He has edited and introduced editions of Richard Jefferies, Gilbert White, Flora Thompson and Peter Matthiessen. His contributions to BBC radio include 'The Scientist and the Romantic', a series of five essays on his lifelong relationship with science and the natural environment broadcast in 'The Essay' on Radio 3 in 2009, and "Changing Climates", on our everyday experience of living with the weather, in 2013. Mabey was the first president of the London Wildlife Trust and later a Vice-president; Mabey's Meadow, named for him by the London Wildlife Trust, was one of his favourite haunts, and is described in his book "The Unofficial Countryside" (1974). It provides the only access to Frays Island in the River Colne.