Barn Owl

Encounters in the Wild

by Jim Crumley

Nature writer Jim Crumley describes some of his most memorable encounters with the barn owl - and reveals the ways they continually adapt to the encroachment of humans on their habitats.

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction, Natural History, Animals

64 pages, Hardcover

First published November 20, 2014

About the author

Jim Crumley is a Scottish nature writer with almost 20 books to his name, mostly on the landscape and wildlife of Scotland. He is renowned for his style - passionate, inspiring, visionary, sensitive, majestic - no work of his should be missed. He is also a columnist and presenter of radio programmes.

He has also received the accolade of '...the best nature writer now working in Great Britain...' from David Craig in the Los Angeles Times Book Review.

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a gentle nature book for people who like reading about growing up in the country, rambles, encounters with animals rather than scientific writing on animals. My favourite owl book is One Man's Owl. Bernd Heinrich is both personally close to and studies a very large owl, Bubo, who is sort of a pet as Heinrich raised him, and sort of just living with the author until he decides to have an independent life in the woods. This book, Barn Owl, is not in that league, but it is an enjoyable, if slight, read in it's own right.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I reviewed Kingfisher and Otter, two other titles from Crumley’s “Encounters in the Wild” series for the publisher Saraband, earlier in the month. Barn Owl follows the same pattern, traveling the Scottish islands in search of close encounters (with badgers and ospreys, too) but also stretching back to a childhood memory from 1950s Dundee, when there was an owl-occupied derelict farmstead a quarter-mile from his home. This is a lovely little full-circle narrative in that the book closes with “the barn owl, unlike all other night-flying owls, is the one that we can see in the dark … its inarguable beauty is layered with mystery, and …all of us have a place in our hearts and minds for mysterious beauty. I have known that to be an essential truth since I was about eight years old.”

Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.

[Aeron Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the short sixty two pages of this book, Crumley has managed to entertain and inform with anecdotes of magical moments spent in the company of the legendary barn owl. It has deepened my fondness and extended my appreciation for one of Britain's most beloved birds. A really majestic little book. I can't wait to read more in the Encounters in the Wild series and I admire Cromley greatly for what he is achieving by writing these little books. If you are looking for a stepping stone into wildlife books, then this should surely be your first step.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short 60-page book from Jim Crumley's Encounters in the Wild series. I cannot get enough of this renowned author's writing and will look out for the other titles in the series: Hare; Badger; Fox; Kingfisher; Otter; Skylark; Swan. For me, Jim Crumley is one of the best current writers of nature books. His method of long and close observation is like a meditation on nature.

[Ivan Monckton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another superb short natural history book in Crumley's "Encounters in the wild" series, everyone of which is food for the soul.

[Gareth Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have discovered a new favourite writer. Jim Crumley writes lyrical descriptions of nature that remind me of HE Bates and Laurie Lee but for him, humans are an intrusion rather than a focus, except in an awareness of the impact they have on the natural world.
This is a short book, beautifully presented in hardback. A paean to the Barn Owl in Scotland. An extended prose poem on the most enchanting, and ethereal of birds.
I learned its habits, revelled in its life-cycle, relished the places it lived, and few a short time I was transported on silent wings to a magical place.

[Mr O'Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Something about this enchanted me.

[Iain Every · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful.

[Derek Henderson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Arch, striving for effect (and with an annoying tendency to overuse brackets for no apparent reason).

[Luke Strickland · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a fan of nature writing in its various forms, particularly where the author expresses a deep connection with an element of the natural world. Jim Crumley's Barn Owl is a short but rich book filled with vivid encounters and observations of this nocturnal bird of prey. He recounts memories of barn owl encounters as a child alongside recent and up-close meetings, all infused with his love for nature and his deep skills in observation.
I'm inspired to be on the look out for these white and copper coloured birds, and will also be on the look out for more of Jim Crumley's work.