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A Year in the Woods: The Diary of a Forest Ranger
Colin Elford spends his days alone - alone but for the deer, the squirrels, the rabbits, the birds and the many other creatures inhabiting the woods.
From the crisp coldness of January, through the excitement of spring and the warmth of summer, and back into the dampness of the autumn and the chill winds of winter, we accompany the forest ranger as he goes about his work - stalking in the early-morning darkness, putting an injured fallow buck out of its misery, watching stoats kill a hare, observing owls, and simply enjoying the outdoors.
'A Year in the Woods' is an enthralling journey deep into the heart of the English countryside.
From the crisp coldness of January, through the excitement of spring and the warmth of summer, and back into the dampness of the autumn and the chill winds of winter, we accompany the forest ranger as he goes about his work - stalking in the early-morning darkness, putting an injured fallow buck out of its misery, watching stoats kill a hare, observing owls, and simply enjoying the outdoors.
'A Year in the Woods' is an enthralling journey deep into the heart of the English countryside.
167 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2010
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167 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
March 28, 2013
endless cable hunting show. where is the off button. man goes into woods, kills deer drags it out, again and again.
March 24, 2013
Do you like that bit in the guardian where they talk about the country and the changing of the seasons? Do you harbour a desire to learn about shooting deer? Not so much? Probably skip this one. Not my thing.
September 6, 2011
Although I've been brought up to appreciated Australian's native flora and fauna I've always been curious about the seemingly story-book animals of Europe and their Disney-like forest homes and so A Year in the Woods was an obvious choice.
I was obviously first attracted to this book because of its gorgeous cover: perfectly balanced with cute woodland animals, acorns and leaves and charming text. The book itself is beautifully designed, each chapter, or mont, marked with a simple illustration and the thoughts, experiences and stories in each punctuated with a small leaf motif.
Oragnised as such A Year in the Woods doesn't have any really narrative but is rather a collection of observations throughout the year as the forest changes with the season. And the ranger, Colin Elford, conveys these experiences wonderfully through detailed descriptions of all the events of the forest, both big and small.
I was rather suprised however as to how much of the book focused on the hunting and killing of deer. I wasn't aware culling deer would be such a huge part of a rangers job given they are native animals in England. I'm pretty sure no rangers in Australia carry out culling of our native wildlife. I was even more suprised that at times recreational hunters accompany Elford on his patrols of the forest to try to shot a trophy deer. Elford of course explains and follows all the guidelines on when it is premitted and necessary to shoot certain typd of deer and shows how it is necessary to maintain the balance in the forest. At times however I was reading the book thinking that it may appeal more to hunters rather than those interested in nature.
Despite this one complaint I did really enjoy A Year in the Woods a nicely presented, well-written account of a year in the English woods.
I was obviously first attracted to this book because of its gorgeous cover: perfectly balanced with cute woodland animals, acorns and leaves and charming text. The book itself is beautifully designed, each chapter, or mont, marked with a simple illustration and the thoughts, experiences and stories in each punctuated with a small leaf motif.
Oragnised as such A Year in the Woods doesn't have any really narrative but is rather a collection of observations throughout the year as the forest changes with the season. And the ranger, Colin Elford, conveys these experiences wonderfully through detailed descriptions of all the events of the forest, both big and small.
I was rather suprised however as to how much of the book focused on the hunting and killing of deer. I wasn't aware culling deer would be such a huge part of a rangers job given they are native animals in England. I'm pretty sure no rangers in Australia carry out culling of our native wildlife. I was even more suprised that at times recreational hunters accompany Elford on his patrols of the forest to try to shot a trophy deer. Elford of course explains and follows all the guidelines on when it is premitted and necessary to shoot certain typd of deer and shows how it is necessary to maintain the balance in the forest. At times however I was reading the book thinking that it may appeal more to hunters rather than those interested in nature.
Despite this one complaint I did really enjoy A Year in the Woods a nicely presented, well-written account of a year in the English woods.
September 14, 2017
Memoirs of a forest ranger. This book documents the harsh side of nature as well as its beauty, and is written by someone who knew nature intimately as part of his profession, unlike many other nature books which can be a bit pretentious. Would be of interest to anyone wanting to learn about bush craft as well as the natural world in all its detail.
October 27, 2018
I thought the book was well written though I guess the journal format didn't augur well for the overall impact of the work. While I understand the rationale behind culling, there were times when I thought a tranquilizer dart (for example, the doe caught by a leftover nylon thread on a tree) would suffice; the culling also comes across as repetitive even when Colin Elford also repetitively convey the message that even rangers have conscience.
Maybe, I also expected a lot more other wildlife to participate in the journal apart from deer, fallow doe, deer, fallow doe, deer, fallow doe. There's promise in Colin's writing of butterflies and birds but they're sadly outweighed heavily by the culling accounts.
Maybe, I also expected a lot more other wildlife to participate in the journal apart from deer, fallow doe, deer, fallow doe, deer, fallow doe. There's promise in Colin's writing of butterflies and birds but they're sadly outweighed heavily by the culling accounts.
December 7, 2012
I tried to like this book.
I will save you some time. A bloke goes into the woods and shoots a deer and drags it back.
Sometimes he goes into the wood and does not shoot a deer.
It follows a calendar year and I sighed with relief when the deer cull was over only to discover he shot deer as a pass time and as a guide.
This was a serious test of willpower to continue reading.
In june he does not shoot a deer so he shoots squirrel instead.
I have nothing against shooting deer, there is one in my garden I'd encourage to be shot but not if it meant I had to read 160 odd pages on the subject.
Dull, repetitious, overly long, over written. I would recommend it to anybody I didn't like much.
I will save you some time. A bloke goes into the woods and shoots a deer and drags it back.
Sometimes he goes into the wood and does not shoot a deer.
It follows a calendar year and I sighed with relief when the deer cull was over only to discover he shot deer as a pass time and as a guide.
This was a serious test of willpower to continue reading.
In june he does not shoot a deer so he shoots squirrel instead.
I have nothing against shooting deer, there is one in my garden I'd encourage to be shot but not if it meant I had to read 160 odd pages on the subject.
Dull, repetitious, overly long, over written. I would recommend it to anybody I didn't like much.
July 23, 2024
This was a nice read, a view into a different world. Yes, the narrator shoots deer, which seems to have offended some reviewers. But that’s just ignorance. Nothing preys upon the UK deer population so if we didn’t cull them they’d destroy many trees. The natural world is a fine balance and there are many occasions here where the narrator acknowledges our inferiority. We are taken through the year month by month, with diary style entries. There is some truly beautiful writing but it is somewhat uneven, as it’s beholden to the events of the day in question. I learnt quite a bit about deer and other wildlife, all of which was interesting. It reminded me how much I’m missing.
December 21, 2025
Easy reading and in a conversational tone I enjoyed. Yes there are numerous and often blunt references to the culling of the woods deer to manage numbers but all is expressed in the tone of one who clearly does so for the necessity rather than the thrill.
A book I enjoyed being able to put down (at times for a few weeks) and come back to as something easy to read and gentle escape.
A book I enjoyed being able to put down (at times for a few weeks) and come back to as something easy to read and gentle escape.
April 5, 2020
A decent enough light read but I felt the writing was forcibly detailed - like the writer was trying to get every descriptive word possible into a sentence just for the sake of it. Made it hard going.
April 2, 2019
Not what I expected. A lot of time seemed to be taken up with killing deer.....
January 31, 2020
Interesting, would recommend.
Nice insight into what seems like another world.
Would never have thought that UK woodland takes so much maintenance. Calming and relaxing, a nice way to wind down.
Nice insight into what seems like another world.
Would never have thought that UK woodland takes so much maintenance. Calming and relaxing, a nice way to wind down.
July 1, 2021
Bloody awful, man goes into woods and shoots things. Not the nature appreciation I was imagining. Truly ghastly.
April 8, 2023
I thought I was going to read a book about observing and appreciating nature. And instead, the book opens with the author trying to kill deer. Did not finish.
December 20, 2023
I had hoped this may have had more about the wildlife throughout the year and there was some of this but it seemed to be mainly about deer culling . Not really what I wanted .
November 11, 2010
This review is part of the Green Books campaign.Today 200 bloggers take a stand to support books printed in an eco-friendly manner by simultaneously publishing reviews of 200 books printed on recycled or FSC-certified paper. By turning a spotlight on books printed using eco- friendly paper, we hope to raise the awareness of book buyers and encourage everyone to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books.
The campaign is organized for the second time by Eco-Libris, a green company working to make reading more sustainable. We invite you to join the discussion on "green" books and support books printed in an eco-friendly manner! A full list of participating blogs and links to their reviews is available on Eco-Libris website.
A Year in the Woods by Colin Elford is published by Hamish Hamilton (an imprint of Penguin Books) on paper certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council. You can read more about Penguin's commitment to the environment here. The book is a lovely looking hardback in a smallish format with the pages printed on a nice paper.
The book is a diary of Elford's working life as a forest ranger on the Dorset / Wiltshire border. It appealed to me because of my voluntary work with the Water of Leith Conservation Trust where once a week I patrol an area of woodland along the river, recording wildlife, picking litter and keeping an eye out for pollution and other issues. Of course Elford's work is much more demanding and seems to take over his whole life, he is often found working late into the night or setting out before dawn into the forest. His tasks are also more wide ranging than I undertake as a volunteer, in fact one of his main tasks is to cull deer. In fact this leads to my one complaint about the book. Too much emphasis on the shooting! I definitely got the feeling that the book is aimed at the outdoor sports fan rather than the naturalist. I understand the need for culling populations of deer, they have no natural predators in the UK since we wiped out all the big carnivores that used to roam our countryside. However, I felt that the narrative could have been a bit less biased towards the hunting.
Having said that the book is fascinating. Elford obviously knows his patch of woodland intimately and makes wonderfully detailed observations of the natural wonders around him.
Bobbing and swerving, the owl heads over some young pine. While one crow carries on the chase, the other soars skywards, then suddenly and violently stoops at the tawny; the owl crumples like an airborne mass of feathers, the force pushing the bird deep into the pine tops, causing a massive burst of pine pollen.
It's the detail of the burst of pine pollen that is so interesting here, how many of us would notice that or recognise it for what it is?
This book gives a fascinating and personal insight into how our forests (and deer populations) are managed.
Disclaimer - I received a free copy of this book as part of the Green Books Campaign.
The campaign is organized for the second time by Eco-Libris, a green company working to make reading more sustainable. We invite you to join the discussion on "green" books and support books printed in an eco-friendly manner! A full list of participating blogs and links to their reviews is available on Eco-Libris website.
A Year in the Woods by Colin Elford is published by Hamish Hamilton (an imprint of Penguin Books) on paper certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council. You can read more about Penguin's commitment to the environment here. The book is a lovely looking hardback in a smallish format with the pages printed on a nice paper.
The book is a diary of Elford's working life as a forest ranger on the Dorset / Wiltshire border. It appealed to me because of my voluntary work with the Water of Leith Conservation Trust where once a week I patrol an area of woodland along the river, recording wildlife, picking litter and keeping an eye out for pollution and other issues. Of course Elford's work is much more demanding and seems to take over his whole life, he is often found working late into the night or setting out before dawn into the forest. His tasks are also more wide ranging than I undertake as a volunteer, in fact one of his main tasks is to cull deer. In fact this leads to my one complaint about the book. Too much emphasis on the shooting! I definitely got the feeling that the book is aimed at the outdoor sports fan rather than the naturalist. I understand the need for culling populations of deer, they have no natural predators in the UK since we wiped out all the big carnivores that used to roam our countryside. However, I felt that the narrative could have been a bit less biased towards the hunting.
Having said that the book is fascinating. Elford obviously knows his patch of woodland intimately and makes wonderfully detailed observations of the natural wonders around him.
Bobbing and swerving, the owl heads over some young pine. While one crow carries on the chase, the other soars skywards, then suddenly and violently stoops at the tawny; the owl crumples like an airborne mass of feathers, the force pushing the bird deep into the pine tops, causing a massive burst of pine pollen.
It's the detail of the burst of pine pollen that is so interesting here, how many of us would notice that or recognise it for what it is?
This book gives a fascinating and personal insight into how our forests (and deer populations) are managed.
Disclaimer - I received a free copy of this book as part of the Green Books Campaign.
August 15, 2012
Well my mistake. I started reading this thinking it was about the U.S. Forest Ranger service, instead it's about England? I didn't finish it. I also found the writing preachy--an eco rant about how we humans are polluting the environment. Blah blah blah! I've talked to real life rangers before and most are more rational and bipartisan in their views. This book was not at least what I read of it, about 45 pages.
January 15, 2016
Gave this to my godson after he expressed an interest in becoming a park ranger. Here's what his Mum reported back:
"The present which has had the most impact is the book you sent - A Year in the Woods. It’s been read and re-read and it is, he says, the reason he is going to uni to do Environmental Conservation. He's always said, since he read it, that he wants to live like the guy in the book, and I truly believe he will. That’s quite an impact you made there!"
Life changing stuff then!
"The present which has had the most impact is the book you sent - A Year in the Woods. It’s been read and re-read and it is, he says, the reason he is going to uni to do Environmental Conservation. He's always said, since he read it, that he wants to live like the guy in the book, and I truly believe he will. That’s quite an impact you made there!"
Life changing stuff then!
July 13, 2015
This is more a book on the thoughts of someone intimately linked to the countryside for their livelihood. It's not as sentimental as others, where there is an intellectual link, or as poetic as say Deakin, but there is a marked honesty.
September 19, 2011
Lovely evocative, lyrical diary written by someone with a passionate and observant love of the natural world. Warning, reading this could lead to a career change!!
July 28, 2017
I enjoyed reading this book very much. I learned about the lives of animals deep in the forest.
September 20, 2017
Nice easy read, I live the way the author caught the moments before dawn.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews