Night Life: Walking Britain’s Wild Landscapes after Dark

by John Lewis-Stempel

In Night Life, John Lewis-Stempel heads back out into the night to discover how nocturnal wildlife takes charge of their ink-black domain. As humans we stumble, clumsy in the dark, so how do the creatures of the night take on a new strength as the sun sets?

Using the stars above as his guide, and only his faithful dog by his side, he moves across the wilderness to explore the effect the night has on our senses, and see what we can learn from our animal friends.

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction

192 pages, Hardcover

Published November 6, 2025

Reviews

[Erik B.K.K. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmm... I feel bad for giving only 2 stars, but Night Life let me down. I was looking forward so much to reading it during the Holidays for months! It's too aimless and all over the place, with too much rambling and random tidbits of info that completely halt the flow of the night walks. Every time I began to "get into" one part, it was broken up by a (mostly boring) poem or illustration, which were not all that pretty - a lot of typical, antique woodcut art- I wished the publisher would have hired one of Britain's lovely illustrators.
Now I have to decide whether to keep my copy or return it. A shame really!]

Edit: I decided to keep it. After all, I want Lewis-Stempel to write more books (I still wish for an update on Meadowland, that one is still my favorite!).

[W.S. Luk · Rating 4 out of 5]

"To see a group of glow worms is to see stars on Earth. So small, though, the human audience to watch the miracle plays of night-time nature."

This book, a chronicle of Britain's nocturnal wildlife, compares instructively to Arifa Akbar's WOLF MOON, another nonfiction account of night-time life (one about nature, the other humans) published this year. Whereas Akbar's prose is more conversational, Lewis-Stempel achieves elegantly poetic effects with evocative descriptions of his nighttime nature walks and the literary images that these experiences evoke. Even as someone with little interest in spending time in nature, NIGHT LIFE is a moving ode to the silence and serenity that wild landscapes take on at night. That said, I would've welcomed some more discussion in NIGHT LIFE of cultural attitudes towards the night and nocturnal creatures (especially in modernity, and in relation to how industrialisation has changed our attitude towards animals often seen as vermin: for instance, speaking with pest control experts whose job is to remove rather than celebrate such animals), a field which WOLF MOON's multifaceted discussion of nighttime in the city excels at.

[Ivan Monckton · Rating 2 out of 5]

The poorest of the Lewis-Stempel books I have read. Whole chapters on Borth beach, London Thameside and star constellations…hardly ‘Britainn’s Wild Landscapes’. As always, there is some nice writing and a batch of interesting information, but it seems plain to me that this book was produced to syphon some of our cash, especially as the author has covered the purported subject matter far better already in another book.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent follow up to Night Walking and more of the same, which is not a bad thing.

Wonderful adventures in the dark and including different locations like the Lake District, coastal Wales and along the Thames.

It does inspire one to want to go for night walks and see a different side to British nature we miss out on.

[Joseph Riley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love John Lewis-Stempel's writing - I think he's possibly our best nature writer here in the UK - but this one was a bit of a struggle at times and lacked flow, feeling bitty and disjointed. I love the nighttime too, so thought I'd enjoy this a whole lot more