From the editor

Whatever the weather, is there anything more evocative of spring than a walk through a bluebell wood? We are fortunate in the UK to be home to around half of the world’s population of bluebells, and now is usually the best time to get out and about to admire and enjoy their beauty.
For countryside lovers, Scotland has such a wealth of nature and beauty that it is almost impossible to summarise its contents in just a few pages of your Countryman — as I discover this month. But as the 2013 visitor season – labelled by the tourism industry as the Year of Natural Scotland — truly begins in the north, I hope I have given you a taste of what’s on offer.
I hope, too, that the welcome there is warmer than that given by the rare Scottish wildcat on our front cover this month. The species is one of the world’s most threatened,
but much good work is being done to continue its existence.
There’ll always be a warm welcome in the magazine for one of the country’s top nature writers, Richard Mabey. This month Richard gives us his thoughts on … well, the weather, of course.

In the May issue of The Countryman...

Glorious Britain
Eilean Donan Castle

The year of natural Scotland
Paul Jackson celebrates the country’s natural beauty

Storm-clouds of twenty-first century
The weather is a creature of our imaginations, argues Richard Mabey

Prize-winning business
Joy Skull visits a rosette maker in Wiltshire

Wales … warts-and-all
Julian Rollins meets photographer David Wilson

Spring is in the air
Andy Bottomley waits for the curlews

Foraging for garlic
Food for free with Andrea Mynard

Blue is the colour
J C Papworth explores the bluebell woods

Glorious Britain
Durdle Door, Dorset

Ferrymen in floppy hats
John Worrall crosses the River Butley in Suffolk

Turning back the clock
Cath Harris looks into a wildflower restoration scheme

When Roger met Hannah
Christopher Nicholson remembers Roger Redfern and Hannah Hauxwell

The roots of middle-earth
Nick Channer discovers that the inspiration for The Lord of the Rings is in suburban Birmingham

Talent to inspire
William Gibson profiles Gordon Beningfield

Wildcats fighting back
Sebastian Oake searches for the elusive Scottish wildcat

A welcome sign
John Wright watches pub signwriter Rob Rowland at work in his studio in Gloucester