Kingfisher

Encounters in the Wild

by Jim Crumley

In the Encounters in the Wild series, renowned nature writer Jim Crumley gets up close and personal with British wildlife - here, the kingfisher. With his inimitable passion and vision, he relives memorable encounters with some of our best-loved native species, offering intimate insights into their extraordinary lives.

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature

64 pages, Hardcover

Published March 15, 2018

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

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crumley’s “Encounters in the Wild” series for the publisher Saraband are attractive wee hardbacks with covers by Carry Akroyd. Each is based on the Scottish nature writer’s observations and serendipitous meetings, while an afterword gives additional information on the animal and its appearances in legend and literature. Kingfisher sticks close to one spot, a particular “bend in the river” where the author watches faithfully and is occasionally rewarded by the sight of one or two kingfishers. As the book opens, he sees what at first looks like a small brown bird flying straight at him, until the head-on view becomes a profile that reveals a flash of electric blue. As the Gerard Manley Hopkins line has it (borrowed for the title of Alex Preston’s book on birdwatching), kingfishers “catch fire.” Lyrical writing and self-deprecating honesty about the necessity of waiting (perhaps in the soaking rain) for moments of magic made this a lovely read. “Colour is to kingfishers what slipperiness is to eels. … Vanishing and theory-shattering are what kingfishers do best.”

Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.

[Claire Milne · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with all Him Crumley's books in this series, a lovely, magical little book that makes you want to get outside and enjoy nature.

[Flint · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nice little book.

He captures the elusiveness of the kingfisher perfectly, especially in chapter 3.

I also really liked his description of a Heron in chapter 4 'It stands side-on to me, and looks like a loosely furled grey umbrella (its beak is the handle) that someone has stuck in the ground and forgotten about.' pg 32

'They fly first [2 other herons take flight], and they also spook the umbrella into unfurling flight.'

It's also reassuring to know a distinguished nature writer also makes mistakes in bird identification. He starts the book off with a mistake, thinking a distant kingfisher is just a brown bird.

He makes another mistake later mistaking a nuthatch for a kingfisher. It's good to know that even seasoned watchers make these mistakes. It also shows the elusive nature of the Kinfisher. They elude me most of the time, but then again I don't spend enough time in the places kingfishers would be, unfortunately not due to choice and laziness!

[Ivan Monckton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good to see that a new batch of these excellent short nature books by Crumley are out/ iminent. This one on the Kingfisher is a delightful read, but given the nature of the bird, the book is a little different to previous titles. All of the encounters take place in just 2 locations, and most of them are for a few seconds only and so we have an afterword with a few pages giving more detail on the species.

[Mary Arkless · Rating 4 out of 5]

Borrowed from the library.

A pretty, wee book, quite pleasant read.