A Sky Full of Birds

by Matt Merritt

'Prose from a poet and a personal take on the spectacles' Chris Packham, author of Fingers in the Sparkle Jar

Britain is a nation of bird-lovers. However, few of us fully appreciate the sheer scale, variety and drama of our avian life. From city-centre hunters to vast flocks straight out of the Arctic wilderness, much-loved dawn songsters to the exotic invaders of supermarket car parks, a host of remarkable wildlife spectacles are waiting to be discovered right outside our front doors.

In A Sky Full of Birds, poet and nature writer Matt Merritt shares his passion for birdwatching by taking us to some of the great avian gatherings that occur around the British isles – from ravens in Anglesey and raptors on the Wirral, to Kent nightingales and Scottish capercallies. By turns lyrical, informative and entertaining, he shows how natural miracles can be found all around us, if only we know where to look for them.

Genres: Nature, Birds, Nonfiction, Animals, Natural History

224 pages, Hardcover

First published April 7, 2016

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Birds are one of the wild animals that we can see every day without even putting any effort in to look. Some are so ubiquitous, like the pigeon that we barely notice them. Others, like the robin, have a special place in our hearts, which is why it was voted our nation's favourite bird. You will often hear the song of a blackbird, see starlings and sparrows charging about everywhere and if you are lucky, glimpse a kestrel as you race past on the motorway. However, if you are to pause a little longer, and look at little harder you might just see birds that you never thought you’d come across.

Merritt is advocating taking those few extra moments to really look at what is happening. Small birds flying around a larger one are probably mobbing a buzzard if there are agitated pigeons in a city the look for a streak of a Peregrine. A bird on a pyracantha when you’re putting your shopping in the back of the car could be a waxwing and not just a blackbird. But if you really want to see the magnificent murmurations of starlings, huge flocks of wading birds or hear the din from a rookery or the sweet note of a nightingale then this book would be a good place to start.

Merritt will captivate you with his infectious enthusiasm for our feathered friends. He has used his craft as a poet to make this a fluently written book. It is full of details and keen observations of his subject, but then you’d expect that as he is well qualified to write this too as he is editor of Bird Watching Magazine. Definitely, a book worth reading and will hopefully give people some pointers on where to look for these natural miracles.

[Sophy H · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was just BLOODY BRILLIANT!

I absolutely love birds, I get giddy and "wow" profusely when I see a bird of prey, I feed the birds in our garden, I try to imitate crow calls to get them to see the treats I've left them on our shed roof (it works!!), I giggle at the pheasants who hide in our garden and pretend to be a piece of grass so that I don't see them! So, safe to say, I bloody love birds.

This book was like nectar to me. The writing was absolute quality, informative and conversational at the same time, illuminating and emotional, enlightening and lovely.

Matt Merritt knows his birds and his passion translates expertly to the pages here.

An excellent, highly recommended read.

[Kate Forsyth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matt Merritt is a poet and the editor of Bird Watching magazine, and in this beautiful book he brings together his love of words and birds into one beautiful package.

I’ve always liked birds too. I do my best to tell magpies apart from currawongs, and I’d love to see an owl in flight one day. I also love the collective nouns for birds – murders of crows, murmurations of starlings and exaltations of larks, for example.

Matt Merritt writes with simple and lyrical elegance of his own fascination with gatherings of birds, weaving in personal experience with quotations from a 10th century Anglo-Saxon poem about wild swans, Shakespeare, Samuel Coleridge and other writers and poets.

Each chapter is a self-contained essay about a different kind of bird, so it’s an easy book to pick up and read and then put down and leave for a while. A lovely addition to my collection of books about the natural world.

[Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over the last few years, I've developed into an enthusiastic but very amateur bird watcher. My other main hobby is photography and the two have fuelled one another. Photographically, bird watching is an expensive hobby because you can never have a long enough lens or a big enough piece of costly glass at the front of it. But, for the pure joy of bird watching, all you need is warm clothes to protect you from the British weather and, probably, a pair of binoculars.

This book is perfect for the amateur but keen British bird watcher. Matt Merritt is not just a keen ornithologist but also a poet: he writes joyfully and beautifully about a topic that he is clearly passionate about. Even a non-bird watcher who appreciates nature and good writing would, I'm sure, enjoy this book. I'm less sure that a non-British person would enjoy it as it is quintessentially and parochially British. But I might be wrong about that given the quality of the writing.

Merritt takes us with him on a number of bird watching expeditions through the course of year when he visited some key sites of large gatherings of birds across the UK. Along they way, he discusses the behaviour of birds, the unlikely origin of some of their names and, without getting technical, a bit of science thrown in for good measure now and then.

I've just handed my copy to my wife (also keen, fortunately, as I'm sure there can't be anything much worse than being married to a bird watcher if you are not interested yourself) and told her she must read it. If you are interested in birds at all or if you simply enjoy nature and good writing, this is an excellent book to settle down with.

[Elite Group · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book for all birdwatchers

If like me, you’re a basic birdwatcher, but want to learn more about the life of birds, their habits, nesting grounds and over-wintering patterns, then this is a superb book to answer your questions.

It’s written in such a way that you can dip in and out, going to the specific piece of information you’re looking for, thanks to the very comprehensive index at the back of the book.

Matt Merritt is an expert in his field and thanks to this book, has imparted his wealth of knowledge so that not just beginners like me, but others, already keen birdwatchers, can learn more about the birds that fill our skies.

Matt Merritt, my sketchy knowledge on birds has been fed and watered thanks to your brilliant and easily understandable book.

Treebeard

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

[Christine Dolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, and I would recommend it to anyone who loves birds, and reading about them. Although the author is a very experienced birdwatcher, he doesn't just write about rare or spectacular birds. Really it's just about his love of birdwatching, whether it's a blackbird in the garden, a swan, or something harder to find. It is well written using accessible prose, and it is full of interesting bits of information. Here is a passage which sums it up for me:

" These... are what continue to delight me, after getting on for forty years of birding. More than that, they astonish and delight me, in the genuine sense of the word. Even a sighting of a familiar bird-a songthrush riffing from the top of the garden Rowan, say-feels like a gift once you take onto account that it had so many other places it could be...."

This is why I watch birds, and read about them.

[Sam Worby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lyrical and straightforward. One thing that especially appealed is that this is birding for ordinary people. As much as I love many recent nature books they can have an air of competitive adventurousness. This is something more local and warm.

[Ross Mountney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this romp through the seasons via the birds! It took me away among quiet places with birdsong when I couldn't be. And I know a lot more now too. Inspiring!

[Anne Kiely · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book hugely. The writing is superb and the expertise and knowledge is shared in such an easily readable way.

[Huw Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although really a series of unrelated vignette this is a charming book in which the author shares his love of birds, something he rediscovered after his university days.

[Kayleigh McMillan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A generally easy read covering a multitude of topics around natural history, British ornithology, demography and culture - whilst I don't think the "looking for gatherings" theme worked especially well or distinguished this book from the hordes out there, this was a pleasant enough read.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully poetic immersion insight into everyday nature which we too often miss.

[Emma Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable book - informative and entertainingly written. For me, a bit of a dipper, hence the near 12 month time period for completion.