A readers guide to nature
- hiddeninnaturedesi
- Apr 4, 2024
- 7 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
I sit beside the fire and think of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies in summers that have been;
Of yellow leaves and gossamer in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun and wind upon my hair.
~ J. R. R. Tolkien
Have you ever been inspired by reading a book? I am, frequently.
What a world we would live in if there were no books, if there is one thing I love more than being out and about walking in the wild, it is reading.
My partner despairs over the number of books we have in our house, because I don’t just love reading books, I love re-reading them, so I very rarely get rid of a book. There is nothing better than curling up on the sofa with an old familiar tale, it doesn’t matter that you know the end, you can look forward to all your favourite bits and go on adventurers with all your favourite characters.
As a child I used to pile books up by my bed, the pile would get so high that they would often fall on me in the middle of the night. I would keep my reading light on well past midnight, until my mum came through and told me to go to sleep.
All through my childhood I was a hardcore fantasy fiction reader, but there were a lot of other authors I read, who inspired my love of the outdoors and animals. As well as growing up with Harry Potter, and the Dark Materials, I also loved books by Dick King-Smith, Philipa Pierce, Brian Jacques, Jill Tomlinson, and Jenny Nimmo.
They wrote about pigs who can swim, adventures on rivers in small canoes, anthropomorphic animals that lived in abbeys and woodlands, owls who are afraid of the dark, and magic in the Welsh mountains. All very inspiring and adventurous for both children and adults.
When I got older, I branched out and started to read more nature writing, including the likes of John Lewis-Stempel, Roger Deakin and Robert MacFarlane. A few years ago, I came across a young female nature writer, Tiffany Francis-Baker, her Dark Night Skies was an excellent read. A beautiful journey through humanity’s connection to the night and the nature that dwells in it.
I find that reading not only takes you to new worlds, but also inspires you to try new things and visit new places. After reading The Whitby Witches by Robin Jarvis, as a child, I was desperate to visit the old fishing town and see the Abbey for myself, and when I at last visited as a late teenager it was every bit as good as his writing had suggested it would be.
I could spend hours writing about reading recommendations and authors I love, but that would make an extremely lengthy article. Instead, I have picked five books that I believe have inspired me to think more about nature and why we should protect it.
1. The Animals of Farthing Wood, by Colin Dann
The Animals of Farthing Wood was first published in 1979, and Dann went on to write another six books in the series. The story is an intense, and often tragic tale, of wild animals forced from their home, of Farthing Wood, by human developers building over the land.
Together the animals make a pact to protect each other and keep every animal safe, as they journey through many dangers in their quest to find a new home and sanctuary. Almost every mishap and crisis that happens to the animals throughout the book is caused by humans, and Dann doesn’t shy away from highlighting the deaths.
It’s a story that is very relevant for today’s world, as we build over our wild land, forcing many wild creatures to adapt to our increasingly urban environments with varying degrees of success. While the book is quite a dark tale for one that sits in the children’s 9-12 category, there are some lighter moments in the personalities of the main characters, from the hero Fox to the sarcastic Adder.
The Animals of Farthing Wood reminds us that even in our local woodland or parks there are creatures being impacted by the actions we take.
2. Waterlog, by Roger Deakin
I only read Waterlog a few years ago, I happened to pick it up while browsing the nature section in Dorchester Waterstones, and I am so glad that I did. Roger Deakin has a fantastic way of describing his journey through the waters of Britain, the book is filled with interesting accounts of how people used to use Lido’s and rivers to ‘wild’ swim in the early 20th century. He journeys up and down the country, from the Scilly Isles all the way to the island of Jura, where he attempts to cross the Strait of Corryvreckan, a narrow stretch of water between Jura and Scarba, which holds the third largest whirlpool in the world.
I have been inspired by his book to try swimming in more than just the sea, and I loved following his journey up and down the countryside, reading about places that I had swum in or visited.
Wild swimming has really taken off in the past few years, nowadays you see books, guides, and adverts for it everywhere. It’s a lot of fun diving (safely) into a river, or wading out into the sea, and it really brings you closer to nature. There is nothing better than floating on your back in the sea, watching the gulls soar overhead and listening to the waves breaking on sandy shores.
If you enjoy having a splash about outside a swimming pool I would really recommend reading Waterlog.
3. The Running Hare, by John Lewis-Stempel
John Lewis-Stempel is by far my favourite nature writer (if that’s the correct term for his kind of writing). He has such an incredible knowledge of the countryside, and this comes through in his writing time and time again. It was hard to pick a favourite from his books, I love them all, and his book The Wood almost tied for first place with The Running Hare.
In The Running Hare, John Lewis-Stempel spends a year bringing wildlife back to a field using traditional farming methods, and sowing wildflowers among his wheat. The book reads like a diary of the year, and in time you see wildlife return to the field, which includes the brown hare, red-legged partridge, field mice, toads, foxes and rabbits.
I learned a lot about traditional farming practices from the book and have found myself spotting a lot more hares since then.
If you want to learn more about nature and wildlife, I recommend picking up one of his books, he not only talks about the countryside around him, but also highlights the loss of species and the damage we have done to our wildlife through intensive farming and pesticides.
‘Turtle doves? Quail? Cirl buntings? Corn buntings? I cannot remember when I last saw one of these.
But then I think. One field, just one field, made a difference.
If we had a thousand fields…’
~ The Running Hare, John Lewis-Stemple
4. The Fellowship of the Ring, by J. R. R. Tolkien
One of my all-time favourite authors, Tolkien’s descriptive writing is second to none. A friend once told me that he had never much enjoyed The Lord of the Rings because Tolkien took at least three pages to describe the grass blowing in the wind. Yes, he does write a lot of detail into his books, but that’s what makes them so amazing. You don’t need to spend much time imaging Middle Earth, read one page and it’s there in your head.
The Fellowship of the Ring is my favourite in the trilogy, and the most beautiful in its writing, because a large part of it is set in the Shire. Some of the most descriptive chapters are walking from Hobbiton to Buckland; Frodo, Pippin and Sam stroll down country lanes, through woodland, and over fields (having adventures along the way). It’s how you would imagine the countryside to be, walking in the Lake District and Dorset often makes me think of the Shire.
If you are struggling through The Lord of the Rings and are thinking of giving up, I’d encourage you to keep going; the later books have some beautiful descriptions of Ithilian in the spring.
5. The Box of Delights, by John Masefield
An old book, but such a good one, The Box of Delights follows the adventures of Kay Harker as he tries to keep a magic box from the clutches of the evil, Abner Brown. It’s a wonderfully confusing tale full of magic and folklore, including appearances from mythical beings like Herne the Hunter, a tree full of dancing fairies, picnics with field mice, and a gang of pirate rats.
A lot of the time I had no idea what was going on, but the story is so endearingly Christmassy and heartening you can’t resist it. I’d also recommend, after reading the book, watching the 1984 BBC adaption with Patrick Troughton. It’s beautifully done and a perfect watch with or without kids in the run up to Christmas.
While it’s not directly a book about nature or wildlife, The Box of Delights always makes me want to go out adventuring through the countryside in the early morning, after snow has fallen, trying to see fox or hare prints, perhaps a passing owl heading home for the day.
This is only a very short list of the hundreds of books out there that can inspire you to go out and experience nature.
Here are a few suggestions to get you started or keep you going:
A Shepherd’s Life by John Rebanks
The Wild Places by Robert MacFarlane
Godhanger by Dick King Smith
The Circling Sky by Neil Ansell
If Only They Could Talk by James Herriot
The Children of the New Forest by Frederick Marryat
Minnow on the Say by Philipa Pearce
Watership Down by Richard Adams
The Otters’ Tale by Simon Cooper
The Wood by John Lewis-Stempel
Comments