Goshawk Summer: The Diary of an Extraordinary Season in the Forest - WINNER OF THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING 2022

Product Information

Alongside his documentary filming, Aldred decided to keep a written record - a field diary - about his experiences. He spent an extended stretch of time in a place so devoid of people, but filled to the brim with different species, some of them rare. He writes, early on, 'Amidst the fragility and the fear, there was silver moonlight, tumbling fox cubs, calling curlew and, of course, the searing goshawks.' This record became Goshawk Summer. Goshawks are, of course, the focus - both of the book and of his documentary - but he also writes about other species which he comes across: foxes, curlews, pipits, and pine martens, to name but four. Amidst the fragility and the fear, there was silver moonlight, tumbling fox cubs, calling curlew and, of course, the soaring Goshawks – shining like fire through one of our darkest times. A Goshawk summer unlike any other. I think he had made a mistake in referring to the pandemic so often, and in particular to the health of the Prime Minister. Between the goshawk action we almost get a day by day update on Johnson’s recovery. It comes over as political, and totally unnecessary. This was something I found particularly off-putting. I have thoroughly enjoyed this book, the wonderful writing makes it easy to read and so much knowledge has been shared, my daughter is going to read this next….the selling point was the peeing in a tree haha. During the many highs and lows that flowed through the narrative, you could feel the tension, anxiety and joy of his experiences with this beautiful creature. (And plenty of other natural wildlife into the bargain). The timeline gives the reader a marvellous insight into the habits of this beautiful bird, and the authors' diary is an excellent read.

Goshawk Summer - Wainwright Prize Goshawk Summer - Wainwright Prize

Aldred is the author of one previous book, entitled The Man Who Climbs Trees, and has worked as a wildlife cameraman and documentary filmmaker since 1997. He has worked with the likes of the legendary David Attenborough, and has won awards for his work. As one would expect, for a filmmaker skilled particularly in filming from heights using aerial equipment, Aldred has worked all over the world. In early 2020, he was located in East Africa following a family of cheetahs. Even though goshawks have an unsettling ability to silently come and go, the alarm calls of these other birds would warn him when they were on their way. “By listening to what the birds in the forest were saying, I could work out which direction the goshawk would be coming from and be ready with the camera.” I just loved this book! I have a great fascination for raptors but my knowledge doesn't match my level of interest. By the end of this book I felt I knew more about the stunning goshawk but also about many of the other species living in the New Forest.

I don’t see many Goshawks, and so I was interested to read about film cameraman James Aldred’s experiences filming this species for much of the spring and summer of 2020. Spending so much time with this bird would make it ‘a season unlike any other’ for most of us but it was also a season of covid for our world, although the Goshawks would have been oblivious to that. To be able to get a glimpse into the workings and existence of this fabulous and fascinating predictor was just breathtaking. This is a secretive bird that is harder to visualize and study just by its own behavior, habitat, and nature. I loved being able to take a glimpse into this complex and beautiful bird. Reading Goshawk Summer filled me with so many different emotions. Envy, happiness, sadness, and joy. Envy, because while many of us were under house arrest for sixteen months, the author had access to the great outdoors. Happiness because at least somebody was enjoying freedom denied to many of us. Sadness because of losing my mother in very similar circumstances to the author.

Goshawk Summer - Eventbrite James Aldred: Goshawk Summer - Eventbrite

The images he evokes in his diary entries are highly descriptive and transport you to the heart of the natural environment. Other creatures are also described - Dartford warblers, curlews, dragonflies, foxes among them - and James's love for, and understanding of, these creatures shines through every paragraph. I didn’t enjoy Aldred’s writing style though I do respect that his work and painstaking collection of data. I hadn’t planned to read it. I wasn’t enticed by the ‘pandemic’ tag from the publisher, but it won the Wainwright Nature Prize, and it became harder not to. Save Summer Plant, tree and wildlife identification walk at Blaise Castle to your collection. Share Summer Plant, tree and wildlife identification walk at Blaise Castle with your friends.DNA research into goshawks is currently taking place and this will allow us to build up a better picture of the species’ population genetic structure, its dispersal from nesting areas and also the relationship between different birds within the population. Goshawk Summer is wildlife cameraman James Aldred's diary from his return to the New Forest of his childhood to film a goshawk nest. Acutely aware that he alone had been given this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to observe how the wildlife behaved in the forest without humans around, for a documentary that will be out later this year, he began to develop “a sort of imposter syndrome” about being there. “The sheer emptiness of the place... It felt weird, being out there in that paradise on my own. I felt overprivileged.”

Goshawk Summer: The Diary of an Extraordinary Season in the

They were reintroduced from the 1960s onwards, not by any conservation organisation, but by falconers and hawk-keepers who brought birds into the country initially from Poland and Germany, then subsequently in the 1970s from Finland (Petty 1996). Some of these imported birds escaped from captivity and others were deliberately released, to establish wild populations for harvest. These released and escaped birds established scattered populations throughout the country (Marquiss & Newton 1982). The goshawk used to be widespread throughout Great Britain but became extinct in the late 19th century due to deforestation followed by relentless persecution. James Aldred filmed a family of goshawks in the New Forest over the course of the summer in the middle of a global pandemic. Save Keith James 'Songs of Yusef - Cat Stevens' to your collection. Share Keith James 'Songs of Yusef - Cat Stevens' with your friends.Then again , i know an area of loosely joined woodland that once or twice held four nests, more usually three, mostly successful, now down to one for at least the last three years, and they dont seem to be anywhere else round about. I have always had a special place in my heart for birds, birdwatching, and learning as much about avian species as possible, and boy is there a lifetime of learning involved. The Goshawk was an extremely rare bird historically, and may even have been lost from our shores as a breeding species during the late 1800s. Increasing numbers of records from the 1960s have been linked to escaped or deliberately released captive birds, and it is from these beginnings that our current population originates. Their reputation for taking gamebirds has led them to be the victim of widespread persecution (Petty 2002, Marquiss et al. 2003). This killing prevents the establishment of breeding birds in areas managed for gamebirds, but also such persistent removal of potential recruits restricts population spread into suitable habitats elsewhere in Scotland (Francis & Cook 2011).

Goshawk | BTO - British Trust for Ornithology Goshawk | BTO - British Trust for Ornithology

James Aldred ist Kameramann und Filmemacher, der sich auf das Filmen von Tieren spezialisiert hat. Er hat mit Sir Richard Attenborough zusammengearbeitet und hat für seine Dokumentation einen Emmy bekommen. Im Frühling und Sommer 2020 hatte er die einmalige Chance, das Nest eines Habichts von der Ankunft der Eltern bis zum Flüggewerden der Jungen unter besonderen Bedingungen zu filmen. I found this book really interesting and as well as the goshawks, pine martins, foxes and other animals are mentioned which make it even more fascinating.The wildlife is amazing as well .. it really felt you were transported the heart of the woodlands with the wonderful descriptions. Over the past months of the pandemic I think some of us have been privileged to discover something of the beauty of the natural world and the calm mindfulness of walking in woodland, admiring the sounds of birds and the soft whisper of the wind in the trees. Whilst I didn't discover a Goshawk nest I did marvel at seeing things in nature I hadn't seen before, like watching a huge murmuration of starlings in the early dusk of a winter afternoon, and being in awe of the magnitude and magic of a natural spectacle of nature.