Since embarking on this project, Thornbury has immersed herself - almost literally! - in her topic. She has paddled coracles and kayaks on many of the lakes and rivers in Britain, gone spelunking in Wales, climbed mountains in Cumbria and Scotland and participated in archaeological digs in England. A lifetime of botanizing and birding, ten years as staff artist and naturalist at an environmental education center in New Jersey and twenty-five years as Senior Principal Exhibit Preparator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York have also helped her accurately describe the natural world.
