This Living House by George Ordish

This was a re-read for me, and a good one.  It lacked the surprise of herb-and-pepper rub but retained the meaty, succulent core.

Simply put, it tells the natural history of a house.  An English country house built in 1555 and occupied more or less continuously until 1985 (and, presumably, now).  The environment was dominated by Homo Sapiens most of the time, as Mr. Ordish describes, but oh!  Human beings are such a minor part of it all!  Humans built it, but the first inhabitants were the wood-borers: Lyctos beetles, furniture beetles, and ambrosia beetles.  As the house began to age, the death-watch beetles visited, waiting for the right time to invade.  And that's just the second chapter.

Earwigs, mice, clothes moths, springtails, flies, swallows, cats--only six out of a menagerie of critters who made their home at Barton's End.  And they're all in this book.

The author, George Ordish, is listed as an "economic entymologist".  He's written a companion volume called The Living Garden.  I want.