Nature Book Reader June 2020 - Flipbook - Page 55
again, so that from the island
cliffs a mile distant we could
barely discern the united
host – it was merely a cloud
shadow, a black streak like
a puff of wind or a vein of
the tide on calm water. And
always these grew in size as
more and more birds came
gliding in from oceanic
feeding grounds to the north
and west and south.”
Lockley was an inveterate
island lover or nesophile to
use the neologism coined by
his friend, the island-dwelling
Compton Mackenzie and
author of Whisky Galore.
Shearwaters proves both his
love and understanding of
this stand of red sandstone in
the seas of Pembrokeshire and
the nature it supports.
He also unravels some
of the mysteries of bird
migration (at one point roping
in Bertrand Russell’s children
to help by transporting
shearwaters to Devon to time
how swiftly they returned to
the island), hosts a visit by
the former King of Bulgaria
and documents the quotidian
changes of the island’s natural
life.
I first read it when I was
fourteen which resulted in
my becoming a Skokholm
“shearwater slave”, working
for my keep on the island
by catching these nocturnal
birds for ringing. Reading
this fine, ozone-charged and
pellucid prose by a somewhat
neglected nature writer
should similarly enrapture
other readers.
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