Meh.

Swathes of factoids that might be gleaned from Wikipedia, padded out with a chunk of the Middle English poem [book:The Owl and the Nightingale|56580486], and with a couple of nods to "intelligent design" and creationism, I was underwhelmed and won't be bothering with anything else by this author.

Lovely owl sketches by Beci Kelly, though. ( )

Birds of prey have always fascinated me, they are the pinnacle of evolution as predators and have honed their techniques to maximise their efficiency. A glimpse of one is always special, whether it is a pair of buzzards wheeling on the thermals, a kestrel hovering over a motorway verge or the stoop of the feathered exocet that is the peregrine. I have only ever seen one owl in the wild though; just after dusk this shadow dropped off a tree from the woods near my back garden and glided close over my head. It was an unnerving experience.

Nocturnal creatures have always had an element of enchantment about them with their ability to move in almost total darkness. Those that fly, like bats and owls, can seem almost magical. Their special qualities have captivated mankind for millennia, and there are traces of owls in cultures going back as far as the Stone Age. Their rounded faces with the penetrating gaze have made us consider them as wise creatures but their night activities meant that some thought they were bearers of omens and messages from the other side. The legends that they have inspired are only equalled by their actual abilities; some species can rotate their head almost all the way round, some can hover, others can fly completely silently,

I see him. Just a leaf blown through the pillars of the autumn oaks

John Lewis-Stempel is one of our current crop of writers that have taken the mantle of nature writing from luminaries of the genre such as J.A. Baker and Roger Deakin and made it their own. Lewis-Stempel has drawn on the prose and poetry from a variety of sources to shine a light on the elusive owl as well as drawing on personal experience of the owls that inhabit his land in Herefordshire. I could read John Lewis-Stempel’s prose all day and this is almost perfect with just one tiny flaw; it is too short! This is a lovely addition to my natural history library. 4.5 stars ( )

I enjoyed this less than Meadowland and The Running Hare.

"Owls, then, are Other. They are beyond the pale of light, civilization, goodness. When the medieval English needed a neologism for the crime of midnight, smuggling of wool fleeces to France, what did they offend? 'Owling'. "

I don't think there is another kind of bird that inspires such attention and fascination as the owl. A creature with a human-like face but full of dark grace and extreme intelligence. I'he always found owls extremely fascinating, although I can't deny that they do make me feel uncomfortable. It's very difficult to come across this haunting bird in Athens but a few of them have become close companions each time we visit our mountain lodge. This lovely book is a small treasure, beautifully written and atmospheric.

We all know the significance of the owl in cultures all over the world. The harbinger of Death and the eternal symbol of Wisdom, the chosen companion of the goddess Athena.
In Macbeth, the witches' potion would be incomplete without the wing of an owl.Florence Nightingale and Pablo Picasso had owls as pets.Naturally, the most interesting chapter was the one dedicated to the ages-old association between the owl and Death. A superstition that goes back to the Sumerians and the Assyrians and one that still holds fast in a significant number of cultures around the world. I found a wealth of information in this section. For example, I didn't know that owls were placed on graves during the Shang dynasty in China and that Chinese people born on the year of the owl were on considered as suspects of potential matricide.Owls were considered spiritual ferymmen in the Native American culture.On the other hand, owls are symbols of good fortune, a belief that started in Athens and spread far and wide.They acquired a weird starring role in alternative medicine, they were used as a means to ward off misfortune.

This book is graced with beautiful, atmospheric writing, fully doing justice to the mystery, to the haunting beauty of this most fascinating of birds. Lewis-Stempel paints with words. It can't get any better than that. The language he uses to blend facts and fiction is perfection. Poems and beautiful sketches provide an old-fashioned, nostalgic vibe and the experiences of the writer and Old Brown, the owl that has made its home in the yard, were extremely interesting.

"The scream comes from only yards away; it is a scream that terrifies the night. I and the little animals in the wood stop and hold our breath.The distinctive, high-pitched wail is well known to us wood folk. If I was cold before, I am colder now." ( )

Bit of a pot boiler frankly. ( )