I have been interested in natural history since my early childhood. A bit later I discovered photography and much later writing. Eventually I was lucky enough to combine the three and make a living from it. Over the past 20 years I have been working with conservation groups in Ireland, have published over 20 books, and more recently started developing and managing conservation projects.
Ireland, that small island at the edge of Europe, is a treasure chest for nature lovers. Its coastal waters are among the best in Europe to see whales and dolphins. Its coast showcases sandy beaches, rocky shores, sheer cliffs, mudflats, salt marshes, and the rare Atlantic Rainforests. Further inland you will find wide peatlands, mountain ranges, and the famous checkerboard landscape of fields and hedgerows, all home to a staggering variety of wildlife.
The Crossbill Guide to Ireland is part of the Crossbill series of natural history guidebooks and covers the entire island of Ireland. It offers background information on geology, habitats, flora & fauna, and a selection of walking & touring routes, plus tips on finding and watching all kinds of wildlife.
The Burren is a limestone karst landscape in the west of Ireland, not too far away from where I live, and one of the reasons I settled in Ireland. This area is unlike anything you would expect in Ireland and blends a stark but beautiful landscape and unique flora and fauna. Gordon D’Arcy is an artist, author, and naturalist and has been exploring the Burren since the 1970s. This book is an accumulation of memories mixed with stories on the Burren’s natural heritage and its wild inhabitants and is illustrated with Gordon’s mesmerizing watercolors. Of all the books on the Burren I have read, this one truly captures the heart and soul of the area.
Celebrates the flora, the fauna, the people, and the places of the Burren region of Ireland with stories and original watercolors that convey a deep affection and intimacy for the land. First captivated by the Burren in the early 1970s, D'Arcy has spent
I have followed Adam Nicolson ever since he published his memoirs on the Shiant Islands, a cluster of Hebridean islands, he had inherited from his father. This book is somewhat of a sequel to “Sea Room” and dedicated to the feathered ocean travelers of the north Atlantic. Because I live on the coast myself and only a short drive away from my own bird colonies I was looking very forward to this book. Natural history books can be a bit boring, but Adam Nicolson manages to intertwine his own love for these birds – puffins, gannets, fulmars, kittiwakes, guillemots, and others – with the latest scientific research on the always fascinating and now more than ever often difficult lives of these animals. It’s one of the rare books that leaves you educated, entertained, and longing for more.
Enter ancient lands of wind and waves where the planet’s greatest flyers battle for survival.
As the only creatures at home on land, at sea, and in the air, seabirds have evolved to thrive in the most demanding environment on Earth.
In The Seabird’s Cry, Adam Nicolson travels ocean paths, fusing traditional knowledge with astonishing facts science has recently learned about these creatures: the way their bodies actually work, their dazzling navigational skills, their ability to smell their way to fish or home and to understand the discipline of the winds upon which they depend.
I must admit that as I am writing this, I am still reading the book. Nevertheless, for me this is already one of the best and most important natural history books ever written and the research Ed Young must have put into it is “immense”. The book deals with how animals experience their environment, their “Umwelt”, through a variety of senses. Ed Young manages to present the often-complicated subject matter in an entertaining and even humorous way, yet the book is packed with an “immense” amount of information and the latest scientific research. The only critique I have is the “immense” number of footnotes that disrupt the flow of the book a bit, which is unnecessary as these footnotes are all as interesting as the main text.
'Wonderful, mind-broadening... a journey to alternative realities as extraordinary as any you'll find in science fiction' The Times, Book of the Week
'Magnificent' Guardian
Enter a new dimension - the world as it is truly perceived by other animals.
The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every animal is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving only a tiny sliver of an immense world. This book welcomes us into previously unfathomable dimensions - the world as it is truly perceived by other animals.
This book is an eye-opener. Isabella Tree and her husband Charlie were farming a 3.500-acre farm in West Sussex, England in the nowadays common intensive way. This drove them close to bankruptcy and in a desperate leap of faith they decided to give the entire farm back to nature. This book is their account of this journey, of transforming a vast area of farmland into a haven for nature while still making a living from it.
“Rewilding” has become a bit of a dirty word and one many are scared of. This book shows that “(Re-)Wilding” doesn’t mean humans have to give up land completely or are threatened by wild predators, it shows that we can successfully live with nature if we let nature take the helm and respect and work with natural processes instead against them.
'A poignant, practical and moving story of how to fix our broken land, this should be conservation's salvation; this should be its future; this is a new hope' - Chris Packham
In Wilding, Isabella Tree tells the story of the 'Knepp experiment', a pioneering rewilding project in West Sussex, using free-roaming grazing animals to create new habitats for wildlife. Part gripping memoir, part fascinating account of the ecology of our countryside, Wilding is, above all, an inspiring story of hope.
Winner of the Richard Jefferies Society and White Horse Book Shop Literary Prize.
This is the book that kindled my interest in natural history and ecology. It was published in the early 1960s and probably the first widely read book on nature conservation. The work of Bernhard Grizmek and his son Michael (who died during the project in a plane crash) was vital in getting the plains of the Serengeti and their inhabitants the protection status they deserve and even over half a century later the book is a thrilling and interesting read.
Wir müssen fliegen lernen. Diese Worte des 23-jährigen Wildtierenthusiasten Michael Grzimek, Sohn von Bernhard Grzimek, stehen am Anfang eines der ganz großen Abenteuer des internationalen Naturschutzes. Im Jahre 1957 fliegen Vater und Sohn mit ihrer Dornier-27 in Zebrastreifen-Lackierung nach Afrika, um das Wanderverhalten der großen Herden der Serengeti zu studieren, ihre Tierbestände zu erfassen und so die willkürliche Festlegung von Wildparkgrenzen zu verhindern. Eine legendäre Pioniertat. Während ihres Aufenthalts nähern sie sich nicht nur den Wildtieren, sondern suchen das Gespräch mit den Bewohnern der Steppe, und dies, anders als die Kolonialherren, von Gleich zu Gleich. Serengeti darf nicht sterben hat…
What happens when a novelist with a “razor-sharp wit” (Newsday), a “singular sensibility” (Huff Post), and a lifetime of fear about getting sick finds a lump where no lump should be? Months of medical mishaps, coded language, and Doctors who don't get it.
With wisdom, self-effacing wit, and the story-telling artistry of an acclaimed novelist, Elizabeth Benedict recollects her cancer diagnosis after discovering multiplying lumps in her armpit. In compact, explosive chapters, interspersed with moments of self-mocking levity, she chronicles her illness from muddled diagnosis to “natural remedies,” to debilitating treatments, as she gathers sustenance from family, an assortment of urbane friends, and a fearless “cancer guru.”
Rewriting Illness is suffused with suspense, secrets, and the unexpected solace of silence.
By turns somber and funny but above all provocative, Elizabeth Benedict's Rewriting Illness: A View of My Own is a most unconventional memoir. With wisdom, self-effacing wit, and the story-telling skills of a seasoned novelist, she brings to life her cancer diagnosis and committed hypochondria. As she discovers multiplying lumps in her armpit, she describes her initial terror, interspersed with moments of self-mocking levity as she indulges in "natural remedies," among them chanting Tibetan mantras, drinking shots of wheat grass, and finding medicinal properties in chocolate babka. She tracks the progression of her illness from muddled diagnosis to debilitating treatment…
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