EAST Anglia has had a long tradition of nature writing.

From writers such as Ronald Blythe to Richard Mabey and of course J A Baker and his widely influential book The Peregrine, it's incredible what a wealth of talent has been unearthed in what some may regard as a rather uninspiring landscape.

At the heart of uncovering a new generation of nature writers is Essex University and its Wild Writing course, of which I got a taster of earlier this year at one of the Essex Book Festival's writer's labs.

The MA in Wild Writing explores the literature of landscape, the environment and the natural world, as well as the landscapes of Essex and East Anglia both within the seminar room and beyond.

Set up in 2009 it is led by Dr James Canton, who did his Phd at Essex in travel writing.

He has run many workshops to encourage writing on nature and landscape, and worked on Radio 4 exploring the writing and landscapes of Essex such as for ‘Something Understood’ on John Clare and Epping Forest and ‘Open Country’ on Tollesbury Wick and literary Essex.

His book Out of Essex: Re-Imagining a Literary Landscape was inspired by his rural wanderings in the county while his latest work, Ancient Wonderings: Journeys into Prehistoric Britain, is due out, published by Collins, in June this year.

James says: "I think what we realised very quickly with this course is the significance of being in situ and as such the field trip has become one of the most important elements."

Trips to Ray Island on Mersea or even Tilbury and Canvey Island may not sound the most exotic places on earth but James reminds me one of the most popular nature books of all time is The Peregrine, set in Chelmsford, where Baker lived all his life.

"He's one of the world's leading figures," James adds, "and he's from here. We now have Baker's archive at the university, which is an incredible resource, and I think it's fair to say that wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the Wild Writing course."

And whose to say where the next Baker will come from.

"We've had a good deal of success," James tells me, "especially in the emergence of a female voice. We've always had a good volume of female nature writers on this course and I'm hoping the publishing world will soon reflect that."

Previous students include Elaine Ewart, who in 2012 was appointed the first Fenland Poet Laureate. Other students are currently writers in resident in Powis mid-Wales and on an island in the Bristol Channel.

Two other Wild Writing students, Melinda Appleby and Elizabeth Lee Reynolds, have also recently contributed to local publishers Dunlin Press' latest work, Migrant Waders.

"I would say the student make-up is about half local and half international," James says. "We have people from all over the world come here to take the course because there is nothing like it anywhere else but I'm also delighted it is continuing that fine tradition of East Anglian-based nature writers as well."

? For more information about the course, go to www.essex.ac.uk/courses/ and search 'Wild Writing'