4 out of 5 stars

A copy of this was provided free of charge from the publisher in return for an honest review.

Who we are, defines how we interact with others. Crane is one of those people who has always struggled with relationships and friendships. A relationship in the past left his with a son who he hasn’t seen in a while. A later diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome goes some way to explaining the difficulties that he had. But he still prefers his own company, hence why he lives in a remote cottage. One thing that he is passionate about though is raptors he is a self-taught falconer, learning from the book and practical experience.

It was this obsession about falcons that would take him to Pakistan. He is there to buy some of the simple but beautiful handmade bells that are made by the craftsmen there. It was a chance find online with a craftsman, that put him in touch with one of these men and after he expressed an interest in their manufacture, he was invited to visit. The trip expanded and he stayed to see the villagers fly the local goshawks, and to see first hand how they train them and seeing how the knowledge of falconry is passed from father to son.

Nine years later he has two sparrowhawks in the aviary attached to his cottage. They are called Boy and Girl, naming them would create too much of a bond as he has been training and rearing them for rehabilitation and release back into the wild. He was training these two birds at the same time that he heard that his son wanted to get back in contact with him. Both situations, he needs to think carefully about what he is doing as it would be so easy to ruin the beginnings of the relationship with his son and harm the birds as their strength builds.

I have read a fair few books on individuals using nature as a crutch or support for the troubles that they are having in their life at that particular time and this book is similar to those in many ways. Where it differs though is that Crane is mostly happy with his lot, he knows so much about raising sparrowhawks that whilst they will be a challenge, it is not out of his comfort zone. Where he does struggle though is his limitations with regards to other people, in particular, his ex-partner and their son. He finds a determined boy who knows his own mind and who has a rare perception for someone so young. I particularly liked the descriptions of his travels to Pakistan and Kazakhstan and I thought this was a well-written book that links nature and family ties together.

3.5 out of 5 stars

A copy of this was provided free of charge from the publisher in return for an honest review.

The biggest single living thing on earth is not a blue whale or a redwood tree, rather it is a simple fungus. I say simple, this particular specimen of honey fungus is huge, mind-boggling huge. It is the Malheur National Forest in the state of Oregon. It was found because it was killing trees in this forest and when the DNA was taken from trees around 2.4 miles apart, it was found to have the same DNA. Overall it was calculated to be 3.7 square miles and the guesses at its age vary between 1,900 – 8650 years old.

They are some of the strangest living things that we have found so far on the planet. Bizarre is only part of it. They live all around us and sometimes even on us. They can work in harmony with the natural world or their mycelium can suffocate the life from its host. Those looking for a high, can try and source magic mushrooms, but where they choose to grow makes them less than appealing. They can be a wonderful source of food, from the ubiquitous button mushroom to the very hard to find, but exquisite truffle. They have even named one, the porcini, after me…

Aliya Whiteley is one of those with a fascination, or to be more honest, an obsession with all types of fungi. It began in her childhood trying to take pictures on her camera on the ones she found on Darkmoor that always ended up a little out of focus when the film came back from the chemist. These specimens though were just the visible part, to learn more about them she would have to delve much deeper. Looking through the guide books she found that some of the names given to them were quite wonderful, who would not want to find a fairy sparkler? Others names though have a much more sinister vibe, who can fail to have a chill run down their neck at the thought of a death cap.

All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once.” – Terry Pratchett

Whiteley has packed this book with hundreds of facts about fungi, you can learn which species ejects its spores at 20,000g, which mushrooms the mummy that emerged from the ide in the Alps was carrying, which species she found a carpet of yellow mushrooms in a woodland walk on the way home from a club and which fungi that have the names Toxic Ooze and Clint Yeastwood. I rather liked this. It is not supposed to be a rigorous study, rather, Whiteley’s writing is fun to read as you follow her looping connections of all things mushroomy. It doesn’t read like a science paper either, her attention to detail is a countered with a dry sense of fun and lots of anecdotes of her fungi forays.

4 out of 5 stars

A copy of this was provided free of charge from the publisher in return for an honest review.

There are certain cities in the UK that have a lot of character, London of course, but there are others including Newcastle, Bristol, Liverpool and of course, Manchester. They all have a particular thing about them that makes them distinctively different from other cities.

This distinctiveness can be seen in all elements of the city, from the language to the culture and Manchester is unique in their own special way. One of the publishers in this city is Fly on the Wall Press. They are a social enterprise company and a not for profit publisher who looks to publish short stories and poetry on the pressing issues of our time. This anthology was collected after a call to the creative people of this city.

The anthology is mostly poetry, but there are photographs and some of the art that can be found around the city. It is split into six sections, Northern Dream, Modern Manchester, Northern Spirit, Mancunian History, Northern Grit and Northern Culture and each of the poems for that section, fit the theme.

The sky above Manchester that night,

Beaten to a thin gleam as if

Some brawny northern god

Had hammered a path to the stars

I do have a small confession, I have never been to Manchester, but know a little about it by reputation and music and so on. The thing that I like most about this collection is the diversity of views. There are poems on commuting, rain, cranes that puncture the sky, the homeless and even a love story. Rather than having photos of the main sites of Manchester the photos and artwork show slightly gritty urban streets and locations, i.e. places and people that you will see if you were to walk around the city. One day I will have to visit.

Three Favourite Poems
The Portico
Let There Be Peace
Hale-Bopp

4 out of 5 stars

The news about the Glorious 12th has always been very much on the periphery of my knowledge. I have vague recollections of hearing it on the news over the years and knew it was to do with shooting grouse. What it refers to is the ‘sport’, and that is a very loose definition of the word, of driving the red grouse that have been artificially raised on out moors and uplands towards lines of guns so they can shoot them. Great, eh?

The grouse have very little choice as to where they can go and this ‘spot’ is not hunting where it is the hunter versus the hunted, where the odds of getting a kill are much lower. Rather this is where people drive the birds towards a line of guns where they can pick the low flying birds off, with little or no effort. To take part in this ‘sport’ you need deep pockets for the day and the shotguns. Or you just need to know someone who has a suitable moor in their vast estates…

The people that run these claim that the ‘sport’ is economically important to the area that it takes place, bringing employment and income to an area that has precious little else. It is true that it generates an income, however, when you look at the figures it is a mere drop in the ocean compared to our GDP. They would make more money from wildlife tourism. The other thing that they do is to eradicate all threats to the red grouse chicks. This means illegally killing all predators from eagles, wildcats and most importantly, hen harriers.

Avery has come from a conservation background and for years has sought to find a way to allow these magnificent raptors to survive and ideally thrive on the moors and uplands. But the shooting lobby and organisations do not really do compromise and the scant concessions that they are prepared to make are almost nothing compared to the concessions they expect others to make.

Some of the facts that Avery revels in here are really quite shocking. This is about powerful people, who often haunt the corridors of power on both sides of the houses of parliament and who are used to getting their own way regardless if it is illegal or not. Most distressing is the lack of prosecutions of people who deliberately seek to kill hen harriers and eagles and other wildlife. I feel that it should be the perpetrators and the landowners that should face fines and or jail.

As grim a read as it is, it is worth reading. Very much ‘Inglorious’ and more of a national tragedy. Avery is well informed and has targeted his fury at the practices of the shooting lobby into this book and other campaigns to get a ban of this ‘sport’.

4 out of 5 stars

A copy of this was provided free of charge from the publisher in return for an honest review.

2020 has been pretty crap, to be honest. The pandemic spread around the world with startling rapidity and as I write this we are just entering lockdown for the second time in the UK. For some who have caught this virus, it is the end of the world, their individual world. But there are other things out there that scare people more than a virus, like the next asteroid, or the impending doom of climate change, amongst other things.

One of the most common types of apocalypse is the end of the world predicted by religions. A lot will be aware of the detail written in the books of revelations found at the end of the bible, but this is not a recent theme, as it can be found in other religions and even in the Norse mythologies. These are often tied into the return of a particular deity who with bring the end of days with them and amongst believers the belief that this will happen can be quite high. A lot of the reasons behind this end is a punishment for particular transgressions and is an opportunity for those in favour to move onto a better place. I have read lots of stories of those in cults who have trooped up hills expecting the end and a few days later shuffled back down again after nothing happened…

Science fiction is full of stories about worlds ending and one of the most popular genres at the moment is the Zombie one. Most of them are about these half-dead creatures that are intent on reducing you to the same as them. The lumber about, making them fairly easy to outrun, but I can see why these stories fill some people with dread. I am not a huge fan of zombie fiction, but of the few that I have read, The Girl With All The Gifts and the Boy On The Bridge by M.R. Carey are very good well-thought-out stories.

Having avoided the undead, Robert’s then confronts the virus. Well not just that one, but the real-life viruses that have changed and shaped humanity in the past. These have never been the end, we’re still the most populous mammal on the plant after all, but the fear of catching something nasty or unpronounceable is high of people’s fear list. This fear has seeped into fiction too, with stories about the end of civilisation captivating and scaring people in equal measure.

The end of the world as seen in films like the Matrix and Terminator occupy some of our fears, especially with the rise of AI that some bright spark thought it would be a good idea to give weapons to. Thankfully these ideas mostly inhabit the minds of science fiction writer as they can give people serious nightmares.

I must admit that the earworm that kept going through my head reading this was ‘It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) by R.E.M. It is a good job I like the song. For a book about the end of the world it is actually quite upbeat and light-hearted at times, but not in a cynical way. He has a bone dry sense of humour, and I think that he is another Pratchett fan too! Roberts wants to take a look at our fears in a rational way with crystal clear analysis as to why we think the way that we do and the reality behind a lot of the scenarios described. He hits the nail on the head by saying the fear of a lot of people is our mortality rather than the world at large. We worth reading and it might even put your mind at rest too.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Every day that I am out and about there are four birds that I am guaranteed to see, gulls, pigeons, magpies and crows. I am not a fan of the first two, but the latter two are always fascinating to watch, whatever they are doing. Just watching crows dancing in the wind is quite something. We have had the odd bird in the house before now, including a magpie recently, but I am not sure that I would want one in the home as a pet though.

Esther Woolfson is another who is fascinated by corvids, but her interest began when her daughter brought home a fledgeling rook that she had rescued. She nursed it back to health and Woolfson clips her feathers to stop her flying as they are concerned that she wouldn’t survive in the wild. She ends up staying as a family pet. They call her the faintly ridiculous name of Madame Chickeboumskaya. It was shortened to Chicken, which I thought was equally daft!

They had had a number of birds before this rook and she had doves outside her Aberdeen home too. But watching her moving around the house and interacting with everything, she didn’t expect her to be quite as intelligent as she was. She would cache food, especially items that she liked, but would think nothing of ignoring some that were presented to her. They construct a wire enclosure to allow her outside sometimes, but they need to be wary of the neighbour’s cat. Her daily rituals become much as part of the family as their own.

Further along the line, she acquires a magpie that had fallen from the nest before fledging and she calls it Spike. His wings are not clipped. He was very different in behaviour to Chicken and she found it fascinating comparing them to each other. Watching these two birds piques her interest in other corvids and she is lucky to see ravens nesting on a trip to Lochaber.

I did like this book, reading it feels like you are sitting at the kitchen table watching the antics of her two semi-wild birds happen around you. Her writing is gentle, beautiful and occasionally whimsical. These are sparklingly intelligent birds that can even mimic her voice and some of the phrases that she says. They are characters and love a routine. However, I am not sure about the morality of keeping a rook and a magpie inside. I feel these are wild birds and should be free. That said, she cares deeply for them, almost as much as her children and they would not have stood much of a chance if they hadn’t have been rescued. All through the book are beautiful drawings by Helen Macdonald of H is for Hawk fame. Might not be for everyone, but I thought it was worth reading.