The Wild British Hymnal: Timeless & Meditative Poetic Portraits from the Great British Wild

The Wild British Hymnal is a 200-page poetic anthology exploring animal lives across the varied landscapes of Britain—across open fields, into the wild night, among ancient oaks, along the tidal edge, and down into the deep. Through poetry and illustration, it gathers moments of survival, grace, and vanishing beauty from across the British wild.

Each poem is paired with evocative artwork, offering a quiet portrait rather than a narrative—attentive to presence, movement, and the rhythms of the natural world.

The poems are written in a cadence that recalls older oral traditions: litany, chant, hymn. Their rhythm and repetition are not decorative, but purposeful—designed to slow the reader, to draw attention inward, and to invite listening.

Like the rise and fall of waves or the steady pulse of footsteps through wood and field, these verses are cyclic and meditative by design. They are a celebration and hymn to nature, written in reverence for the creatures and places that endure; in mourning for what is lost and what we stand to lose.

Among the Ancient Oaks

Beneath the branches of the British forest, every creature carries a story. From the quiet persistence of the vole to the ghostly memory of the wolf, these poems trace the fragile lives that move through root, leaf, shadow and sky. Among the Ancient Oaks is a collection of tender, meditative portraits capturing the voices of the forest in moments of grace, survival and vanishing.

Across the Open Field

Between hedgerow and horizon, the countryside holds its own chorus of lives. From the lark’s rising song to the quiet stir of dormice and hares, these poems attend to the fleeting, ordinary miracles of the field. Across the Open Field is a collection of lyrical portraits honouring the resilience, fragility, and stillness of the pastoral wild.

Along the Tidal Edge

Where sea and land meet, the shore writes its shifting stories. From gulls and oystercatchers to crabs, mussels, and anemones, these poems follow the fragile chorus of the littoral world. Along the Tidal Edge is a collection of poetic portraits capturing the voices of the shore in moments of hunger, rest, flight, and return.

Into the Wild Night

When daylight withdraws and silence falls, another world begins. From owls, glow-worms, and nightjars to slow worms and badgers, these poems uncover the hidden presences of the nocturnal wild. Into the Wild Night is a collection of meditative portraits, attuned to lives that flourish in darkness and move unseen through the hours we call sleep.

Down into the Deep

Beneath the surface, where light fades and silence gathers, stranger lives endure. From whales and sharks to anglerfish, isopods, and the bioluminescent hunters of the abyss, these poems descend into the hidden realm of Britain’s deep waters. Down into the Deep is a collection of poetic portraits honouring the mystery, resilience, and wonder of the ocean’s furthest depths.