He studied physical geography (BSc) and holds a PhD from the University of London (early 1960s) on the vegetation history of Dartmoor.

His work also encompasses the long-term effects of human manipulation of the natural environment and its consequences for resource use and environmental change.

This line of work resulted in his last three books, which looked at environmental history on three nested scales: the moorlands of England and Wales, Great Britain, and the Globe.

Each dealt with the last 10,000 years and tried to encompassboth conventional science-based data with the insights of the social sciences and humanities.

Since retirement he has worked on the landscape history of the area of East Lincolnshire where he was a war-time evacuee and has published some papers on the medieval economy and drainage as well as a wide-ranging website at www.dur.ac.uk/east-lincs-history