Park Life: The Memoirs of a Royal Parks Gamekeeper

‘Retire? You can’t retire!’, Sir David Attenborough told John Bartram, when the man who has been gamekeeper and senior wildlife officer for Richmond Park for the past thirty years announced his intention to step away from the role, bidding farewell to the iconic park which has been his home, the backdrop for a career many would give anything for, and a way of life for so long. During a career spanning four decades John has been the behind-the-scenes mastermind ensuring the welfare and maintenance of Richmond Park’s world-famous herd of deer – widely thought of as the finest herd in captivity. Working with these fabled creatures has demanded balancing their needs with the very real, and often fatal, dangers the park’s visitors pose to his herd, and John pulls no punches when it comes to his opinion on the deer’s place in the scheme of things, the human ‘invaders’ and the collision of their two worlds. A remarkable diary chronicling the final year of John’s charmed life as the guardian of Richmond Park, this memoir tells of the unique demands of each new season, and of the enormous wrench he will feel upon no longer waking up in the midst of so much unchanged and wild beauty.Park Life is a treasure trove of stories and memories, some poignant and moving, others offbeat and hilarious: from the quirk of fate and farcical interview that led to him getting the job, to living in close-quarters with the deer, the tragedy of putting down fatally wounded animals, and the annual ritual of the rut – as dependable as the rising and setting of the sun.