4 out of 5 stars
It feels like it was much longer ago, but that memory of the first lockdown being imposed in March 2020 is still vivid. We had known nothing like it and probably won’t again either, I was still going to work, as I can’t do much from home. The world changed for a lot of us at that moment.
One of the things that I noticed on my daily walk down to the river was the silence — almost no cars, no planes, and very few people around. I could hear things that the din of modern life suppresses. I wasn’t the only one to notice this, the stimulation and comfort that nature could give sparked an interest in the wilder population that I hope does not diminish.
Three authors who between them have written a substantial number of natural history books were also stuck at home. They decided to keep a diary of their time spent in lockdown and this book is the combined diary of their sightings on their daily walks as well as sober observations on the numbers of people dying from the virus.
I liked this a lot, all three authors write sensitively about the impact on society that we have come to know that the virus had. But underlying that is the realisation that this could give us an opportunity to make a difference for the wild world that is around us every day. Worth reading in my opinion.
I have loved the other Mynott book I’ve read but I fear this might be a bit heavy on the pandemic for me …
It does get a bit political at times! But mostly it is about the nature in their local patch