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Looking for the Goshawk by Conor Mark Jameson
The book traces Conor Jameson's travels in search of the Goshawk, a magnificent yet rarely seen (in Britain at least) raptor. Each episode of the narrative arises from personal experience, investigation, and the unearthing ofinformation from research, exploration and conversations.The journey takes him from an encounter with a stuffed Goshawk in a glass case, through travels into supposed Goshawk territories in Britain, to Berlin - where he finds the bird at ease in the city. Why, he wants to know, is the bird so rarely seen in Britain? He explores the politics of birdwatching, the sport of falconry and the impact of persecution on the recent history of the bird in Britain and travels the length of Britain, through central Europe and the USA in search of answers to the goshawk mystery. Throughout his journey he is inspired by the writings of T H White who told of his attempts to tame a Goshawk in his much-loved book.It's a gripping tale on the trail of a most mysterious and charismatic bird.
Hardcover
First published April 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 7, 2018
Whether it is a kestrel hovering over a verge or a Red Kite hanging in the thermals, a glimpse of a raptor is always a special moment. My closest encounter with a wild raptor was walking through my hometown of Wimborne one Sunday afternoon and seeing a Sparrow Hawk feasting on an unlucky pigeon a few metres in front of me. Managed to get very close just before it flew off. Thankfully raptors have a lot more protection nowadays but they are still subject to persecution in certain parts of the country.
However, there are some of these magnificent creatures that are very elusive; the goshawk is one of those and Conor Mark Jameson has made it his mission to try and find these beautiful birds wherever he can. His travels will take him from a stuffed one in a museum to the city of Berlin where Goshawks are thriving and back and forwards across the country in search of these birds and eventually to America where he seeks out the birds there and discusses the Native American beliefs about these and other raptors. Friends and other bird watchers keep him up to date with local sightings, though most seem to be sparrow hawks when the evidence is evaluated.
His obsession has been inspired by reading the classic book by TH White, The Goshawk. He wants to know more about the man who wrote the book and with a little bit of research, he finds the cottage where he used to live and some relatives who he eventually gets to meet. He considers the politics of birdwatching and wonders about how falconry and the persecution of them have affected their chances. The thing to remember though is even if
I really enjoyed this book, and particularly liked the way he has written it as a diary. His enthusiasm is infectious as he seeks these birds out. They take a lot of finding too, they are not naturally gregarious, preferring to live in copses and woodlands and rarely make themselves visible, so they may be there and you are not going to see them. Now I really want to read TH White's book on the Goshawk.
However, there are some of these magnificent creatures that are very elusive; the goshawk is one of those and Conor Mark Jameson has made it his mission to try and find these beautiful birds wherever he can. His travels will take him from a stuffed one in a museum to the city of Berlin where Goshawks are thriving and back and forwards across the country in search of these birds and eventually to America where he seeks out the birds there and discusses the Native American beliefs about these and other raptors. Friends and other bird watchers keep him up to date with local sightings, though most seem to be sparrow hawks when the evidence is evaluated.
His obsession has been inspired by reading the classic book by TH White, The Goshawk. He wants to know more about the man who wrote the book and with a little bit of research, he finds the cottage where he used to live and some relatives who he eventually gets to meet. He considers the politics of birdwatching and wonders about how falconry and the persecution of them have affected their chances. The thing to remember though is even if
I really enjoyed this book, and particularly liked the way he has written it as a diary. His enthusiasm is infectious as he seeks these birds out. They take a lot of finding too, they are not naturally gregarious, preferring to live in copses and woodlands and rarely make themselves visible, so they may be there and you are not going to see them. Now I really want to read TH White's book on the Goshawk.
July 28, 2013
I was drawn to this book in an unusual way. I received an email message from an English, naturalist writer friend, Neil Ansell (Deer Island), who told me I had been quoted in the new book about the Goshawk. Now, while I am a bit of a Nature Crazy myself, I can't really be considered a "Birder". I have also never been to the UK, but the cover image was so inviting, that I dived in.
Looking for the Goshawk is certainly an academic work. The author follows the careful need for corroborative evidence in a scientific manner as he goes about trying to find the elusive Accipiter Raptor. There is a great deal of scholarly information here. He covers the same ground not just a few times, but his writing voice is so accessible and emotionally charged, it was mostly a delight to follow his complex journey. Beginning with his exposure to a stuffed, glass-cased female hawk in a curio shop, he is filled with awe, admiration and an equal share of revulsion and sadness which mirrors my own experience viewing a stuffed Passenger Pigeon in the NY Museum of Natural History shortly after my arrival in NY in 1973. His description of his feelings and his almost obsessive need to act on them is something I understood completely. I too have always felt the awe and love of predatory birds; so what becomes a true quest, as the pages of Looking for Goshawk unfold, was something I could relate to. His immediate and engaging writing style certainly carried me over any obstacles.
As the book deals chiefly with English and Scottish locales, place names and cultural icons, I was often at a loss. On the other hand, we Americans tend to take our diversity of wildlife and the overwhelming recovery of our predatory bird species, largely for granted. Learning of the extinction of several species of native raptors in the UK, mostly at the hands of a very restrictive game management culture, shocked my sensibilities. The recovery of the Goshawk and other species, such as the Osprey in such a hostile environment is proof of the power of life and the effective work of a few committed people. Those bird enthusiasts, including members of the royal family, are to be commended and applauded.
Towards the end, author Jameson includes a chapter of a visit to New York and Pennsylvania, which finally brought the focus of the book to bear on areas I'm intimately familiar with. In a section discussing Native American beliefs surrounding birds of prey, I found my own words gleaned from an Experts site where I've been sharing my experiences with collectors and those interested in Native American cultural issues. The chapter also connected me strongly with the author's very personal search and helped me feel the joy when he disappointment is occasionally broken by glimpses of a powerful, even aggressive bird reclaiming his birthright. The author is absolutely right, this is a discussion we all need to engage in, on both sides of the pond. How can we be sure of our own lives if we deny another living thing the right to the same? Add a star to my review if you are either a birder or live in the UK. If both, then I would suggest this is a must-read. For anyone who enjoys watching a hawk soar high above, his steady eye watching for any possible lunch, who is also able to engage in academic reading, I would recommend it as well.Deer Island
Looking for the Goshawk is certainly an academic work. The author follows the careful need for corroborative evidence in a scientific manner as he goes about trying to find the elusive Accipiter Raptor. There is a great deal of scholarly information here. He covers the same ground not just a few times, but his writing voice is so accessible and emotionally charged, it was mostly a delight to follow his complex journey. Beginning with his exposure to a stuffed, glass-cased female hawk in a curio shop, he is filled with awe, admiration and an equal share of revulsion and sadness which mirrors my own experience viewing a stuffed Passenger Pigeon in the NY Museum of Natural History shortly after my arrival in NY in 1973. His description of his feelings and his almost obsessive need to act on them is something I understood completely. I too have always felt the awe and love of predatory birds; so what becomes a true quest, as the pages of Looking for Goshawk unfold, was something I could relate to. His immediate and engaging writing style certainly carried me over any obstacles.
As the book deals chiefly with English and Scottish locales, place names and cultural icons, I was often at a loss. On the other hand, we Americans tend to take our diversity of wildlife and the overwhelming recovery of our predatory bird species, largely for granted. Learning of the extinction of several species of native raptors in the UK, mostly at the hands of a very restrictive game management culture, shocked my sensibilities. The recovery of the Goshawk and other species, such as the Osprey in such a hostile environment is proof of the power of life and the effective work of a few committed people. Those bird enthusiasts, including members of the royal family, are to be commended and applauded.
Towards the end, author Jameson includes a chapter of a visit to New York and Pennsylvania, which finally brought the focus of the book to bear on areas I'm intimately familiar with. In a section discussing Native American beliefs surrounding birds of prey, I found my own words gleaned from an Experts site where I've been sharing my experiences with collectors and those interested in Native American cultural issues. The chapter also connected me strongly with the author's very personal search and helped me feel the joy when he disappointment is occasionally broken by glimpses of a powerful, even aggressive bird reclaiming his birthright. The author is absolutely right, this is a discussion we all need to engage in, on both sides of the pond. How can we be sure of our own lives if we deny another living thing the right to the same? Add a star to my review if you are either a birder or live in the UK. If both, then I would suggest this is a must-read. For anyone who enjoys watching a hawk soar high above, his steady eye watching for any possible lunch, who is also able to engage in academic reading, I would recommend it as well.Deer Island
April 26, 2013
Is it a bird?
The goshawk was the first raptor to become extinct in the British Isles but in the last few decades it has reappeared in very limited numbers. This book is Jameson’s tale of how he set out to discover if it had returned to his own area, somewhere around Bedfordshire, I think. I say 'I think' because Jameson has a very annoying habit of not revealing locations – he hints that this is to stop people being able to track and kill the goshawk, which would be both understandable and admirable if in fact he only did it in places where the goshawk has been found. At one point, he refuses to name a village in which he found a stuffed goshawk in the back of a shop – one can’t help but feel it is in very little danger of worse happening to it now…
As part of his search for the elusive 'gos', he visits various places where they are in residence – Germany, Scotland, the US – and speculates as to why the bird is successful in these places but still so rare in his area. He talks about why they became extinct and why they have reappeared and much of this is interesting. He also discusses habitat, breeding patterns, hunting methods, etc., but all in passing - there’s no clear structure or thrust to the book. He starts sentence after sentence with 'I wonder…' and then doesn’t go on to answer the question he has asked. Many times he sees a bird, fails to identify it and then 'wonders' if it might have been a goshawk. And then he casually disputes evidence without any alternative to put in its place. For instance, when seeing a gamekeeper’s records of the number of goshawks killed over a period of four years, he dismisses these with a casual disbelief that the figures could be so high, and says the gamekeeper must have mistaken other raptors for goshawks. Where’s the evidence for this? It’s certainly not in the book.
I may have been able to live with the lack of structure and evidence had the writing been good enough to lift the book. But no. Three-word sentences. Frequently. Without verbs. Why? "This is outdoors as room. Padded. Comfortable and comforting. Mild and wild. 'Semi-natural.' Sauvage, in a second-hand way." It’s not all like that but it is written in an amateurish style that I assume is meant to make us feel that this is a friend chatting to us, rather than an expert informing us. So, to be fair, some of my irritation with the book may be down to personal preference. I like factual books to make an argument and back it up with evidence; and I like the conventions of grammar and writing style to get at least a nod. But perhaps this may appeal to people who like a more relaxed, informal and unstructured style.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher.
The goshawk was the first raptor to become extinct in the British Isles but in the last few decades it has reappeared in very limited numbers. This book is Jameson’s tale of how he set out to discover if it had returned to his own area, somewhere around Bedfordshire, I think. I say 'I think' because Jameson has a very annoying habit of not revealing locations – he hints that this is to stop people being able to track and kill the goshawk, which would be both understandable and admirable if in fact he only did it in places where the goshawk has been found. At one point, he refuses to name a village in which he found a stuffed goshawk in the back of a shop – one can’t help but feel it is in very little danger of worse happening to it now…
As part of his search for the elusive 'gos', he visits various places where they are in residence – Germany, Scotland, the US – and speculates as to why the bird is successful in these places but still so rare in his area. He talks about why they became extinct and why they have reappeared and much of this is interesting. He also discusses habitat, breeding patterns, hunting methods, etc., but all in passing - there’s no clear structure or thrust to the book. He starts sentence after sentence with 'I wonder…' and then doesn’t go on to answer the question he has asked. Many times he sees a bird, fails to identify it and then 'wonders' if it might have been a goshawk. And then he casually disputes evidence without any alternative to put in its place. For instance, when seeing a gamekeeper’s records of the number of goshawks killed over a period of four years, he dismisses these with a casual disbelief that the figures could be so high, and says the gamekeeper must have mistaken other raptors for goshawks. Where’s the evidence for this? It’s certainly not in the book.
I may have been able to live with the lack of structure and evidence had the writing been good enough to lift the book. But no. Three-word sentences. Frequently. Without verbs. Why? "This is outdoors as room. Padded. Comfortable and comforting. Mild and wild. 'Semi-natural.' Sauvage, in a second-hand way." It’s not all like that but it is written in an amateurish style that I assume is meant to make us feel that this is a friend chatting to us, rather than an expert informing us. So, to be fair, some of my irritation with the book may be down to personal preference. I like factual books to make an argument and back it up with evidence; and I like the conventions of grammar and writing style to get at least a nod. But perhaps this may appeal to people who like a more relaxed, informal and unstructured style.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher.
August 9, 2013
I liked Conor’s previous book, but I like this one even more. Whereas in Silent Spring Revisited Conor lived through the events described but seemed, to me, to be a little detached from them, this is a book where he describes what he did, and where he went, to get to grips better with a magnificent but elusive bird.
He takes us to Berlin, Cornell, Bedfordshire, the Peak District and many other places on the trail of goshawks and those who admire, watch and protect this bird. We are accompanied, on parts of the journey, by TH White, William Henry Hudson, William Shakespeare and Winston Churchill, and many other famous and erudite folk, but also by a bunch of Conor’s colleagues at the RSPB (where he works).
I’ve rarely seen a goshawk. That’s not an unusual experience – or lack of an experience. They are not that common, but even where they are present they show themselves with more discretion than do, say, kites or buzzards. There may be goshawks near you but you may not realise they are there.
As far as this book is concerned, you don’t need to have seen a goshawk to enjoy it. You don’t even need to want to see a goshawk to enjoy it. Conor’s cultured writing and enthusiasm for the natural world and the people, like him, who care about it, will carry you along through the chapters.
Nice cover to – by Darren Woodhead.
Published by Bloomsbury.
This review first appeared at www.markavery.info/blog/
He takes us to Berlin, Cornell, Bedfordshire, the Peak District and many other places on the trail of goshawks and those who admire, watch and protect this bird. We are accompanied, on parts of the journey, by TH White, William Henry Hudson, William Shakespeare and Winston Churchill, and many other famous and erudite folk, but also by a bunch of Conor’s colleagues at the RSPB (where he works).
I’ve rarely seen a goshawk. That’s not an unusual experience – or lack of an experience. They are not that common, but even where they are present they show themselves with more discretion than do, say, kites or buzzards. There may be goshawks near you but you may not realise they are there.
As far as this book is concerned, you don’t need to have seen a goshawk to enjoy it. You don’t even need to want to see a goshawk to enjoy it. Conor’s cultured writing and enthusiasm for the natural world and the people, like him, who care about it, will carry you along through the chapters.
Nice cover to – by Darren Woodhead.
Published by Bloomsbury.
This review first appeared at www.markavery.info/blog/
July 30, 2020
Second time I have read this book and I really ‘got it’ this time!
As a birdwatcher I had forgotten to keep my eyes on the skies for those raptors and other surprises passing through. I have been focusing too close. From now on, I will be checking out the airspace and making sure I don’t miss anything. You never know, I might even spot the elusive goshawk!
Thank you for opening my eyes Mr Jameson.
As a birdwatcher I had forgotten to keep my eyes on the skies for those raptors and other surprises passing through. I have been focusing too close. From now on, I will be checking out the airspace and making sure I don’t miss anything. You never know, I might even spot the elusive goshawk!
Thank you for opening my eyes Mr Jameson.
May 16, 2023
86/100
June 4, 2013
This is a superb read - I was 'hooked' from start to finish. If you care about wildlife, and why it matters to us, and what's really going on in the countryside, you should read this book. It's written in a fresh style, and he keeps it real all the way. I think this may just come to be regarded as a classic. Richard Darlington
August 9, 2013
I enjoyed it to start with but it became tedious. Just find the Goshawk and tell us about it! A bit more factual detail and less mystique would be welcome.
May 8, 2014
Nicely written and researched book about a subject that got tiresome fast.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews