This is the untold story of the hidden deserts of Europe. Scattered across the lowlands of this green subcontinent, these sandy and infertile wildernesses are ‘cold deserts’. In existence for millennia and formerly much more extensive, they present arid landscapes profoundly different from their surroundings and offer refuge for scarce flora and fauna with nowhere else to go. Fascinating and often magical, such places provide a rare glimpse of our planet in the raw, where extreme environmental conditions are the norm.

Few recognise or value Europe’s deserts as the precious and threatened relict ecosystems that they are. Unknown, uninhabited and seldom regarded as places of beauty, our knowledge of their origins and the roles that these ‘wastelands’ once played in economies and societies is remarkably scant. Frequently poverty-stricken regions, many had reputations as undesirable and even dangerous places. Despite this, they have held a particular place in the human imagination, inspiring artists, writers and poets, including Shakespeare. Nonetheless, vast expanses of these unique habitats have been ‘reclaimed’ for farming, forestry and urban development.

Chapters explore remote tracts in Spain, France, the Netherlands, Britain, Romania, Germany, Poland and Iceland. Such heathlands and badlands are islands of biodiversity on a highly developed subcontinent, where specialised wildlife including the Great Bustard and Stone-curlew, the Adder and Large Blue butterfly, Juniper and Grey Hair-grass all flourish. Accessible, provocative and richly illustrated, this groundbreaking book will transform ideas about these landscapes. An essential volume for anyone interested in nature recovery and rewilding.