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.

[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.

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a slight but atmospheric exploration of natural landscapes after dark. It covers a full range of largely English terrains including farmland, woodland, coastal, riverbank, urban and industrial.

The writing is largely anecdotal but, by doing so, gives a satisfying amount of information in a very readable way. After all, the writer is an organic farmer who can speak from direct experience and familiarity about this subject since he walks around his farm each evening with his dog checking that all is as peaceful as it might be.

The writing is very distinctive insofar as the author deliberately stretches any reader’s knowledge of the English language. He loves using the less travelled parts of the dictionary but this is not overdone and does add a real lustre to some of the descriptions. I personally liked the opportunity to broaden my vocabulary with some really lovely words and turns of phrase.

There are also some fine illustrations throughout the book making it an attractive publication to hold and dip into later once it has been read from cover to cover.

He has a chapter which is a list of favourite classical noctournes. This is a bit throwaway. Likewise, his choice of numerous poems does not appear to add too much to the content. In particular, the inclusion of two pages of Mon in the Mone in 13th century Old English without any translation is just as impenetrable as the quality of darkness he experiences at the remote reservoir at Haweswater in the Lake District.

As for the multiple pages devoted to the stories behind the Greek names of constellations, that is largely filler once you become aware, as indeed the author plainly knows, that “… a constellation is an arbitrary categorisation, with its stars not necessarily related to others in the grouping. The designation “constellation” is merely the feeble pinky-grey cells of humans imposing an order on the universe that it does not really have."

[Sapphira · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a hard one to rate! This is my first Lewis-Stempel book, and I absolutely adored the author's writing style. His poetic prose fitted so well with the subject matter, making me want to walk at night a whole lot more and get outside in the new year to experience nature's nocturnal wonders.

However, this book did have a few flaws. one was simply the length - I would have preferred it to be a bit longer. Another was the fact the text sometimes felt a bit disjointed, so more flow would have been nice. Also, I felt like the whole book was an enticing overview that didn't quite live up to its full potential - again, the length of the book had something to do with this but there was also a whole chapter dedicated to the Thames, which I don't count as a 'wild landscape'.

The author also only really seemed to reference male nature writers in the book, with one reference to Rachel Carson. On a final note, oh to be a man able to walk at night without much fear of humans causing harm...

Saying all this, I'll definitely be reading some of Lewis-Stempel's other books in the near future!

[Kharis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a huge fan of John Lewis-Stempel, he's a great inspiration to me. His prose is something of wonder and comfort. I didn't even realise this book was out and stumbled upon it by accident! Unfortunately this is not one of the best. There are some good bits in it, but it all seems to lack some structure and seems a bit random. I'm almost sure that some of the material is better covered in England - A Natural History - which is much better, some bits may even be repeated but in much shorter form. I honestly didn't see the real point in this book and there was also a similar one called nightwalking some time ago which was better (but still a bit short). I was looking forward to savouring this like most of his books but honestly found it aimless and a bit of a struggle.

[Kelly Furniss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nature writer John Lewis-Stempel dedicates this book to the Night. Stating that the night reorders our senses of hearing, touch & smell over vision & we become sensitive to nature & more ‘animal’. He shares his experiences of night time walking on his farm checking the animals & the surrounding land & comments on all he see’s & hears & what his dog alerts him to. He also shares these observations of visits to the Lake District, Welsh Coast & London Thames. I enjoyed the contrast of the nature writing from the farm to the Thames & having enjoyed books on Mudlarking- Lara Maiklem I was fascinated to read his comments on the night noises & smells.
At times the book felt a bit choppy with the sudden random insert of poems but I did enjoy the images.

[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.

[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

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to give this more than two stars. I really enjoyed parts of it, especially the night walks but it was too disjointed and didn't hang together as a whole book. The author is a fabulous nature writer, I loved Meadowland and The Running Hare, so I was very disappointed.