Ray Mears has accumulated his tracking skills over 35 years of practice in the field all across the world, from tracking the snow leopard in China to tracing dinosaurs on the south coast of England. Although he’s known as a TV presenter, he also works in a confidential capacity as a consultant to the police and other agencies. Here, he draws deeply from every avenue of an extraordinary life’s work, and passes on all that hard-earned expertise for the first time.

Illustrated throughout and including clear instructions interlaced with Ray’s own inspiring first-hand experiences, this book offers you a thrilling self-education in the art of tracking. Part 1, Basic Tracking, will give you the tools to identify tracks. In Part 2, Intermediate Tracking, you will learn how to follow sign left behind and in Part 3, Operational Tracking, you’ll start to piece together a fascinating wider picture of the specific circumstances around trails.

Outdoor Tracking Handbook is the only authoritative but accessible and practical manual of its kind. Here you have not only a go-to reference for professionals, from naturalists to police and military operatives, but also an essential guide for enthusiasts who want to discover the outdoors in a new way, and read the secret stories of animals and birds in the tracks they leave behind.

With deep natural history knowledge and practical woodcraft skills, gained over a lifetime of learning from the world’s last remaining indigenous peoples, Ray offers a different way to experience our wooded landscapes. He challenges the old concepts. He looks to our ancestors and shows how man’s hand in shaping woodland is critical. We are not separate from nature, we just need to ensure that our interactions have a positive impact.

With the emphasis on interaction, British Woodland is structured by usage. We learn that sycamore and clematis are among the best woods for burning, pine and oak help us navigate, and hawthorn and beech have edible leaves. Rope can be made from willow, utensils and tools from hazel, and historically, weapons were made from yew and wych elm.

With Ray as our guide, encouraging this sense of connection to individual trees, our appreciation of wooded landscapes will change. We can learn how to live inclusively in nature, for our own wellbeing and enjoyment, and also for the future of our planet.

With deep natural history knowledge and practical woodcraft skills, gained over a lifetime of learning from the world’s last remaining indigenous peoples, Ray offers a different way to experience our wooded landscapes. He challenges the old concepts. He looks to our ancestors and shows how man’s hand in shaping woodland is critical. We are not separate from nature, we just need to ensure that our interactions have a positive impact.

With the emphasis on interaction, British Woodland is structured by usage. We learn that sycamore and clematis are among the best woods for burning, pine and oak help us navigate, and hawthorn and beech have edible leaves. Rope can be made from willow, utensils and tools from hazel, and historically, weapons were made from yew and wych elm.

With Ray as our guide, encouraging this sense of connection to individual trees, our appreciation of wooded landscapes will change. We can learn how to live inclusively in nature, for our own wellbeing and enjoyment, and also for the future of our planet.