The 12 books of Christmas

To understand why Britain is one of the most “nature-depleted” countries on Earth, read Rebanks’ compelling book. The story of his grandfather and father’s farms in the Lake District reveals how pressure from supermarkets to increase yields caused them to abandon the traditional system of mixed arable and livestock farming, and to blanket fields in fertilisers, to the detriment of birdlife. Rebanks takes the farm back to the past to repair its ecosystems. JF