Stephen Moss (1) (1960–)

I've followed Stephen Moss's writing with interest over the years, getting to know it first through his Guardian columns on birdwatching.

This book is about wildlife. About birds, certainly, but equally about all the other wild creatures - animals, invertebrates, fish and so on - which call Britain home. He examines all their possible habitats in turn: farmland, woodland, moorland, water and wetland, seaside, towns and cities. He discovers how our imperative to produce ever-increasing quantities of cheap food is destroying and impoverishing the habitats of so much wildlife: not just on farmland increasingly turned over to agri-business, but also on moorland, the sea, and wetlands. He illustrates his arguments not only by drawing on research and statistics, but with anecdote and personal stories.

This is a very thorough and convincing account of the perilous state that much of the wildlife we think of as part of our natural heritage is in. Though he's careful to point out that every creature, even if not cute and well-loved like the hedgehog and red squirrel, has a part to play in ensuring the health of some other creature in the food chain. And he writes too about success stories - the re-introduction of the red kite: the egrets which, now that our climate is generally warming, are making regular appearances on UK waterways are just two examples.

He writes this book as a warning, wanting everybody who reads it to become part of the fightback in a cause he regards as too important to lose. His style is informal, very easy to read. Even when he's making known the results of various studies, or sharing dismal statistics, the information is easy to absorb, and I continued to read with interest and attention.

Nevertheless, little of what he writes about here is unknown to the averagely well-informed and concerned reader. Though I really enjoyed reading this book, I'm not sure I learned a great deal that at some level I didn't already know about. I'd like to think that if I gave a copy to someone who doesn't yet think too hard about environmental matters, they'd find it an approachable and worthwhile read, and one which might change their viewpoint a little. I want this book to find a wide audience.… (más)

This is a very pleasant work about how humans impact on the natural world. There is a most definite ecological bent to the writing but it flows very well and doesn't belabour its points.

I purchased this as a gift for my father so had a relatively short timeframe to read which did get me over a couple of chapters that didn't grab me as much. Still, knowing that there were ten chapters on different subjects meant that there was another one to push through to.

Personally, I think this an excellent Christmas gift.… (más)

„Nicht jeder verknüpft den Wechsel der Jahreszeiten mit der Schwalbe, doch ich weiß, jene nervöse Vorfreude, die mich alljährlich erfasst, erfüllt auch Millionen andere Menschen.“ (Zitat Seite 211)

Inhalt
Der englische Naturforscher und Autor Stephen Moss folgt den Schwalben, in diesem Fall der Hirundo Rustica, der Rauchschwalbe, durch das Jahr. Der englische Originaltitel „The Swallow. A Biography“ drückt dies wesentlich besser aus, als der deutschsprachige Titel. Seine eigenen Beobachtungen und sein Fachwissen, er folgt der Reise der Schwalben bis nach Südafrika, ergänzt er mit Auszügen aus wissenschaftlichen Fachartikeln und literarischen Texten aus allen Epochen, von Aristoteles bis zu modernen Songtexten.

Gestaltung
In einem Prolog wird der Weg beschrieben, den eine Schwalbe im Lauf eines Jahres zurücklegt, von Südafrika über Nordafrika nach Europa und wieder zurück. Im ersten Kapitel erfahren wir Wissenswertes über diesen besonderen Zugvogel, Inspiration auch für viele Mythen, Aberglaube und Geschichten. Dann folgen vier Kapitel mit den detaillierten Schilderungen und Fakten über das Verhalten der Schwalben in den einzelnen Jahreszeiten Frühling, Sommer, Herbst und Winter. Zahlreiche Abbildungen in Farbe ergänzen die Texte und am Ende des Buches findet sich das entsprechende Abbildungsverzeichnis.

Fazit
Ich habe dieses Buch über diese einzigartigen Vögel und ihre unglaubliche Reise, die sie jedes Jahr im Frühjahr und Herbst antreten, im Garten sitzend gelesen, während ich die Schwalben beobachtet habe, ihren rasanten Flug bei der Insektenjagd, ihre Flugkünste bei der Rückkehr zu den Nestern, wo die Jungen auf Futter warten. Allerdings liegen die Nester oben an unseren Hauswänden, unterhalb der Dachvorsprünge, denn es sind Mehlschwalben. Mit dem Autor teile ich das Warten und die Freude, wenn die Schwalben wieder bei uns einziehen und die leise Wehmut, wenn sie etwa Anfang September plötzlich fort sind. Eine interessante, unterhaltsame Lektüre, nicht nur für Schwalbenfreunde, und sicher auch ein willkommenes Geschenk.… (más)

I bought this because it was pretty. The author takes us on a whirlwind tour across the world, highlighting one bird in each major city that has, despite all the odds, thrived. Each gets one page, and the facing page is a watercolour of the bird, done by Marc Martin, and each is astonishingly wonderful in its simplicity and detail.

As a bonus to the eye-candy, I learned quite a bit about a range of birds; even the ones I'd already heard of had facts that were new to me, so it's a win all around.… (más)