I picked a copy of this book up in Edinburgh last month having seen a positive review in (I think) BTO News. If anything it exceeded my expectations, and although it has been published for over a year I thought it worth highlighting to anyone who reads this blog for the book reviews.
It’s sold on the jacket thus:
Acclaimed nature writer Neil Ansell has suffered from progressive hearing loss his whole life. As his world is becoming ever more silent, he suddenly hears something quite unexpected – the haunting call of the great northern diver. It is this extraordinary experience which makes him realise that there might still be remarkable sounds in nature within his reach – if he can only find himself in the right place at the right time.
This moving book charts Neil’s mission to hear rare and elusive creatures that he had not previously encountered. This journey takes him from the mountaintops and islands of the Scottish Highlands to the marshes of England and the hills of Wales. Many of these species are in grave danger of extinction, so the future Neil faces, devoid of their distinctive calls, is one we all must fight to prevent.
And here is my Goodreads review:
“A wonderful work of nature writing, one of the best I have read in recent years. The author facing increasing hearing loss undertakes a quest to hear a range of birds and mammals for the first time, from relatively common species he’s seen before like Little Grebes to less common and / or more remote wildlife including Manx Shearwaters and Storm Petrels.
As well as bringing what for most readers will be largely a whole new perspective to observing the natural world around us it’s generally very absorbing and well written. My only negative is that it gets a little repetitive to a degree, with several chapters that are essentially camping in the wilds and eventually hearing the target species. This is minor though, it’s not that long a book and it brings it all back together with an inspiring closing chapter.”
The subtitle ‘In Search of the Disappearing Sounds of Nature’ is a dual meaning, acknowledging both the author’s failing hearing and the threats to many of the species included. Despite both of these facts I would echo the Scotsman’s summary on the frontispiece that it is ‘inspiring and unexpectedly uplifting’. Recommended.
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