Scan barcode
A review by bookpossum
The Peregrine: The Hill of Summer & Diaries - The Complete Works of J. A. Baker by J.A. Baker
4.0
THE HILL OF SUMMER
I read "The Peregrine" a few weeks ago, and gave it five stars. I have now read Baker's other book, "The Hill of Summer", where he writes of observations over a six month period, gleaned from many years of returning to the same area and observing the wildlife there. Again, it was a wonderful read, though it was more general than the first book which concentrated on observations of Peregrines, with other birds being almost incidental. Baker's observations are minute, and his writing is beautiful. Here is a sample taken from towards the end of the book, describing the approach of night:
"Flocks of starlings fly west toward their roosting-place; mallard go inland to feed in the stubble. There is an inevitable stillness here, like the calm solitude of still water. A meadow pipit calls as I cross the field. The green of the grass intensifies, then fades to grey. All shapes recede, then seem to come slowly nearer, as dusk deepens and day ends.
There is a soft breath of parting among the brittle stems of the reeds at the side of the dyke. A short-eared owl floats up into the air. Its wings press slowly down and forward as it billows away across the fields. Gliding and banking steeply, it fades through the dusk. All around me, I hear the calls of golden plover rising like a mist of sound.
...
Deep in the afterglow, the gently imploring calls of partridges breathe upwards, like smoke-curls of autumn dusk. A hare runs into the dark corn. The empty land reaches out beyond the dusk, into the dews of night, into the fields of stars.
The estuary sinks slowly down below the black rampart of the farm, with all its brightness held up to me for the last time in one great flashing rim of light. Then I go inland, into the dark country of the minatory owls."
I read "The Peregrine" a few weeks ago, and gave it five stars. I have now read Baker's other book, "The Hill of Summer", where he writes of observations over a six month period, gleaned from many years of returning to the same area and observing the wildlife there. Again, it was a wonderful read, though it was more general than the first book which concentrated on observations of Peregrines, with other birds being almost incidental. Baker's observations are minute, and his writing is beautiful. Here is a sample taken from towards the end of the book, describing the approach of night:
"Flocks of starlings fly west toward their roosting-place; mallard go inland to feed in the stubble. There is an inevitable stillness here, like the calm solitude of still water. A meadow pipit calls as I cross the field. The green of the grass intensifies, then fades to grey. All shapes recede, then seem to come slowly nearer, as dusk deepens and day ends.
There is a soft breath of parting among the brittle stems of the reeds at the side of the dyke. A short-eared owl floats up into the air. Its wings press slowly down and forward as it billows away across the fields. Gliding and banking steeply, it fades through the dusk. All around me, I hear the calls of golden plover rising like a mist of sound.
...
Deep in the afterglow, the gently imploring calls of partridges breathe upwards, like smoke-curls of autumn dusk. A hare runs into the dark corn. The empty land reaches out beyond the dusk, into the dews of night, into the fields of stars.
The estuary sinks slowly down below the black rampart of the farm, with all its brightness held up to me for the last time in one great flashing rim of light. Then I go inland, into the dark country of the minatory owls."