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

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Goshawk Summer: a New Forest season unlike any other by James aldred is published by Elliot and Thompson. The goshawk used to be widespread throughout Great Britain but became extinct in the late 19th century due to deforestation followed by relentless persecution. Goshawk Summer A New Forest Season Unlike Any Other is a new book by James Aldred, who is the author of The Man Who Climbed Trees. I really enjoyed this book. James's style is relaxed, informative and often humorous. As a weekly visitor to the New Forest I have seen many Goshawk nests, but I have never gained the insights to their behaviour that James was privileged to see. Through this book he allows us to share his experiences and to understand what it is like to be a wildlife camera operator on a mission. But the stars are the Goshawks, dominating the dense woods in which they live, in a National Park that receives 15 million visitors each year."

Goshawk Summer: A New Forest Season Unlike Any Other - Goodreads

Wildlife books are also ways of engaging discussion about our interaction with nature and finding a balance between enjoying the natural landscape and preserving its integrity. These environments are not just for our own use but primarily for the creatures who live there and depend on its resources. 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. The goshawk. Steel grey, the colour of chainmail. Sharp as a sword. A medieval bird for a medieval forest. A timeless scene..." Aldred is the author of one previous book, entitled The Man Who Climbs Trees, and has worked as a wildlife cameraman and documentary filmmaker since 1997. He has worked with the likes of the legendary David Attenborough, and has won awards for his work. As one would expect, for a filmmaker skilled particularly in filming from heights using aerial equipment, Aldred has worked all over the world. In early 2020, he was located in East Africa following a family of cheetahs. In a way, coronovirus has been something of a boon to some nature writers since it creates a year like no other in which their observations of natural history can be set. It allows there to be juxtaposing of ‘how I feel about this wildlife thing’ against ‘how I feel about this pandemic thing’, and this works well in this account; one moves from the close world of filming at a nest to the broader scene with good effect. But this wildlife account is fascinating in its own right and well worth reading – it’s just that the global pandemic adds to it.There are many lovely dates set in his amazing diary inside this book that James tells readers all what he see, and all the exploring, watching and filming that he did. Also, passages on his dislike for dogs and their owners is something that would have been best kept to himself. Make the point and move on, no need to labour it. Although this book is not designed to be a monograph on the Goshawk it does include many interesting observations, such as the female returning to the nest and sprinkling fresh pine needles onto the male while he is incubating. I've not read about that before and conceivably nobody has been close enough to a nest for long enough to witness it. Could it have been an attempt to get him to move, or did she simply want to add fresh greenery and he happened to be in the way? I really enjoyed Aldred's last book, 'The Man Who Climbs Trees', so I jumped at the chance to read his second. Interestingly, Aldred's prose didn't stand out to me all that much the last time around, whereas I found it astounding and assured in 'Goshawk Summer'. 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.

Goshawk Summer: The Diary of an Extraordinary Season in the

Supposedly their population is increasing, the one thing that suggests their situation isn’t as dire as the hen harrier’s, but I really wonder about that. A pole trap set in dense woodland is probably even harder to spot than one on a moor and would be devastating for goshawks. I can imagine them gravitating towards the same places they shoot pheasants at anyway, all those poults would be an additional attraction – some lost to goshawk grudged whereas beak to tail roadkill is acceptable. Goshawk do need more attention. 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.Acutely aware that he alone had been given this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to observe how the wildlife behaved in the forest without humans around, for a documentary that will be out later this year, he began to develop “a sort of imposter syndrome” about being there. “The sheer emptiness of the place... It felt weird, being out there in that paradise on my own. I felt overprivileged.” They were reintroduced from the 1960s onwards, not by any conservation organisation, but by falconers and hawk-keepers who brought birds into the country initially from Poland and Germany, then subsequently in the 1970s from Finland (Petty 1996). Some of these imported birds escaped from captivity and others were deliberately released, to establish wild populations for harvest. These released and escaped birds established scattered populations throughout the country (Marquiss & Newton 1982).

Goshawk Summer: A New Forest Season Unlike Any Other - WINNER

As well as the goshawk nest, he also visits a fox den to film the cubs tumbling and play fighting, the lowland heath to spy the elusive Dartford Warbler and the valley mires to record the increasingly rare sight of curlews nesting. Passionate about wildlife of all types, his prose is beautiful and evocative: At this unique moment, James was granted a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to keep filming. And so, over that spring and into summer, he began to write about his experiences in a place empty of people but filled with birdsong and new life. 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. In nature there has to be a place for all to enjoy. Those who do, hikers, runners, mountain bikers, artists, drivers, dog walkers, and all, must play their part as well.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. I have thoroughly enjoyed this book, the wonderful writing makes it easy to read and so much knowledge has been shared, my daughter is going to read this next….the selling point was the peeing in a tree haha. Goshawk Summer by James Aldred is a stunning and wonderful nature diary and account of one man’s journey documenting and exploring more about the fascinating Goshawk. Goshawk Summer: a New Forest Season Unlike Any Otherby James Aldred (Elliott & Thompson, London, 2021). 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.

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