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The Wren: A Short Biography
From the bestselling author of The A Biography , Stephan The wren is a paradox of a bird.They are Britain's most common bird, with 8.5 million breeding pairs and have by far the loudest song in proportion to their size. They also thrive up and down Britain and from the smallest city garden to remote offshore islands, blustery moors to chilly mountains. Yet many people are not sure if they have ever seen a wren. Perhaps because the wren is so tiny, weighing just as much as two A4 sheets of paper, and so busy, always on the move, more mouse than bird.However if we cast our eyes back to recent history wrens were a mainstay of literary, cultural and popular history. The wren was on postage stamps and the farthing, it featured in nursery rhymes and greetings cards, poems and rural 'wren hunts', still a recent memory in Ireland particularly.With beautiful illustrations throughout, this captivating year-in-the-life biography reveals the hidden secrets of this fascinating bird that lives right on our doorstep.
Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2018
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About the author
Stephen Moss
75 books142 followersLibrarian Note: there is more than one author with this name in the Goodreads database.
Stephen Moss is a naturalist, broadcaster, television producer and author. In a distinguished career at the BBC Natural History Unit his credits included Springwatch, Birds Britannia and The Nature of Britain. His books include The Robin: A Biography, A Bird in the Bush, The Bumper Book of Nature, Wild Hares and Hummingbirds and Wild Kingdom. He is also Senior Lecturer in Nature and Travel Writing at Bath Spa University. Originally from London, he lives with his family on the Somerset Levels, and is President of the Somerset Wildlife Trust. He is a regular contributor to the Guardian.
Stephen Moss is a naturalist, broadcaster, television producer and author. In a distinguished career at the BBC Natural History Unit his credits included Springwatch, Birds Britannia and The Nature of Britain. His books include The Robin: A Biography, A Bird in the Bush, The Bumper Book of Nature, Wild Hares and Hummingbirds and Wild Kingdom. He is also Senior Lecturer in Nature and Travel Writing at Bath Spa University. Originally from London, he lives with his family on the Somerset Levels, and is President of the Somerset Wildlife Trust. He is a regular contributor to the Guardian.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
January 7, 2020
I adore nature writing, and was therefore keen to pick up something by prolific author Stephen Moss, who writes almost exclusively about birds. The blurb of the beautifully produced The Wren: A Biography says that this is a 'captivating biography of Britain's most common bird which lives - often unseen - right on our doorstep.'
With at least eight million breeding pairs in Britain, it seems curious that the majority of people - myself included - believe they have never seen one. In his introduction, Moss alludes to the reasoning behind this: 'Perhaps that's because wrens are so tiny, weighing less than half an ounce; or that they're constantly on the move, behaving more like a mouse than a bird.'
The Wren is a year-in-the-life biography. Moss moves through each month, noting, as the book's subtitle suggests, 'The Secret Life of Britain's Most Common Bird'. It begins on a 'bright, cold winter's day', when Moss leans out of his kitchen window 'soon after sunrise'. Here, he observes a wren, describing it thus: '... quiet and unassuming, lurking deep in the shadows beneath the shrubbery, like a shy actor waiting in the wings, while others take centre stage.' He then goes on to comment that he has seen wrens all over the United Kingdom, 'from the heart of London to the remotest offshore island.'
The book features gorgeous illustrations throughout, and contains such charming details of wrens in popular culture and literature, from William Shakespeare to William Blake. Moss writes of the different names bestowed upon the birds throughout history, from the Jenny wren to the tomtit. He also explores the 'fascinating folklore surrounding this species.'
In each chapter, Moss references others who have written extensively about the wren. Revered ornithologist Max Nicholson, for instance, described the wren as 'a bird of crevices and crannies, of woodpiles and fallen trees, of hedge-bottoms and banks, walls and boulders... Wrens therefore can cut across, or rather scramble under, the imaginary boundaries which we are accustomed to draw between different types of country.'
Throughout The Wren, Moss writes at length of many aspects of the existence of the wren. He looks at the historical migration of the wren, which has meant that different variations of the bird can be found around the world. He talks of their song, their mating rituals, the distribution of the birds, their preferred habitats, the effects of climate change upon them, the nest building process, and the fledging of the chicks, amongst other fascinating details.
The Wren is the most darling nature book, and one of the most engaging about a single species which I have read to date. It is informative and immersive from its very beginning, and the structure, which follows a single calendar year, works wonderfully. Moss' prose is beautifully descriptive, and he speaks authoritatively throughout.
The Wren is sure to appeal to anyone interested in the natural world, and I thoroughly enjoyed Moss' take on the tiny birds. I am so excited to read more of his books, and feel that he could easily become one of my very favourite nature writers.
With at least eight million breeding pairs in Britain, it seems curious that the majority of people - myself included - believe they have never seen one. In his introduction, Moss alludes to the reasoning behind this: 'Perhaps that's because wrens are so tiny, weighing less than half an ounce; or that they're constantly on the move, behaving more like a mouse than a bird.'
The Wren is a year-in-the-life biography. Moss moves through each month, noting, as the book's subtitle suggests, 'The Secret Life of Britain's Most Common Bird'. It begins on a 'bright, cold winter's day', when Moss leans out of his kitchen window 'soon after sunrise'. Here, he observes a wren, describing it thus: '... quiet and unassuming, lurking deep in the shadows beneath the shrubbery, like a shy actor waiting in the wings, while others take centre stage.' He then goes on to comment that he has seen wrens all over the United Kingdom, 'from the heart of London to the remotest offshore island.'
The book features gorgeous illustrations throughout, and contains such charming details of wrens in popular culture and literature, from William Shakespeare to William Blake. Moss writes of the different names bestowed upon the birds throughout history, from the Jenny wren to the tomtit. He also explores the 'fascinating folklore surrounding this species.'
In each chapter, Moss references others who have written extensively about the wren. Revered ornithologist Max Nicholson, for instance, described the wren as 'a bird of crevices and crannies, of woodpiles and fallen trees, of hedge-bottoms and banks, walls and boulders... Wrens therefore can cut across, or rather scramble under, the imaginary boundaries which we are accustomed to draw between different types of country.'
Throughout The Wren, Moss writes at length of many aspects of the existence of the wren. He looks at the historical migration of the wren, which has meant that different variations of the bird can be found around the world. He talks of their song, their mating rituals, the distribution of the birds, their preferred habitats, the effects of climate change upon them, the nest building process, and the fledging of the chicks, amongst other fascinating details.
The Wren is the most darling nature book, and one of the most engaging about a single species which I have read to date. It is informative and immersive from its very beginning, and the structure, which follows a single calendar year, works wonderfully. Moss' prose is beautifully descriptive, and he speaks authoritatively throughout.
The Wren is sure to appeal to anyone interested in the natural world, and I thoroughly enjoyed Moss' take on the tiny birds. I am so excited to read more of his books, and feel that he could easily become one of my very favourite nature writers.
September 22, 2019
The book implies there's no particular reason for the pairing of Jenny and Wren but I've always had a sense of a person connection because of it... and because they are such singular birds. It was lovely to immerse myself in a book all about them.
I wasn't sure about the structuring of the book around calendar months, but I am not sure I can come up with another way to do it, and some aspects - breeding, the Wren Hunt, make sense in this way. Mixing up ornithology and folklore and the personal may work better than having discrete sections for each. However, occasionally I felt it had been a structure to put the book together in chunks and there was some repetition I think was unintentional. I also found the illustrations a little frustrating - I would have liked more variety of style for such a distinctive bird and better quality photographic reproduction.
One is left in awe of the work that goes into studying birds, the many hours of observation which reveal the natural history.
I wasn't sure about the structuring of the book around calendar months, but I am not sure I can come up with another way to do it, and some aspects - breeding, the Wren Hunt, make sense in this way. Mixing up ornithology and folklore and the personal may work better than having discrete sections for each. However, occasionally I felt it had been a structure to put the book together in chunks and there was some repetition I think was unintentional. I also found the illustrations a little frustrating - I would have liked more variety of style for such a distinctive bird and better quality photographic reproduction.
One is left in awe of the work that goes into studying birds, the many hours of observation which reveal the natural history.
Read
January 12, 2025I have always found wrens make me smile when I see them - such delicate little birds. This is awell written, informative book that I enjoyed reading
January 22, 2019
An interesting little book and a good companion to The Robin: A Biography. The illustrations are beautiful.
December 22, 2018
A lovely book with some interesting history and insights into a lovely little bird, and highlighted with some beautiful illustrations.
March 22, 2019
After 'The Robin' I did not expect anything else then to love this equally and I did.
This book is like a lovesong about The Wren, one of the tiniest birds and absolutely one of the most energetic and cheerful ones. I loved every detail written about it. I'm going outside into the sunshine now to enjoy its presence.
This book is like a lovesong about The Wren, one of the tiniest birds and absolutely one of the most energetic and cheerful ones. I loved every detail written about it. I'm going outside into the sunshine now to enjoy its presence.
April 17, 2025
http://looneybooks79.blog/2025/04/17/...
Na 'De Uil' en 'Het Roodborstje' is nu 'Het Winterkoninkje' het derde boek in de biografieën van vogels dat ik lees van de natuurhistoricus en vogelaar Stephen Moss. En ook nu opnieuw beschrijft hij het leven van dit kleine, heel vaak voorkomende, kleine vogeltje met zijn korte wipstaartje per maand en de gebruiken van het diertje qua nesten, qua verleiden, qua overleven en waar het zich aan laaft qua voeding.
In tegenstelling tot het roodborstje is het winterkoninkje echter niet zo makkelijk te spotten want het vogeltje is een kleine bundel nervositeit en wipt van de ene naar de andere hoek van je tuin, steeds op zoek naar insecten en ander voedsel. Moss vergelijkt het winterkoninkje met een klein schuw muisje dat constant in beweging is.
En ook nu weer begeleiden prachtige tekeningen de teksten van Moss en zijn er korte teksten (uit gedichten, romans of liedjes) die elk hoofdstuk (elke maand) inleiden waarin het winterkoninkje zijn opwachting maakt.
Ongelofelijk dat deze kleine diertjes vroeger vaak tot voedsel dienden van de mens. In de zestiende eeuw schilderde Pieter Breugel de Oude het schilderij 'Winterlandschap met schaatsers en vogelknip' (dat ik onlangs in Brussel mocht aanschouwen). Op dat schilderij zie je hoe ze in vroegere tijden vogels vingen, met een zogenoemde vogelknip. Ik kan me sterk inbeelden dat ook de winterkoning slachtoffer werd van deze vallen. (net als het roodborstje en andere kleine vogels trouwens!)
Fascinerend materiaal zijn deze biografieën wel en ze doen inzien dat onze tuin en onze natuur zoveel pracht en praal te bieden heeft. Jammer genoeg zal ook hier de klimaatopwarming (en de grootste jager ter wereld, de huiskat) een verandering in brengen vermoedelijk. Deze boeken zijn ideaal voor mensen die houden van ons gevederde vrienden maar ook voor iedereen die meer wil te weten komen over welke vogels in hun tuin zitten en hoe ze deze kunnen helpen om te overleven (zeker in de veranderende seizoenen en bij strenge winters).
Toen ik dit boek las kwam me een verhaal van de stripreeks Suske en Wiske te boven, namelijk De Snoezige Snowijt, waar een winterkoninkje (mét kroon!) zijn opwachting maakt. (zie hieronder)
Na 'De Uil' en 'Het Roodborstje' is nu 'Het Winterkoninkje' het derde boek in de biografieën van vogels dat ik lees van de natuurhistoricus en vogelaar Stephen Moss. En ook nu opnieuw beschrijft hij het leven van dit kleine, heel vaak voorkomende, kleine vogeltje met zijn korte wipstaartje per maand en de gebruiken van het diertje qua nesten, qua verleiden, qua overleven en waar het zich aan laaft qua voeding.
In tegenstelling tot het roodborstje is het winterkoninkje echter niet zo makkelijk te spotten want het vogeltje is een kleine bundel nervositeit en wipt van de ene naar de andere hoek van je tuin, steeds op zoek naar insecten en ander voedsel. Moss vergelijkt het winterkoninkje met een klein schuw muisje dat constant in beweging is.
En ook nu weer begeleiden prachtige tekeningen de teksten van Moss en zijn er korte teksten (uit gedichten, romans of liedjes) die elk hoofdstuk (elke maand) inleiden waarin het winterkoninkje zijn opwachting maakt.
Ongelofelijk dat deze kleine diertjes vroeger vaak tot voedsel dienden van de mens. In de zestiende eeuw schilderde Pieter Breugel de Oude het schilderij 'Winterlandschap met schaatsers en vogelknip' (dat ik onlangs in Brussel mocht aanschouwen). Op dat schilderij zie je hoe ze in vroegere tijden vogels vingen, met een zogenoemde vogelknip. Ik kan me sterk inbeelden dat ook de winterkoning slachtoffer werd van deze vallen. (net als het roodborstje en andere kleine vogels trouwens!)
Fascinerend materiaal zijn deze biografieën wel en ze doen inzien dat onze tuin en onze natuur zoveel pracht en praal te bieden heeft. Jammer genoeg zal ook hier de klimaatopwarming (en de grootste jager ter wereld, de huiskat) een verandering in brengen vermoedelijk. Deze boeken zijn ideaal voor mensen die houden van ons gevederde vrienden maar ook voor iedereen die meer wil te weten komen over welke vogels in hun tuin zitten en hoe ze deze kunnen helpen om te overleven (zeker in de veranderende seizoenen en bij strenge winters).
Toen ik dit boek las kwam me een verhaal van de stripreeks Suske en Wiske te boven, namelijk De Snoezige Snowijt, waar een winterkoninkje (mét kroon!) zijn opwachting maakt. (zie hieronder)
January 23, 2020
Leuk boek, best interessant en vlot geschreven. De Nederlandse vertaling geef ik echter een 1. Ik heb een gruwelijke hekel aan mensen die de humor in Engelse gedichten proberen te vertalen door onzinwoorden te gebruiken, en die Engelse accenten en dialecten vertalen naar Brabantse of, de horreur!, Amsterdamse. Waren de gedichten maar onvertaald gebleven of in ieder geval de koosnamen voor het Winterkoninkje. Ik ga kijken of The Robin wel in het Engels in de bieb te vinden is.
November 20, 2018
Just like the author's other volume The Robin, this little book makes a wonderful gift. It is beautifully presented and has loads of colourful illustrations inside, which makes the reading so much more joyful.
I didn't rate this one as highly as the one about robins, mainly because it felt a bit like it was just a copy of the earlier book, very similar in structure and sometimes also content. This may not apply to you if you've not read the robin book, of course.
There was one chapter in particular, which only dealt with the cultural significance of the wren, and didn't touch on what the actual bird would get up to in that month. Now, this might be because there isn't actually anything exciting happening during that time of the wren's life cycle, but it would have been good to just mention it, otherwise it feels a bit like the author just skipped that month.
To be fair, I am only nit-picking at this point. It is a lovely book and would make wonderful present for any bird lover.
I didn't rate this one as highly as the one about robins, mainly because it felt a bit like it was just a copy of the earlier book, very similar in structure and sometimes also content. This may not apply to you if you've not read the robin book, of course.
There was one chapter in particular, which only dealt with the cultural significance of the wren, and didn't touch on what the actual bird would get up to in that month. Now, this might be because there isn't actually anything exciting happening during that time of the wren's life cycle, but it would have been good to just mention it, otherwise it feels a bit like the author just skipped that month.
To be fair, I am only nit-picking at this point. It is a lovely book and would make wonderful present for any bird lover.
December 27, 2020
In January 2019 we were lucky to go and stay in Stephen Moss’s house. Well, I guess technically it was next door, but it was the house he rents out to tourists. As Stephen says in the book, he lives in Somerset, near the Avalon Marshes and that was the reason for our visit. Specifically, we had come to see the starling murmurations and we were not disappointed. Wave after wave of these stunning birds came to roost in the reeds. There were tens of thousands of them in just that one place. It certainly is a phenomenon and great to see so many people, of all ages, coming to witness the spectacle. As keen bird watchers, we were spoilt with all the wildlife on the Avalon Marshes, as the representative of the RSPB told us on our first visit, ‘This place isn’t just about the starlings!’ He was of course right and it was great to stay in the home of such a distinguished naturalist. To receive his book as a present was the icing on the cake.
So what of the book, I hear you ask. Well, there is a lot of information in the book itself, made easy to navigate by the way the book is set out in months. This also gives a sense of the life cycle of the wren which helps to keep abreast of all that information.
The subtitle of the book is ‘The Secret Life of Britain’s Most Common Bird’ which was a surprise to me. Not the secret bit as the wren is tricky to spot, its small size, sudden movements and preference to be in the undergrowth certainly keep it secret. I hadn’t expected it to be Britain’s most common bird, with estimates of around 8.5 million breeding pairs (this statistic is quite old now, from the RSPB in 2011) but consensus is that this little chap is indeed in a large population on our shores. Having seen so many starlings in one place it’s hard to appreciate that the little bird, who is mostly solitary, is in fact more numerous.
I enjoyed the book and learnt a lot about the wren. I did, however, find it quite sad in a lot of ways. The wren has a difficult life, being so small it is prone to being taken by predators, in particular cats. But it has also had quite a tough time in folklore with tales often portraying it as a bad omen. A particularly gruesome tradition involved heading out on Boxing Day to hunt the poor wren, when caught, it was tied to a pole then placed in a cage and paraded around the houses where the revelers demanded food or other treats in exchange for a wren feather. If it survived that long, it would often be killed by the end of the day. I struggle to understand how people can be so cruel! Thankfully, this tradition does seem to be consigned to the past, though not as far back as one might imagine. For a little bird so hunted and taunted, it is testament to its resilience that so many grace our countryside today.
It is not all doom and gloom. There are lovely descriptions of nest building, feeding the young and a bit of courtship. Nests can be in all sorts of places, I liked the description of a gardener who took his jacket off as he worked only to find at the end of his day that a wren had taken up residence! He did the honourable thing and left his jacket for the tiny bird to use and secure another generation. In the south of the country, the male can have several mates and doesn’t help the female with rearing the young. Further north this is less common due to the cooler climate and there the male will play more of a part. They have a very short life, two years at most, and have to fight hard during that time, particularly in the winter.
Next time I see a wren I will appreciate it so much more. A tiny bird, so many of them yet so difficult to see and with a most glorious song. Long may they continue to dominate our lives.
So what of the book, I hear you ask. Well, there is a lot of information in the book itself, made easy to navigate by the way the book is set out in months. This also gives a sense of the life cycle of the wren which helps to keep abreast of all that information.
The subtitle of the book is ‘The Secret Life of Britain’s Most Common Bird’ which was a surprise to me. Not the secret bit as the wren is tricky to spot, its small size, sudden movements and preference to be in the undergrowth certainly keep it secret. I hadn’t expected it to be Britain’s most common bird, with estimates of around 8.5 million breeding pairs (this statistic is quite old now, from the RSPB in 2011) but consensus is that this little chap is indeed in a large population on our shores. Having seen so many starlings in one place it’s hard to appreciate that the little bird, who is mostly solitary, is in fact more numerous.
I enjoyed the book and learnt a lot about the wren. I did, however, find it quite sad in a lot of ways. The wren has a difficult life, being so small it is prone to being taken by predators, in particular cats. But it has also had quite a tough time in folklore with tales often portraying it as a bad omen. A particularly gruesome tradition involved heading out on Boxing Day to hunt the poor wren, when caught, it was tied to a pole then placed in a cage and paraded around the houses where the revelers demanded food or other treats in exchange for a wren feather. If it survived that long, it would often be killed by the end of the day. I struggle to understand how people can be so cruel! Thankfully, this tradition does seem to be consigned to the past, though not as far back as one might imagine. For a little bird so hunted and taunted, it is testament to its resilience that so many grace our countryside today.
It is not all doom and gloom. There are lovely descriptions of nest building, feeding the young and a bit of courtship. Nests can be in all sorts of places, I liked the description of a gardener who took his jacket off as he worked only to find at the end of his day that a wren had taken up residence! He did the honourable thing and left his jacket for the tiny bird to use and secure another generation. In the south of the country, the male can have several mates and doesn’t help the female with rearing the young. Further north this is less common due to the cooler climate and there the male will play more of a part. They have a very short life, two years at most, and have to fight hard during that time, particularly in the winter.
Next time I see a wren I will appreciate it so much more. A tiny bird, so many of them yet so difficult to see and with a most glorious song. Long may they continue to dominate our lives.
January 2, 2020
The European wren is the commonest bird in the UK, but it's tiny size and skulking habits mean that many people have never seen one (on the other hand it's loud voice and persistant song means that most people have probably heard one even if they aren't aware of that fact).
Stephen Moss here presents us with an insightful look into the year in the life of a European wren including the fact that the male wren will construct several nests at the start of the breeding season for the female to check over so she can choose the best place to bring up their young. On the other hand, wrens have been known to take over nests built by other species, whether this is in cases of the female despairing of the male's nest building capabilities isn't documented!
The book also includes notes about the evolution of the wren family - the first wrens were found in what is now America and spread across the globe from there - with there being a number of subspecies of the European wren living in the British Isles, including most famously the St Kilda wren, found only on the remote islands of St Kilda far to the north of the British mainland. Plus details about the wren's place in folklore and tradition.
Crammed with beautiful illustrations and written in an engaging manner this is a lovely book for anyone who loves nature and wants to find out more about this appealing little bird. You certainly won't want to overlook the wren once you've finished reading this!
Stephen Moss here presents us with an insightful look into the year in the life of a European wren including the fact that the male wren will construct several nests at the start of the breeding season for the female to check over so she can choose the best place to bring up their young. On the other hand, wrens have been known to take over nests built by other species, whether this is in cases of the female despairing of the male's nest building capabilities isn't documented!
The book also includes notes about the evolution of the wren family - the first wrens were found in what is now America and spread across the globe from there - with there being a number of subspecies of the European wren living in the British Isles, including most famously the St Kilda wren, found only on the remote islands of St Kilda far to the north of the British mainland. Plus details about the wren's place in folklore and tradition.
Crammed with beautiful illustrations and written in an engaging manner this is a lovely book for anyone who loves nature and wants to find out more about this appealing little bird. You certainly won't want to overlook the wren once you've finished reading this!
May 27, 2019
This companion volume to Stephen Moss's The Robin: A Biography is another great read for bird lovers. The Moss skill is to be able to make ordinary observations sound beautiful, and this little volume on Britain's most common bird (seriously, 8 million) is no exception. Laid out, like the book on Robins, in twelve chapters, one for each month, he covers any amount of ground about the life cycle of a wren as well as its place in history.
This book appealed to me as a birdwatcher, but wrens are less charismatic than robins and I'm not so sure it would have the same appeal to a casual reader. However I enjoyed reading it on a pick-up-and-put-down basis.
This book appealed to me as a birdwatcher, but wrens are less charismatic than robins and I'm not so sure it would have the same appeal to a casual reader. However I enjoyed reading it on a pick-up-and-put-down basis.
May 6, 2019
A fascinating insight into the commonest bird in Britain. The author,using the months as chapter headings, takes us through the wren's annual life-cycle of claiming territory, nest building, mating, breeding, rearing young and then surviving the cold winter. Scattered throughout are literary, historical and ornithological references which make for an interesting read.
A short, easily read book which I would recommend it to anyone interested in nature or simply wanting to know more about the natural history of this small, often elusive but frequently heard bird.
A short, easily read book which I would recommend it to anyone interested in nature or simply wanting to know more about the natural history of this small, often elusive but frequently heard bird.
May 6, 2024
[24 Jan 2021] This little book (like that of the Robin) is written in monthly chapters and it takes you through the life cycle of the Wren, Britain's most common bird. It includes wonderful descriptions and antidotes, illustrations from history and much folklore and comment. It is aimed at the general reader so although much content is drawn from the work of serious ornithologists it avoids technical detail and science - always keeping to the easily accessible. There are some amazing facts and figures and deviations to various places like St Kilda - to see how Wrens change in different environments. The prose is delightful and it is generally a positive, easy, engaging and highly entertaining book about a little bird we all have in our gardens, but rarely see. It isn't academic or overly scientific but just an easily accessible wonderful read.
This little feel-good book is a great read and one that I whole-heartedly recommend.
This little feel-good book is a great read and one that I whole-heartedly recommend.
January 28, 2025
Stephen Moss' book is a fabulous treasure trove of facts and figures about this impressive little bird. He includes all kinds of interesting stories, myths and country legends that anyone who enjoys nature watching will just love to read. No spoilers here but when it has been known as the 'king of birds' and, when you discover there are/were traditional 'wren hunts' for whatever curious reasons, you just have to keep on turning the pages.
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
February 1, 2021
A really lovely book for any wren or general bird lover. Set out across the months of the year, it has a mixture of anecdotes, quotes and pictures as well as facts, so there's quite a bit of information but nothing too heavy for casual interest readers. Ideal for anyone with an interest in native garden birds.
January 25, 2023
Absolutely beautiful book on one of my favourite birds, couldn't put it down once I picked it up, the author has a great way of telling a story whilst being incredibly informative at the same time.
You learn alot about the wrens background and how it came to be in England, in addition to the tales and folklore surrounding it, and also its ecology.
You learn alot about the wrens background and how it came to be in England, in addition to the tales and folklore surrounding it, and also its ecology.
February 7, 2019
A fantastic biography/natural history of this much under-appreciated British bird. The monthly format is particularly well done - the writer brings out the larger than life character of Troglodytes troglodytes throughout the changing year.
April 22, 2022
This is a very interesting and wide-ranging book, and I particularly enjoyed the month-by-month look at this amazing bird. I also very much enjoyed the blend of facts, legend and personal stories. Great stuff.
January 16, 2019
Again another neat little book that tells you most of what you'd like to know about Wrens. I like the way these books are set out in the months, look forward to a third if there ever is one.
May 8, 2019
What a lovely little book about my favourite bird.
July 1, 2019
A delightful read adding colour to a diminutive garden visitor. The monthly chapter breakdown is a bit unnecessary and contrived but there are a few gems in the book.
March 30, 2021
A sweet little book packed full of anecdotes and fascinating information as it follows the life cycle of the wren from January to December
June 18, 2022
Brilliant book, loads of info about wrens and beautifully written.
Want to read
August 1, 2022I learned of this book via this post: https://messybaker.wordpress.com/2022...
March 3, 2024
Really interesting, sweet and informative.
August 18, 2025
A lovely book, balm for the soul. Stephen Moss always delights and informs.
June 12, 2020
I loved this book!
Just like Stephen Moss’ book about the robin, this one about the wren is also interesting, wonderfully told and beautifully illustrated. Stephen Moss’ passion and love for nature and birds is so obvious, which anybody who loves nature will enjoy.
Just like Stephen Moss’ book about the robin, this one about the wren is also interesting, wonderfully told and beautifully illustrated. Stephen Moss’ passion and love for nature and birds is so obvious, which anybody who loves nature will enjoy.
August 14, 2024
Another superb book although not quite as good as his robin biography because the wren book relies more on others' research and observations than his robin book. It is though such a delight to read excellent prose written by an absolute expert, and indeed when I finished 'Wren', I recalled how much I'd enjoyed Moorhouse's 'Wild Hares and Hummingbirds'.
One of our most accomplished nature writers.
One of our most accomplished nature writers.
January 13, 2024
Beautiful and fascinating book, read across the course of the a year, a month at a time, giving you a chance to notice and, if fortunate, experience these little birds round about us.
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