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Shrewdunnit

Shrewdunnit

Conor Mark Jameson

(2014)

Abstract

Conor Mark Jameson has spent most of his life exploring the natural environment and communicating his enthusiasm for it to family, friends and, more recently, readers of a range of newspapers and magazines. Shrewdunnit brings together the best of these dispatches, alongside unpublished essays, in a poetic and evocative journal that inspires and delights. Jameson’s prose is fresh and in places irreverent, with a hint of mischief and a dash of wit.

From his back door to the peaks of New Zealand and the swamp forests of the Peruvian Amazon, he carries on the biogumentary style he perfected in his earlier books showing – never telling – how to bring nature and conservation home. He may just have invented a genre.

Praise for Silent Spring Revisited

“A vividly told, beautifully written account of the environmentalist movement of the last fifty years and his own involvement in it ... the author takes his place among the pre-eminent nature writers of our times. His clear, vivid writing skillfully weaves political and cultural history, personal observation and passionate advocacy for the conservation of our diminishing wildlife to create a book that will endure in the annals of natural history." Marie Winn

“If Nick Hornby loved nature, he might write a book like this.” Martin Harper, RSPB Director of Conservation

“A lively read... what makes Jameson’s work especially enjoyable is the personal slant...” Matt Merritt, Editor, Birdwatching

“A fine writer, who brings together an artist’s sensibility with a conservationist’s sense of reality... a vital read.” John Fanshawe, Birdwatch

Praise for Looking for the Goshawk

“Conor’s cultured writing and enthusiasm for the natural world and the people, like him, who care about it, will carry you along through the chapters.” Mark Avery

"Equally stirring as his Silent Spring Revisited... a passionate detective story... descriptive, at times poetic prose..." Peter Goodfellow, Devon Birds

 


Shrewdunnit is done in an old form, one currently neglected, perhaps as old- fashioned, in the US, and still done very well in England-- a year's observations, mostly of one place (although he is a thoroughly modern naturalist and also goes abroad); a phenology, a record, a series of sketches light and serious.

Such a book stands or falls by two things: how well the writer knows his chosen place, and how well he writes, how originally he he can see. Conor succeeds on both counts.


Stephen Bodio

"blends environmental knowledge with gentle humour.... while these diary pieces are packed with information, their pace is leisured and their tone deceptively simple... There is a quirkiness to his wildlife passions. This warm-hearted book also displays a gift for fine writing... underscores why his RSPB column is so popular."


Mark Cocker

"It's a great read, and it's hard to get through it without at least once promising yourself to live a little bit more deliberately, and attentively. Truly inspirational." 


Matt Merritt

Conor Mark Jameson has written for the Guardian, BBC Wildlife, the Ecologist, New Statesman, Africa Geographic, NZ Wilderness, British Birds, Birdwatch and Birdwatching magazines and has been a scriptwriter for the BBC Natural History Unit. He is a columnist and feature writer for the RSPB magazine, Nature’s Home, and has worked in conservation for 20 years, in the UK and abroad. He was born in Uganda to Irish parents, brought up in Scotland, and now lives in England, in a village an hour north of London. His first book, Silent Spring Revisited, was published in 2012 and his second, Looking for the Goshawk, in 2013, both by Bloomsbury. 

He is a recent recipient of a Roger Deakin Award from the Society of Authors. When not campaigning for a better, safer planet, and making notes such as those you find here, he tries to find time to tinker with shrubs, and look for goshawks in a variety of habitats.


A delightful diary of 'everyday Britain', seen through the eyes of one of our most perceptive nature writers.
Stephen Moss, author of The Great British Year

Conor Mark Jameson is one of those people who, if they didn’t exist, would have to be invented by SOMEONE in a world which so desperately needs his profound knowledge, his wise and amusing observations and his tireless campaigning on behalf of the natural world.
Esther Woolfson, author of Field Notes from a Hidden City

This is a fantastically detailed and very visual diary of British natural history. It’s a journey through the colourful landscape of Conor Jameson’s countryside.
David Lindo, author of The Urban Birder

…a delightful read, wonderfully crafted by a writer and naturalist at the top of his game.
Iolo Williams, author of Wild About the Wild

A wide-ranging, warm-hearted and generous love-letter to wild things, near and far, Shrewdunnit is a delightful and beguiling collection in the great tradition of local naturalists. It is alive with the mysteries that surround us, while showing us how nature is something cherishable and very close to home.
Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk

Conor’s stories are gently beguiling, strikingly original. They speak from his heart to our souls and carry the profound wisdom of a thoughtful and perceptive observer.
Derek Niemann, author of Birds in a Cage

A wonderful collection by a gifted and thoughtful writer: a delight both to dip into and reread for insight and enjoyment…
Jonathan Elphick, author and editor

Conor's is a rare talent, one that seems so simple, but that he works on long and hard to perfect. This new book is a joy, and we can all feel grateful that he has given us the opportunity to benefit from his wisdom and his delight in the natural world around him.
Rob Hume

…an assortment of stories that sparkle with insight, imagination and affection.
Sophie Stafford, former editor of BBC Wildlife Magazine

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Advance praise for Shrewdunnit 2
Conor Mark Jameson 5
Shrewdunnit 7
  10
Contents 11
Preface 13
Acknowledgements 16
Foreword 19
Introduction 21
  21
Southern Solstice 25
January 27
A thousand years in a garden 27
The hedge of reason 28
Notes made for successful hedge planting 32
Pour yourself a large one 33
The man who fell to Earth 36
Note 39
Shrewdunnit 39
Tales from the back door 41
Note 43
Survivors 44
Jurassic parky 45
White fang 47
The blind jackdaw, Part I 49
February 50
The blind jackdaw, Part II 50
Roll out the bumbarrel 51
Bird homes – there’s never been a better time to build 53
Rally around the ash 56
A tree among trees 58
Return of the snorer 59
Build it and they will come 60
Return of the tree sparrow 62
A sight for eyesores 64
Phantom 66
March 69
The law of the flies 69
Mad for it 72
Staring at the rude boys 74
Waking up to birds 76
Living with the hawk 79
Reflections from a library 81
The average bird 83
The not so ratty rat 85
The spirit of Fenton 87
A song for Europe 90
Hawk eyes 92
Northward Equinox 95
April 97
Birds, bees and old balls 97
Watching the grass grow 100
Crestfallen 102
Message in a bottle 105
Note 107
Crow murder mystery causes stir at the Guardian 108
One flew under the cuckoo’s breath 110
Looking for the adder 112
Celebrities 115
Passengers 117
Canary in our coalmine 120
May 123
House martins are good for you 123
The lintie and the furze 126
Box of tricks 128
Voice in the darkness 131
Nest building 133
Hawks and the city 135
Note 138
Visions of China 138
Things that go bleep in the night 141
Out for the count 143
June 145
Happy when it rains 145
Bird eats cat 147
Touching the weird 149
Note 151
Seeing ghosts 152
Close encounters 154
Rachel Carson Day and the new Silent Spring 156
Southill revisited 160
The year that was 165
1903 165
1963 165
Note 166
Lugs 167
Refugee wild flowers 168
Persephone 170
Northern Solstice 175
July 177
Summer bird 177
The forgotten native 180
A sting in the tale 182
The seldom – and not even very – spotted woodpecker 184
Bringing up baby 187
Soaring spirits 190
The pocket goddess 193
Leaps of faith 196
The beast of Beds 198
Out of the woods 198
Bigger pictures 201
Back from the dead 203
August 206
Free bird 206
Reverie 209
Screamers 212
Mixed blessings 212
Sitting pretty 214
Batman and woman 216
Pond-gazing 218
The carmen bird 219
Who will gather for the dying vultures? 221
A night in the woods 223
September 226
A song for all seasons 226
The poet in the porch 229
Rings that tell stories 231
Return of the exile 233
Leave it out 235
Creeping realisations 236
Dark angel 238
The secret neighbour 240
Firecrest 242
Southward Equinox 245
October 247
The refuge of no return 247
Pier pressure 252
A taste of honey 253
The fort 254
Old Frank drops in 256
On Crane Hill 257
November 260
Wild and peaceful 260
The underworld bird 262
Red-letter days 264
The reality of dreams 267
A kestrel for a neighbour 269
Homecoming 271
December 274
Walkabout 274
Trouble in paradise 277
There might be giants 280
An American goshawk in Victorian Scotland 283
The postmodern bird 285
Away with the fairies 287
Castaway 290
Seasons to be cheerful 292
Postscript 295
Organisations mentioned in this book 296
Audubon Society (www.audubon.org) 296
BBC Natural History Unit (www.bbc.co.uk) 296
Bedfordshire Natural History Society (www.bnhs.co.uk) 296
BirdLife Cyprus  (www.birdlifecyprus.org) 296
BirdLife International (www.birdlife.org) 296
BirdLife Zimbabwe (www.birdlifezimbabwe.org) 296
British Birds (www.britishbirds.co.uk) 296
British Trust for Ornithology (www.bto.org) 296
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (www.ceh.ac.uk) 296
Earthwatch (http://eu.earthwatch.org/) 296
Forest and Bird (www.forestandbird.org.nz) 296
Gulbenkian Foundation (www.gulbenkian.org.uk) 297
Joint Nature Conservation Committee (www.jncc.defra.gov.uk) 297
Lega Italiana Protezione Uccelli (www.lipu.it) 297
Ligue pour le Protection des Oiseaux (www.lpo.fr) 297
Mammal Society (www.mammal.org.uk) 297
National Trust (www.nationaltrust.org.uk) 297
National Trust for Scotland (www.nts.org.uk) 297
Nature Seychelles (www.natureseychelles.org) 297
New Zealand Department of Conservation (www.doc.govt.nz) 297
Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (www.rspca.org.uk) 297
RSPB (www.rspb.org.uk) 297
The Rufford Foundation (www.rufford.org) 297
The Tubney Charitable Trust (www.tubney.org.uk) 297
Vincent Wildlife Trust (www.vwt.org.uk) 297
Vulture Conservation Foundation (www.4vultures.org) 297
Bibliography 298
Index 300