Goshawk Summer: The Diary of an Extraordinary Season in the Forest - WINNER OF THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING 2022

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For most, the tangled web of a forest canopy is a dangerous, impenetrable barrier. Even a peregrine wouldn’t enter it at speed. Yet – as we have come to see – goshawks aren’t like other birds. I have always had a special place in my heart for birds, birdwatching, and learning as much about avian species as possible, and boy is there a lifetime of learning involved. So begins a spring and summer of studying these birds in perfect peace, as well as the pain and pleasure of climbing 50 feet up in the air to sit in a cramped hide all day to film a pair of Goshawks. He managed to get 400 hours of filming in the end. But there is much more to that book than this. He takes time away from the Goshawks to see Curlews, a much-endangered species as well as filming a family of fox cubs in a ditch near where their earth is.

Goshawk Summer: The Diary of an Extraordinary Book Review: Goshawk Summer: The Diary of an Extraordinary

For such a large bird they can be particularly elusive and secretive and can remain in an area for some time without being detected by the casual observer. However at certain times of the year they can be very noisy, in the spring when they are establishing their nesting territory and also in the late summer when fledged young are calling for food.During the many highs and lows that flowed through the narrative, you could feel the tension, anxiety and joy of his experiences with this beautiful creature. (And plenty of other natural wildlife into the bargain). The timeline gives the reader a marvellous insight into the habits of this beautiful bird, and the authors' diary is an excellent read. This detail reveals an intimacy, formed between the photographer and his subject, which comes across in the text and transports the reader to the hide and the unfolding drama of this Goshawk breeding attempt. This intimacy is perhaps most evident in a passage describing how the author exits the hide at the end of a filming session. Aided by a colleague who walks in below, he has to judge the sitting bird’s response and you can feel the tension growing as he plans his exit under the bird’s fierce glare. It is a wonderful moment, and one of many throughout this engaging book. Petty, S.J. (1996). History of Northern Goshawk Accipiter gentilisin Britain. InHolmes, J.S. and Simons, J.R. (Eds.). The Introduction and Naturalisation of Birds. The Stationery Office, London. Pp. 95-102.

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Compare this to other Wainwright nominated books, for example Lee Schofield’s Wild Fell: Fighting For Nature On A Lake District Hill Farm, and it is evident that the latter has balance and compromise. Aldred comes across more as a diatribe.

The goshawk used to be widespread throughout Great Britain but became extinct in the late 19th century due to deforestation followed by relentless persecution. I didn’t enjoy Aldred’s writing style though I do respect that his work and painstaking collection of data. I hadn’t planned to read it. I wasn’t enticed by the ‘pandemic’ tag from the publisher, but it won the Wainwright Nature Prize, and it became harder not to.

Goshawk Summer: The Diary of an Extraordinary Season in the

The goshawk. Steel grey, the colour of chainmail. Sharp as a sword. A medieval bird for a medieval forest. A timeless scene..." Here in Wales we have 4 local territories 2 regularly used and breedi8ng successful most years when the local pheasant keepers leave them alone. They are hated by many keepers and suffer heavy persecution. We probably have habitat in the UK for thousands of pairs but in many areas any birds away from big forestry are easily killed with the right traps, poison or guns.

The book, as you might expect, has a pretty single-minded focus. Yet there are plenty of asides into other topics like the history of the New Forest, or the population fluxes of different bird species, which I found myself relishing and appreciating. Aldred teaches the reader by stealth, and the science he slips in is never overwhelming. The narrative flows effortlessly.

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Over the past months of the pandemic I think some of us have been privileged to discover something of the beauty of the natural world and the calm mindfulness of walking in woodland, admiring the sounds of birds and the soft whisper of the wind in the trees. Whilst I didn't discover a Goshawk nest I did marvel at seeing things in nature I hadn't seen before, like watching a huge murmuration of starlings in the early dusk of a winter afternoon, and being in awe of the magnitude and magic of a natural spectacle of nature. He got to know which birds frequented each tree and what their alarm calls were. “You can work out what they are telling other birds in the wood. And if you can break that code, then they can actually inform you when there’s a predator around.” His passion for filming all types of animals takes him to East Africa to a cheetah family, baby cubs and lions. Award-winning documentary film-maker James Aldred spent the spring and summer of 2020 filming Goshawks in the New Forest, his childhood home. This book, presented in an extended diary form, catalogues the author’s time with the Goshawks and many of the Forest’s other inhabitants. The text is punchy, with short, sometimes staccato sentences and delivers a very personal take on these magnificent birds, and much else besides. The diary format means that the text jumps around a bit, presenting the reader with short accounts of other encounters – a swan on the A36, an active Buzzard nest down the slope from where he is filming – so don’t expect a developing central narrative. Having said that, this is still an interesting read, full of closely observed detail of Goshawk behaviour and the world of the wildlife film-maker.

I don’t see many Goshawks, and so I was interested to read about film cameraman James Aldred’s experiences filming this species for much of the spring and summer of 2020. Spending so much time with this bird would make it ‘a season unlike any other’ for most of us but it was also a season of covid for our world, although the Goshawks would have been oblivious to that. Wo sonst Scharen von Tagestouristen unterwegs sind, gab es plötzlich nur noch ihn, seinen Kameramann und den Ranger. Auf der einen Seite waren es perfekte Bedingungen weil sie ungestört waren, Auf der anderen Seite fielen die drei Männer so aber den Vögeln mehr auf, eben weil sie die einzigen waren, die sich im Wald aufhielten und so unter ständiger Beobachtung standen. Francis, I. and Cook, M. (2011). (Eds.). The Breeding Birds of Northeast Scotland. Scottish Ornithologists� Club, Aberdeen.