"Nature is always full of surprises – whether it’s the strange behaviour of clothes moths or the gruesome larder of the shrike.
Stephen Moss, naturalist, co-author of the award-winning Tweet of The Day and award-winning producer of Springwatch and Britain’s Big Wildlife Revival, takes us on a year-long journey from encounters with the curious black redstart, which winters on our rocky coasts, to the early morning autumn mist of London’s Richmond Park where male red deer lock horns in competition for a mate."
Day Two of my three days at this year's Budleigh Literary Festival and what a lovely, warm and welcoming bookish atmosphere there is around the town. My head is filling up with inspiration and ideas and enthusiasm which I will be squirrelling away for those winter months when I return from spring time in New Zealand to the clocks going back and the dark.
Much as I love it, it's high time I found a new book to read alongside Roger Deakin's Notes From Walnut Tree Farm for my regular dose of outdoor reading. I've been reverting to the same book every year since it was published, I am word-perfect on Roger's year and the book is littered with little diary marginalia of my own. Anyway, I think I might have cracked it...
In collaboration with Brett Westwood, Stephen Moss ( I wrote about Wild Kingdom as part of the Wainwright reading) has written a beautiful book with an entry for each day of the year on Britain's wildlife, with something to 'see' every day.
Once a BBC producer of Springwatch, Stephen is now course leader on the MA in Nature & Travel Writing at Bath Spa University and he talked persuasively about the connections between nature and memory that so many of us have shared discussions about here in the past. How those childhood experiences, and the associated wonder, can be recalled as an adult by the same sighting.
We all smiled at the suggestion that sometimes 'the very best nature can be found in the car park' and how people might feel 'nature averse' and uninformed but in fact it's about attitude and making the effort.
I didn't get to ask a question but if I had it would have been about recommendations for learning birdsong. I'm still bird-confused, but suspect it's about 'attitude' and 'making the effort' on my part, and I know you have all offered sage advice in the past but please could you offer it again?
Meanwhile Wonderland will be on my Christmas list because, like Stephen Moss, I want to start with a clean nature slate next January and see what I see.
Recent Comments