"Sitting in July on the cliffs at the Butt of Lewis, at the north end of the Western Isles, watching Grey Seals feeding in the sea below and passing flights of Gannets, with carpets of Ragged Robin on the slopes behind me and the wonderful music of the Hebridean Celtic Music Festival still ringing in my ears, I was stuck yet again by the extraordinary diversity of these British islands. It helps to explain the diversity of our peoples and our cultures, and the endless variety that sustains the pages of British Wildlife."