Bird School: A Beginner in the Wood

“After the publication of so many nature books that shoehorn in ill-fitting narratives of personal crisis and growth, [Bird School] makes a refreshing change. Wrens, robins, buzzards, blackbirds and tits come to bird school to teach lessons about themselves alone: how they breed, fly, navigate, why they sing…Britain, it seems, is a nation of bird lovers who don’t know how to love. Bird School is not a bad place to start learning' 'Deeply satisfying… a worthy addition to a literary lineage that stretches back to the 18th-century writer and naturalist Gilbert White…Bird School, then, is a fitting title: we should learn to rekindle our enduring love affair with birds, before they vanish from our sight' Daily Telegraph 'Bird School is a woodland-bird counterpart to his prizewinning The Seabird’s Cry, about the ten oceanic species that breed on the Hebridean Shiant Isles. This book is broader in scope, to match its subject and audience, and similarly combines vivid eyewitness accounts with facts and figures… full of manifold erudition and, like his previous bird book, avian vulnerability, which increases globally and relentlessly' The Oldie ‘Bird School is a feast for mind and soul, a treasure trove of insights into the enigmatic and enchanting world of the birds we share our lives with but barely notice. I have learnt so much. Every page is a thrill. Bird School has opened my eyes' Isabella Tree, author of Wilding 'A joyous journey of discovery! Bird School is a natural history tour de force and an impressive blend of the personal, scientific and cultural' Tristan Gooley, The Natural Navigator and bestselling author of How to Read a Tree 'A wonderful synthesis of patient fieldwork, science and spirit of inquiry. Bird School is a book which is tuned to the beauty, fragility and wonder of birds. As moving as it is fascinating, it is also a deeply inspiring work which made me see and appreciate the birds anew' James Macdonald Lockhart, author of Wild Air