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The June issue is on sale May 26th.

From the editor

Paul Jackson

At a large agricultural show last year I watched and listened to an enthusiastic and articulate beekeeper explaining why bees played such an important role in the balance of nature and why his hobby held such a fascination for him.

Children — whose only previous contact with bees would have been when Dad clobbered the poor things with a folded-up newspaper — were enthralled by the display. Our perception that all things that buzz around us or head for our picnic food are nothing but a nuisance can only be changed by such good education..

Bees are a barometer of the changing environment and play a vital role in the pollination of our fruit and vegetables as well as plants on which other species survive. I hope more people will spread the word about how important bees are — and remember, as editor I forbid anyone to use The Countryman to end the life of a bee! See our special feature in July's edition.

In the July issue of The Countryman...

Countryman magazine

Sea eagles soaring above Scotland
Mark Hamblin finds controversy surrounds the birds

Wildlife pairings
John Derek Smith on man versus bird

Essex’s island paradise
Regeneration on a grand scale by Martin Sayers

John clare, the peasant poet
Jack Watkins remembers a remarkable man

Once in a blue moon
Sara Goodwins examines myths and facts

Churches in their proper place
Clive Fewins investigates one man’s theory

Durham’s industrial legacy
Restoring and preserving a region’s heritage with Anthony Toole

Still a country boy at heart
David Kavanagh finds out what makes Matt Baker tick

Let food be our medicine
Jack Watkins meets a forward thinking farmer

Art of an English romantic
Grahame Anderson admires the work of Piers Browne

Spirit of the beehive
Mark Sisson meets an enthusiastic group of beekeepers

BCTV at fifty
Helen Harrison celebrates the organisation’s success

The branches of immortality
Clive Fewins reveals the yew tree’s constant battle for survival

Cliffhanger at marsden bay
Jean Gardner looks at the colourful history of a coastal cave

I grazed my sheep at Beckingham palace
John Perryman’s claim to fame

An underground world in Wales
Huw Jenkins goes mining

Drunk hens in Fort William
Jim Smith offers a cautionary tale