NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

I'm a sucker for books, particularly of natural history books, and especially those that could be termed as having a literary bent. In recent years the market has been flooded with them, coining the phrase 'new nature writing'. One of the architects of such works, Mark Cocker, has written an interesting piece about this subject for the New Statesmen. You can find it easily by clicking here. My bedside table currently has three natural history books awaiting my attention: The Natural History of Selborne (Gilbert White), Island Going (Robert Atkinson - thanks Pete!) and Common Ground (Rob Cowen). Two of these are works from many years ago. Whether or not I am largely an avid reader of such publications because they invoke a sense of nostalgia is a moot point - but the prerequisite of any book worthy of my (or your) attention should be that they are well written. I think it is fair to say that the level of penmanship in this particular field of subject is very high indeed...

I've been keeping notes since 1974. A field notebook as a starting point, then the days counts, highlights and descriptions being transferred into a 'posh' hard-backed volume. Or computerised. I've switched between using the computer (soulless) to paper (organic) a few times, but ease and laziness has dictated that, for the moment, the keyboard and screen wins. My enthusiasm of youth spawned rambling narrative over several pages. My impatient middle-age can turn a day into a list of names and numbers. Most unsatisfactory. I've even considered giving up taking notes - but this knee-jerk reaction has been kept at bay so far. After all, I don't want to lose my 40 years of consecutive record, even if, when I die, it is all consigned to a skip. But I am still questioning what I write (or type) and why I do it. The internet has made the sending in of information much easier. I no longer refer to my notes at the end of a given year to collate the records to send to...

If you go into any bookshop in the country at the moment, and head for the 'Natural History' section, you will notice a sea-change amongst the books upon the shelves. There is an increasing percentage of these books being taken up by the 'new wave/dawn' of nature writing. The good old fashioned field guides are being elbowed out by the demand for personal observations on nature that are drenched in literary worthiness. Most of this is a good thing. I have recently read 'Fire Season' by Philip Connors and am currently reading 'Edgelands' by Paul Farley and Michael Symmons Roberts. They are both part autobiographical, part observational and part educational, but they are not books to help you identify anything in the field, although you could claim that it helps you identify with fellow human beings who see deeper into nature than most people do. There is also, piggybacking along with this new movement, a sudden mania for reprinting older works of a simi...