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

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I believe that a little space goes a long way and sometimes all we really need to do is take a step back to let nature do its thing. Chronicled in Goshawk Summer: The Diary of an Extraordinary Season in the Forest, wildlife cameraman James Aldred is given the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to film a goshawk nest during the first few months of the pandemic.

Goshawk Summer - Wainwright Prize Goshawk Summer - Wainwright Prize

I wonder if a translocation to Argyll might help their population a bit, it doesn’t look as if there are many there, but it should be a fantastic place for them and certainly with a hell of a lot less of the particular ‘sporting’ activity that causes them so much grief. However, despite the high level of legal protection given to the goshawk, its spread from these large forests into some of the surrounding privately owned woodlands has been restricted due to persecution. Being such an unusual and terrifying time, and working in a place so close to his heart, makes his story very personal and affecting. 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. Above all, it’s the story of how one family of goshawks living in a timeless corner of England shone like fire through one of our darkest times and how, for the author, they became a symbol of hope for the future.A local non sporting estate with a large mixed woodland that I thought would be absolutely perfect for goshawk has had two sightings of single birds in a period spanning decades. really because James comes across as an incredibly knowledgable and intune observer of nature, and where he lacks knowledge, information is supplied by the experts he works alongside. Auf der morgendlichen Fahrt zum New Forrest musste er irgendwann nicht mehr auf andere Fahrzeuge auf der Straße achten, sondern vielmehr auf Wild. After harpy eagle attacks, being chased by venomous snakes, and almost being knocked out of a tree by an elephant, you’d think Aldred wouldn’t have much excitement for our native wildlife. Auf der einen Seite waren es perfekte Bedingungen weil sie ungestört waren, Auf der anderen Seite fielen die drei Männer so aber den Vögeln mehr auf, eben weil sie die einzigen waren, die sich im Wald aufhielten und so unter ständiger Beobachtung standen.

JAMES ALDRED — Goshawk Summer

I didn’t enjoy Aldred’s writing style though I do respect that his work and painstaking collection of data.However, after the adventures of finding a suitable nest and planning how to set up the shoot, lockdown began. A thoughtful account of a really difficult time, when there were many hopes that nature might recover in the silence, then worry as to how the countryside would cope with unprecedented numbers of visitors, coupled with a realisation that this was an opportunity for many to experience nature in a way they never would have usually. So, this book opens the world of Goshawks to me in a way that I enjoyed and will never have the opportunity to experience myself. He stationed himself in a treetop hide between April and June, filming the goshawks: 'From up here the wood became a three-dimensional landscape of dense foliage and distant glimpses. The Washburn valley and lower Wharfedale were the same occupation but successful breeding as rare as hen’s teeth.

Goshawk Summer: A New Forest Season Unlike Any Other - Goodreads

Each stem seems to stretch and yawn as if waking up from hibernation and their tightly twisted fiddleheads are covered in soft silver hairs that shimmer like silk. If you live in Wales, as I did, you are surrounded by goshawks; I know of dozens of nest sites as the predation of my free range chickens will attest! This detail reveals an intimacy, formed between the photographer and his subject, which comes across in the text and transports the reader to the hide and the unfolding drama of this Goshawk breeding attempt. 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. This is a tale of reawakened passions for a familiar childhood landscape now struggling to cope with the pressures of the modern world.Animal reintroduction is incidentally a focal point – Goshawks were reintroduced (though nobody knows how) and a Pine Marten is caught on camera, along side how humans irresponsible and harmful interactions with the environment can harm those efforts (and even already present animal lives, like the foxes). Schon als er nach seinem Aufenthalt in Afrika, wo er eine Familie von Geparden gefilmt hat, am heimischen Flughafen ankommt, merkt er, dass etwas im Gang ist, auch wenn man bis dahin nur wenig Konkretes wusste.