Book Review by Jenny Mercer

This is a book about the Curlew of the British Isles, their past, present and future. It is estimated that Great Britain and Ireland are currently estimated to hold one quarter of the world’s breeding Eurasian curlew. The birds’ breeding numbers have halved in the last 20 years, in the UK, and it is estimated that a 90% plus decline has occurred in Ireland. Read more in the April 2020 edition of the Magpie

Book Review by Ian Saunders

George Gibbs is a retired University lecturer and entomologist, based in Australia. This is the most authoritative book available on the wildlife of New Zealand, and how it came to be. Read More

Book Review by Mike LeRoy

This is a book full of unusual photos. They are all of bird nests and bird eggs, but there is not a bird to be seen. It is not an ecological study, but it has ecological insights. It is not a history of egg collecting but there is fascinating history within it. The variety of nests illustrates the extraordinary variety of life: different shapes and a wide range of materials, displaying the skills of their nest-builders. Read More

Book Review by Mike LeRoy

Mike LeRoy has written a review of a new book by Richard Lewington which was published in February:  Pocket Guide to the Bumblebees of Great Britain and Ireland (Bloomsbury 2023)

Mike says: “Bumblebees look as though they should be easy to identify, but often they are not. This new book is far better at aiding accurate identification than any I have ever used – which is many!”

The full review is can be found here: Pocket-Guide-Bumblebees-Book-Review

Learning more about bumblebees to enable you to identify them will be a good basis for then sending in your Sightings and submitting them as records.

Book Review by Mike LeRoy

At least two MKNHS members came across grounded swifts this summer and wondered what to do. There is good advice available and a few dedicated volunteers who care for swifts in trouble, but there is bad advice too.  Read More

Book Review by Julie Lane

I thought you might be interested to read the following book which gives an insight into the natural history of the area where I now live.

Lee is my son-in-law’s colleague and they both work at the RSPB’s Haweswater Reserve. Lee came to their wedding a couple of years ago and played the guitar and sang wonderfully which was a great treat. He is a humble modest man but very likeable and extremely knowledgeable about the wildlife of the Lake District.  His book is brave, poignant and ultimately hopeful.

I grew up visiting the Lake District regularly for holidays but over the years the pressures on this beautiful place have increased exponentially. Overgrazing of the fells, pollution of the lakes and also the huge numbers of tourists who visit every year have resulted in a degraded landscape with very little wildlife.

This book is an appeal and a justification for change by a man who really knows his subject. He has been working with others to trial and refine ways to run a viable upland farm in a manner that enriches the landscape in Haweswater and allows nature to creep back slowly but surely. He describes how by planting trees, re-wetting peat bogs and re-wiggling rivers they are slowly making progress. It is understandably not easy for other land managers such as farmers who have lived in the area for generations to accept these changes as a necessary movement towards a healthier more sustainable and ultimately more productive landscape. But Lee looks into the pressures they have faced and the confusing and changing political landscape they have had to contend with and is always broad minded in his writing.

This book has a serious message but is also a fascinating and enjoyable read about the wildlife to be found and the characters who work in this corner of the Lake District. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and alongside James Rebanks’ two books A Shepherd’s Life and English Pastoral, I think you get a very balanced view of the pressures and challenges of farming in this beautiful corner of our country as well as a lot of background as to how we have got ourselves into our present nature-depleted state.