John Lewis-Stempel won the Thwaites Wainwright Prize last night for what he called his “love letter” to the hay meadow, Meadowland.  In his acceptance speech, he took the opportunity to speak out against “the ecological holocaust” taking place in the countryside, in which 97 per cent of Britain’s hay meadows have disappeared as a result of intensive farming since the 1930s, and said he hoped his book would “act as a wake-up call”.

As for advice on nature writing, his best tip was: “Go outside, and stay there.”