Nature Book Reader June 2020 - Flipbook - Page 32
A Nature Book Reader
FRANK COTTRELL BOYCE
Frank Cottrell Boyce is a screenwriter, novelist and actor
The Voyage of the Beagle
by Charles Darwin
I was massively influenced
by the I-Spy Book of Birds.
This was a little spotter’s
guide produced by “BIg
Chief I-Spy”. It had great
little drawings and it
awarded points for every
species. I grew up in the
city centre surrounded by
starlings (5 points) and
pigeons(no points). That
book gave me the impression
that there was another world
elsewhere, all flutter with
kingfishers (30 points) and
bee-eaters (35 points). And
it made me want to go and
discover it. It also gave me
the lasting feeling that birds
are arranged in a kind of
pyramidal hierarchy with
rare birds of prey (40points)
near the top, then rare
Summer visitors – snowy
owls, hoopoes (50 points)
etc – beyond that and at the
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very pinnacle the Holy Spirit
in the form of a dove. The
upside of that is that if I do
see a Summer visitor now
I have the feeling that I’ve
seen something more or less
straight from Heaven.
My other choice would
be Snow Geese by William
Fiennes, which is just terrific
like all his stuff.
But above and beyond
both, The Voyage of the
Beagle by Charles Darwin.
Darwin was not the official
naturalist on the Beagle. He
was sent along to keep the
depressive Fitzroy cheerful.
He did some nature study
just to fill the time. He was
mostly interested in geology,
also hunting and fishing.
In an age of career plans
and attainment targets it’s
good to be reminded that
our minds are at their most
