Nature writing - any fellow fans?

[Crazzzycat]

I’ve been hanging around on the “what we’re reading” part of the site for a while, but don’t see many mentions of non-fiction. That got me thinking...I can’t be the only one who enjoys a good bit of nature/ natural history writing, can I?

So, I’m starting this thread to share what nature books I’ve read this year.
Does anyone wants to join me? Also if anyone has recommendations of great nature writing, or books to avoid, feel free to share!

What I’ve read so far:

1. Tide: The Science and Lore of the Greatest Force on Earth by Hugh Aldersley Williams

Part social science, part natural history, I LOVED this book for the breath of topics it covered. I’m not sure why it started with possibly the most tedious chapter ever written (an in-depth description of someone watching a full tidal cycle), but the rest of the book more than made it for it.

2. The genius of birds by Jennifer Ackerman

This should have been an interesting book on an interesting subject, but a bit too heavy on the science for me. The frequent mentions of experiments on birds also put my off.

Currently reading:

3. Curlew Moon by Mary Colwell
4. The Sea is Not Made of Water by Adam Nicolson

So many interesting suggestions on this thread! I’m so glad I started it ☺️

I’ve just finished The Sea is Not Made of Water by Adam Nicolson. It’s a difficult one to describe, but could be summarised as a man building a couple of rock pools and seeing what shows up in it. It’s a lot more than that though...

There were many things I loved about this book, especially the chapters that dealt with the animals living in the pools. I don’t think I’ll ever look at a rock pool, or a prawn or a limpit, in the same way again.

The chapters where Nicolson moves away from the rock pools and talks about the history and folklore of the bay where the pools are located were, in my opinion, a lot less interesting. In fact, I almost gave up at that point. Having said that, those chapters only make up a small part of the book, so I’d still recommend it. Plus some reviews I found online mention how much the readers love the way the book covers both natural and human history, so may be it’s just me that’s not quite getting it 🤷🏻‍♀️

Just finished A Wild Remedy which was quite good and reminded me of Bird Therapy by Joe Harkness.

Didn't get on with H is for Hawk - think there was too much about grief, the references to the Goshawk were ok as I had read that years ago. Entangled Life was interesting.

Can also recommend Wilding (though I did think the idea was a lot easy if you were landowners already with contacts etc), Stephen Rutt's Wintering (though he does moan about dark nights in Dumfries which is annoying if you live anywhere further north), Foxes Unearthed by Lucy Jones, Butterfly Isles by Patrick Barkham, Orchid Summer by Jon Dunn and The Orchid Hunter by Leif Bersweden. The last 3 are all "find all the UK species in a year" books - I think this is a male thing, I quite fancy it but can't afford to!

In the past I have enjoyed Gerald Durrell, Doreen Tovey's cat books and Faith Addis as well.

I finished another one:

5: The Seafarers - a journey among birds” by Stephen Rutt

Let me start by saying this was reasonably well written and a fairly enjoyable read.

It’s one of those books where the author travels around for weeks, or even months with the aim of seeing as many of his favourite species as possible. Seabirds in this particular case.

There’s a bit of information about some of the main threats these birds are facing, but not a huge amount of information about the birds themselves. It’s more about the journeys the author makes and, to a lesser extent, his own personal struggles.

I think the idea behind books like this is that they’re supposed to make us think “oh how lovely! If only I could take 6 months off and do the same”. As being stuck on a small, cold and damp island with only fulmars for company is pretty much my idea of hell, it’s safe to say that this book didn’t provoke any of those feelings in me 😄

I love Derek Jarman's Modern Nature journals.

@IceandIndigo

I really disliked H is for Hawk, I feel like I’m the only one.

You're not! I tried so hard to like it, and failed. Last year my DF bought Vesper Flights for my birthday, I had to try and look pleased.

I am currently reading a book by Peter Wohlleben called The Secret Network of Nature. Interestingly he had a crow visitor and later realised it had been leaving them gifts. I read Corvus a while ago.

I am also a big fan of Professor Dave Goulson who writes about insects, especially bees. His books are readable, fascinating and often extremely funny.

Derek Jarman's writing makes me look at landscapes I don't immediately appreciate in a different way. We've been to his house and garden on Romney Marsh, not 'pretty' but astounding, you need to look at it closely and widely.

I enjoy nature-writing, anything from more 'traditional' nature writing about wildlife or the seasons, to books on how land is used and could be made better for wildlife, and personal memoirs about overcoming adversity with the help of nature.

Some authors/books I've enjoyed, in no particular order:

• John Lewis-Stempel
• Patrick Barkham
• The Oak Papers by James Canton
• Irreplaceable by Julian Hoffman
• Underland by Robert Macfarlane
• Field Work: What Land Does to People & What People Do to Land by Bella Bathurst
• Rebirding by Benedict Macdonald
• The Accidental Countryside by Stephen Moss
• The Shepherd's Life and English Pastoral by James Rebanks
• Wilding by Isabella Tree
• The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd
• Waterlog by Roger Deakin
• The Outrun by Amy Liptrot (soon to be a film)
• I Am An Island by Tamsin Kalidas
• Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty
• Fingers in the Sparkle Jar by Chris Packham
• Our Place: Can We Save Britain’s Wildlife Before It Is Too Late? by Mark Cocker
• The Pull of the River by Matt Gaw
• Hugh Warwick
• Miriam Darlington (who was also the subject of a chapter in a book by Hugh Warwick)
• Neil Ansell
• Wild by Cheryl Strayed (perhaps not really nature-writing)

That’s a great list. Thanks for sharing @NobbyButtons

I finished another two books:

The oak papers by James Canton
The wisdom of trees by Max Adams

Both book are about trees, but that’s pretty much where the similarities end. To me, “The oak papers” read like an exercise in creative writing. I really wanted to like it, but it was all a bit too wishy washy for me. “The wisdom of trees” was almost the polar opposite, just fact after fact about trees and everything tree related. The author has so much knowledge and passion about this subject that it never gets dull and manages to cover a wide range of subjects; from ecology to archaeology to woodworking. I found it an absolutely fascinating book.