As a small boy, Dave Goulson was obsessed with wildlife - from his childhood menagerie of exotic pets to his ill-fated experiments with taxidermy. But it was the bumblebee that fascinated him the most. Once commonly found in the marshes of Kent, the short-haired bumblebee was driven to extinction in Britain by intensive farming practices. With ground- breaking research into these curious creatures, A Sting in the Tale tells the story of Goulson’s passionate drive to reintroduce them to their native land.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2013 SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE