| Seasonality | By Ian Parsons | Whittles Publishing | 2022 | Paperback | 173 pages, 60 colour photos | ISBN: 9781849955058 | £18.99p |
The Publisher’s View:
Seasonality is an uplifting look at British wildlife through the seasons of the year, but it is also about our relationship with that wildlife. The author, a keen and passionate naturalist, takes us on a journey through spring, summer, autumn and winter, and on this journey we look at how our wildlife lives throughout the year, how it adapts and changes as necessary. The author shares how wildlife makes him feel, how he derives joy and a sense of well-being from the wildlife he sees and describes. But he also shares his frustration at how some of our actions and land management impact on our increasingly pressurised wildlife.
It shares the delight of watching birds in the garden, fox cubs in the countryside and peregrines in the city. It shares the sadness of seeing stuffed examples of extinct birds, the anger at the mismanagement of potentially wildlife-rich hedgerows, and the confusion and contradiction of the management of our so-called natural spaces. It is a book of delights and frustrations, but above all hope and celebration.
Whether it is the flash of bright yellow butterfly wings signalling that spring has arrived, the slicing of the air by sickle-shaped swifts telling us that summer has come, the wonderful show of colour that the leaves of trees display in the autumn, or the deep-throated chuckle of fieldfares gleaning berries in the winter, the seasons are full of life and this book describes them in vivid detail.
The role of the seasons in our own lives may have diminished, but for wildlife the seasons are everything, they are the framework within which everything happens. Seasonality is your guide, through a naturalist’s eyes and thoughts, to the incredible journey of the four seasons. The seasons of the year roll on regardless, an endless cycle that dictates the rhythm of life.
The Author: Ian Parsons is the author of the highly-acclaimed A Vulture Landscape: Twelve Months in Extremadura.
Fatbirder View:
Beautiful! I’m almost tempted to leave it at that. This is written with a natural flowing style that is neither fussy nor flowery because it lets the experience speak for itself. Walk with the author along a lane or through a wood sharing his experience and your mind and memories paint the colours.
Just turn to that faded copy of King James’ bible and part of Ecclesiastes 3 will read:
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted …
This rich and simple account of a country year shares that purpose and those times. Just enjoy it osmosis will do the rest.
Fatbirder