Claxton: Field Notes from a Small Planet

Description

After the massive, world-spanning, unanimously acclaimed Birds and People Mark Cocker looks in fascinating detail at his home parish in Norfolk and its wildlife 'After Mark Cocker's glorious book, you will never look at a blackberry bush the same way again.' Philip Hoare, New Statesman In 2001 Mark Cocker moved to Claxton, a small village in Norfolk. In a series of daily writings spanning the course of a year he explores his relationship to the landscape he lives in, to nature and to all the living things around him - the birds, plants, trees, mammals, hoverflies, moths, butterflies, bush crickets, grasshoppers, ants and bumblebees. Passionate, astonishing and inspiring, this book is a celebration of the wonder that lies in our everyday experience. Shortlisted for the Royal Society of Biology Book Award, the Jarrold East Anglian Book Awards, the New Angle Prize and theThwaites Wainwright Prize

Mark Cocker is an author and naturalist whose thirteen books include works of biography, history, literary criticism and memoir. His book Crow Country was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2008 and won the New Angle Prize for Literature in 2009. With the photographer David Tipling he published Birds and People in 2013, a massive survey described by the Times Literary Supplement as 'a major literary event as well as an ornithological one'. Our Place- Can We Save Britain's Wildlife Before It Is Too Late? was described by the Sunday Times as 'impassioned, expert and always beautifully written... a sobering and magnificent work'. His most recent book, A Claxton Diary, won the East Anglia Book Award in 2019.

After Mark Cocker's glorious book, you will never look at a blackberry bush the same way again. -- Philip Hoare * New Statesman * A nature journal full of beautiful, delicate observation * Guardian * A beautifully-written account of one man's passion for the natural world * Daily Mail * If your eye has ever been caught by a moth, owl, jay or ash tree, Claxton has something new to tell about it, about Britain, and about life - which is an infinite compilation of exquisite detail. -- Horatio Clare, 5 stars * Daily Telegraph * To be astonished by nature, look no further than Claxton. * Spectator * Cocker's profound knowledge, uncanny ability to observe and heartliftingly exact prose make Claxton one of those books that transforms the way you see your own home parish. -- Melissa Harrison * The Times * The book is spectacular... Brilliant natural-history writing. -- Jonathan Wright * Herald *