Following Edward Wilson into the Unknown, Dr Edward Wilson English Polar Explorer, Ornithologist, Physician and artist died in Antarctica in 1912. isbn 9781901037272

 Following Edward Wilson into the Unknown, Dr Edward Wilson English Polar Explorer, Ornithologist, Physician and artist died in Antarctica in 1912. isbn 9781901037272

The discovery of a bird painting by Edward Wilson, who died with Scott on their return from the South Pole, hit the headlines in 2017. The bird was a dead treecreeper, an insignificant inhabitant of European woodland. Why was it there? This author had carried a treecreeper photo in his wallet for seven years after emigrating to New Zealand in 1960, to remind him of home. The coincidence led to a search of Wilson's portfolio, producing 150 paired images; many were weird - grooves on a bird's toenails? Dingle beach, Ireland; same time of day, same tide level, directly into a red sun?

Coincidences in their characters came next: both learned art from their parents, at university they looked and dressed like twins, graduated with first class honours in Natural History, won prizes in diving, taught Sunday schools, and worked with teams

investigating grouse declines in Scotland.  Following in Wilson's footsteps leads to a new appreciation of the necessity to understand things; to find reasons for beauty, music, art, and poetry; philosophy, religion, and the occult. Can we solve the problem of finding any acceptable future for humanity?

John Flux the author of this book was born 1934 in Maymyo, Burma; moved to Channel Islands, UK, 1939 -1940; Scotland 1940-1960. At school (Mackie Academy, Stonehaven) no biology was taught, but in the final year 2 hours every Friday was spent on Hamlet. After a BSc and PhD at Aberdeen university, John joined Ecology Division DSIR in 1960 to study hares at night. To occupy the day, a starling study began in 1970. Apart from papers on these, as an old-style naturalist he has published on trout, grouse, swallows, thrushes, blackbirds, wallabies, butterflies, cats, pigeons, possums, rats;  fleas, ticks, and seed burrs carried;  leaf shapes and colour, tree-trunk diameter, by-the-wind sailors, bird-nest/plant mutualism, dandelions, lichens, wool-carder bees, harriers on road-kill, colour-blindness, moth evolution, bird spacing, and "Biogeographic theory and the number and habitat of moas"