Category: Book review

This is David Elias’s first book and it is a cracker. The name might ring a bell with readers of this blog as he wrote a guest blog here almost five years ago (Dead from the neck down). This is a thoughtful, knowledgeable and loving account of upland Wales, its wildlife and its land use….

I have reviewed several of Stephen Moss’s books here (Tweet of the Day (with Brett Westwood) 2014; Natural Histories (with Brett Westwood) 2015; Wild Kingdom, 2016; The Twelve Birds of Christmas, 2019; The Accidental Countryside, 2020; The Swallow, 2021; Skylarks with Rosie, 2021) and enjoyed them all. They vary in depth and scope but are…

This book will sit snugly in many National Trust shops. It takes you through the seasons and points you towards things you should see, hear, smell and feel. Almost the first thing to look for is your first Brimstone butterfly – I’ve seen a few in the last 10 days so it must be early…

This book wouldn’t be everybody’s cup of tea but I enjoyed it. The author has already created a bit of a Twitter storm by offending some readers with  remarks that were definitely not politically correct. I have only read the expurgated version so I am mostly unsighted on what has been removed. It would still…

This is the tale of a wild goose chase although the chase isn’t that wild as it is mostly carried out on an old red bicycle (I liked hearing about the bicycle) and not all of the geese are completely wild either. The author cycles around north Norfolk during the winter and describes his encounters…