The Blackbird Diaries: A Year with Wildlife

by Karen Lloyd

Lakeland Book of the Year 2018, Bookends Prize for Art and Literature. With its enchanting song, striking orange bill and endearing willingness to share our living space, the blackbird is one of our best-loved birds. And, in common with all our garden wildlife, it plays a critical role in Britain’s fragile and precious biodiversity. In The Blackbird Diaries, Karen Lloyd shares her deep-rooted knowledge and affection for the flora and fauna of these isles. And she issues a clarion call for the conservation of endangered habitats and species – most notably the curlew, Europe’s largest wading bird. Over the four seasons, Karen intimately chronicles the drama of the natural world as it all unfolds in her garden and in the limestone hills and valleys of Cumbria’s South Lakeland. What emerges is a celebration of landscapes that rarely feature in nature writing. But more than that, at a time of critical species loss, she offers rare insights into the lives of animals that may be common but are no less remarkable.

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction, Natural History

253 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 16, 2017

About the author

Karen is a writer of creative non-fiction and poetry based in Kendal, Cumbria. Her first book, ‘The Gathering Tide; A Journey Around the Edgelands of Morecambe Bay’ contains writing on land, landscape and memory. It won Eric Robson’s Striding Edge Productions Prize for Place and was runner up at The Lakeland Book of the Year Awards 2016. ‘The Blackbird Diaries’ is published on 17th November 2017. It is an account of closely observing the wildlife in her South Lakeland garden and further afield, including Scotland’s Solway coast and the islands of Mull and Staffa.

Karen graduated with distinction from the M.Litt at Stirling University. She writes for The Guardian Country Diary, BBC Countryfile Magazine, The Royal Geographic Society website, Discovering Britain and a number of other journals. She is a member of Kendal’s Brewery Poets.

Reviews

[Anni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I needed a break from reading about the grim human world and this unassuming gem caught my eye because I adore blackbirds. Every garden of mine has to have a blackbird family, and to me, no sound is more uplifting to my spirits than the song of the male blackbird in Spring.

The following quote is a typical example of the author's sublime lyrical tribute to this most neighbourly garden bird:

'The male blackbird’s song is variously spirited, aggrieved, cautious, wistful, melancholic. Amongst the first birds to sing in the morning, they offer the last of nature’s generous solicitousness at the closing of the light.
Every day I quietly revel in their proximity, watching for the cock bird’s sun-ringed eye, and for the quiet, soft, umbered grace of the hen as she turns to look over her shoulder, watching me. I think they know I am beguiled'.

[Christine Dober · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the things I really enjoyed reading this was all the names - of birds, towns, hills, trails, plants, etc. I really felt that I was experiencing a new place. I love it when an authors love of something is infectious.

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't think I could enjoy this as much as "The Gathering Tide", Karen's previous book, but in many ways I appreciated it more. The diary format gave a structure to the descriptions and accounts of the flora and fauna she encountered during 2016, mostly in and around her Kendal home, but with forays to Scotland too.

But it's the writing itself that I loved most. Karen's skill as a poet with choosing the best words, imagery and verbs in particular, enabled the reader to picture the blackbirds in her hedge or the egrets in the gullies or the geese landing, to hear the calls of the robins and goldfinches. I read passages twice at times to thoroughly imbibe myself in her use of language and thus in her walks and observations. She made me feel envious of her life and her talent but, more importantly, appreciative of the beauty of the area in which she and I live and determined to go on more local walks to notice that beauty in all its glory.

I highly recommend this book to those who love nature, the Lakes, or well written books.

[Kharis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really, really wanted to love this book. I love Blackbirds and other birdlife. Truth is it took me about 2 years on and off to read. I just couldn't get into it. While I loved some of the descriptions and atmosphere there was something I could not put my finger on and consequently I never rushed to pick it up and finish it. I am a huge fan of John Lewis Stempel but this didn't quite tick my boxes in the same way as his books do. Also, when reading the very end I was dismayed to read of another 'get rid of the sheep' brigade and plant more trees. What do these people think will happen when all our cows and sheep are gone...... it was very interesting to read John Lewis Stempel's take on this in his recent book too a Sheeps Tale, and I believe he's right.

[Tricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pleasant read that captured the Lake District well and taught me a few things. I came away with a few nuggets that I wanted to share and it filled in some gaps in my bird and conservation knowledge. I live in the North of the Lakes so I know the area and I spent a lot of the book thinking "I've been there" and "oh that's somewhere I must explore". I also lived through the devastation of Storm Desmond so I was particularly interested to read a perspective from the South of the district. Unfortunately I also found the book on the repetitive side, the flowery prose grated and I ended up skim reading quite a lot.

[Mike Walsh · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book, but it was just so incredibly boring. There are some nice moments describing the authors journeys chasing sights of a Corncrake or watching Swifts. It just felt like the book lacked any coherent narrative that would have made it compelling. I get that's sort of the point when it's essentially a diary and you're seeing a year in a wildlife enthusiasts eyes, but it still could stop it feeling like you're wading through treacle.

[Candia L · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely gentle book charting the author’s encounters with nature and, in particular, birds, over the course of a year.

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5

[Mushroom girl · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy-going read which perfectly captures the joys of being in nature, simple but good.

[Sandra Tice · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book club read, if I didn’t live in the Lake District I might have enjoyed it more, found it a bit boring & tedious

[HELEN FOX · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing book. A must read for all bird lovers!!!

So beautifully written, I thought I was there with the author watching the squadrons of swifts perform aerial manoeuvres against the sky.
what a beautiful picture that has stuck in my mind for long time. I did not know that swifts had very tiny legs and they could not walk, so they could only shuffle.I can go on and on, so much to say about this book, only that is a fascinating read!!!