The Fresh and the Salt

The Story of the Solway

Ann Lingard

"Beautiful, intensely visual prose, born from deep intimacy with subtle borderlands: land and sea, England and Scotland, people and environments." —David Gange, author of The Frayed Atlantic Edge

Firths and estuaries are liminal places, where land meets sea and tides meet freshwater. Their unique ecosystems support a huge range of marine and other wildlife: human activity too is profoundly influenced by their waters and shores.

The Solway Firth—the crooked finger of water that both unites and divides Scotland and England—is a beautiful yet unpredictable place and one of the least-industrialized natural large estuaries in Europe. Its history, geology and turbulent character have long affected the way its inhabitants, both human and non-human, have learnt to live along and within its ever-changing margins.

"Lingard's scientific knowledge of the area and its multitudinous inhabitants [is] delivered in riveting prose. This is deep and beautiful natural history writing." — BBC Countryfile Magazine



"Like a hungry gull, Ann Lingard explores her beloved Solway shoreline for every living detail that catches her eye. In so doing she has created a portrait of this nation-cleaving water that is as broad and deep as the estuary itself." —Mark Cocker, author of Birds & People

"A kaleidoscopic portrait of the borders of the land." — Cumbria Life

"Lingard writes vividly about this estuary . . . an excellent point of reference for locals, visitors and for those simply intrigued by this lesser-known corner of Scotland." — Scottish Field

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Plates
• Map: The Solway Firth
• Introduction
• 1. Invertebrates on the edges
• 2. ‘Changeable depths’
• 3. Ships and seaweeds
• 4. Marshes and merses
• 5. Peat
• 6. Red
• 7. Mud life
• 8. Seafood
• 9. Changing times
• References
• Notes
• Acknowledgements
• Index