Category: Book review

Stephen Moss is a naturalist, author and, until recently, a course leader of the MA in Travel & Nature Writing at Bath Spa University. Here is his annual round-up of books about wildlife, nature and the environment which was formerly published by The Guardian but this is the sixth year it has appeared on this…

This biography of a very distinguished conservationist and politician was written by the subject’s great great nephew. It charts the journey of George McLean (1857-1932) from the family farm in Connecticut to a political career as a Republican Governor of his home state and an 18-year spell in the Senate (1911-29). Those dates show that…

This is a lovely well-written book, but it is only tangentially a wildlife and nature book so I’ll use a few words to tell you about it and leave it at that. The author walks through some of the most attractive parts of Scotland, although mostly in rather dreary autumn weather, and tracks down places…

This is the companion book to the recent TV series. Reading its pages didn’t really take me back to the wonderful moving images of the TV episodes and, I’m afraid, it didn’t take me on very far. There are many great images, and quite a few moving passages of words, but it seemed to me…

This is the story of the recovery of Grey Partridge on the Duke of Norfolk’s land at Peppering on the South Downs (that’s Arundel Castle on the cover). It is a beautifully written tale (by Roger Morgan-Grenville) of a successful species recovery project based on the landowner’s enthusiasm for having a wild partridge shoot for…