Category: Book review

This is a monumental book of over 600 pages. It is everything one would expect from one of the UK’s greatest ornithologists; breadth, depth and clarity. This book, the author stresses, is about the uplands and about birds, but it isn’t just about upland birds. That’s true, but it is very birdy nonetheless. It acts…

This book reminds me strongly of Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac which is a classic of the ecological literature, and I can think of no better comparison to give you an idea of its content and of this book’s quality and worth. Like Leopold’s book, this book is set largely in the area where…

This is essentially an alphabetical list of species names and a few other rural terms. What’s in a name? If I told you that I get Apple Birds, Aizacks, Woofells and Wrannocks in my garden, as well as Spadgers and Jacobs would you still be with me? Well, I do. These old, largely unused, mostly…

This book goes straight into my shortlist of books of the year for 2020: no doubt about it. I wish I had written this book but since I didn’t, I’m very glad that someone else did so that I could read it. I guess I am sounding enthusuastic about it – I am. It’s a…

Here in east Northants we are a bit lacking in coastal habitats and my nearest coast is muddy and sandy rather than rocky. If I lived at the coast I would love to explore the wildlife making its living, or temporarily made captive in the pools between the tidelines. As the author explains here so…