Nature Book Reader June 2020 - Flipbook - Page 28
A Nature Book Reader
EDWYN COLLINS
Edwyn Collins is a musician, a songwriter and a wildlife artist
Some British Moths by Norman Riley
My interest in all forms of
nature, wildlife, geology
and rock pools, led me to
reference books and books
of illustrations rather than to
nature writing as such.
I didn’t need or want other
people’s interpretation
of experience; it was my
internal world and I
wanted knowledge.
When I made West Heath
House, (an indulgent comedy
drama for Channel 4) with
Seb, my friend and recording
partner, we improvised a
scene at a natural harbour
in Caithness, where he
had gone a bit hippy and
was raving about Jonathan
Livingston Seagull, whilst
I delivered a longwinded
lecture about fulmars (which
were all around us on the
cliffs.) I droned on about the
importance of the perfection
of the fulmar alula, the edge
28
feathers, which makes them
such expert flyers: “Basically,
they’re designed for flight!”.
All stuff I read when I was
a boy.
When I moved my
belongings into Grace’s flat
in 1984, she laughed her
head off at two of my ancient
books. ‘Knots and Knotting’
and ‘Some British Moths.’
“Only some? Not the lot
then?” she asked,
“Obviously. There
are thousands of them,
everybody knows that,”
I replied.
Further Reading
Morning Flight: A
Book of Wildfowl
by Sir Peter Scott
The AA Book of
British Birds
