India Bourke, New Statesman – If the British conservation movement were a forest, Mark Avery would be one of the ancient oaks… His latest book, Reflections, now pours that experience into a mission statement for all those who claim to prize UK wildlife. From the daisies he mows around on his lawn to the spiders in his bath, Avery’s love of the creeping, crawling, soaring world is evident on every page.
Stephen Moss – A timely, brutally honest, yet inspiring account on what has gone wrong with wildlife conservation, and how we can put it right.
Karen Jones, Birdwatch: Reflections is a great book – intimate and expansive, personal and political… it is hard, sometimes, to find a place of agency and grounds for optimism. To his credit, Mark Avery manages both, and much more besides.
Patrick Barkham – A clarion call for more nature in Britain and how we can get it. Wise, knowledgeable, provocative and good humoured – Mark Avery is a national treasure.
Beccy Speight – Deeply felt and clear eyed, this book admirably achieves its aim of being ‘realistically hopeful’ about a wildlife renaissance and what it will take for us to get there. You don’t have to agree with all its conclusions. But the questions it intelligently explores, based on a lifetime of experience in conservation, of ‘what sort of world do we want to live in?’ and ‘what should I do about it, then?’ are the essential ones of our times. Read it and be both enlightened and challenged.
Derek Gow – A brilliant, thorough book full of insightful observation. A must read for those who care about natures future and wish to understand the character of our contorted relationship with it.
Chris Townsend, Outdoors – informative, inspiring, and optimistic, something we need right now.
John Miles, Birdwatching – *Book of the Month* If you’re interested in the politics of conservation, and what it means in practical terms, then this is for you.