mabey, Iain MacDonald, Cat Owen-Pam, Tim Payner, David and Anita Pearman, George Peterken, Mike and Julie Porter, Alex Prendergast, Martin Rand, Ivor and Jane Rees, Tim Rich, Martin Rickard, Jeremy Roberts, James and Joanna Robertson, Martin Robinson, Fred Rumsey, Michael and Sue Scott, Andy Shaw, Jonathan Stokes, Ian Strachan, Peter Stroh, Graham Tomlinson, Ray Woods, Will West and Brett Westwood. I owe a particular debt of thanks to Bob Gibbons for saving my bacon on the return from our ill-fated journey to Coll.
Others helped with information or in other ways, notably Patrick Barkham, Ian Bennallick, Karen Birkby of RSPB, Brian Davis, Trevor Dines, Lynne Farrell, Lady Rosemary FitzGerald, Isobel Griffiths of CCW, Dick Hornby, Mark Jannink, Andy Jones, Simon Leach, Graeme Lyon, Mike McCarthy, Liz McDonnell, Chris Miles, Jeremy Mynott, Sharon Pilkington, Chris Preston, Dominic Price of the Species Recovery Trust, Phil Pullen, Martin Sanford, Rebecca Tibbets of Natural England, Fiona Walker, Laura Watson of Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, Belinda Wheeler and Barry Yates. My thanks to them all.
I owe a debt of gratitude to the late Penny Hoare for reading the draft with such care and suggesting so many improvements. I will miss her wisdom, insight and sympathetic understanding. As others have said, there are not many left like her. I thank Rosemary Davidson for her encouragement and support, and also her successor at Square Peg, Rowan Yapp. I am also grateful to Harriet Dobson for piloting the book from manuscript to neatly designed pages, to Stephen Parker and Dan Mogford on design, to Mandy Greenfield for her careful and thoughtful copy-editing, Anthony Hippisley, for his eagle-eyed proofreading and Alex Bell, for his very thorough index.
This book is dedicated to David and Anita Pearman for their kindness and hospitality over the years, chasing the wild flowers of Dorset, Cornwall and the Outer Hebrides, and having such fun in the processs.