Goshawk Summer: The Diary of an Extraordinary Season in the Forest - WINNER OF THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING 2022

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His passion for filming all types of animals takes him to East Africa to a cheetah family, baby cubs and lions. Despite the envy, the author has written an excellent book. All the effort from himself and all those that assisted him in his endeavours should be applauded. The other emotion I mentioned at the beginning was that of joy. Because it was a joy to read such a well-written and well-documented account of one of Britain's rarest predators. Wildlife books are also ways of engaging discussion about our interaction with nature and finding a balance between enjoying the natural landscape and preserving its integrity. These environments are not just for our own use but primarily for the creatures who live there and depend on its resources.

Goshawk Summer: The Diary of an Extraordinary Season in the Goshawk Summer: The Diary of an Extraordinary Season in the

The idea that pheasant shooting is less of a persecution problem than that of grouse is largely myth, plenty of them sadly are “at it.” James Aldred ist Kameramann und Filmemacher, der sich auf das Filmen von Tieren spezialisiert hat. Er hat mit Sir Richard Attenborough zusammengearbeitet und hat für seine Dokumentation einen Emmy bekommen. Im Frühling und Sommer 2020 hatte er die einmalige Chance, das Nest eines Habichts von der Ankunft der Eltern bis zum Flüggewerden der Jungen unter besonderen Bedingungen zu filmen. I have always had a special place in my heart for birds, birdwatching, and learning as much about avian species as possible, and boy is there a lifetime of learning involved. The book, as you might expect, has a pretty single-minded focus. Yet there are plenty of asides into other topics like the history of the New Forest, or the population fluxes of different bird species, which I found myself relishing and appreciating. Aldred teaches the reader by stealth, and the science he slips in is never overwhelming. The narrative flows effortlessly. He got to know which birds frequented each tree and what their alarm calls were. “You can work out what they are telling other birds in the wood. And if you can break that code, then they can actually inform you when there’s a predator around.”In a way, coronovirus has been something of a boon to some nature writers since it creates a year like no other in which their observations of natural history can be set. It allows there to be juxtaposing of ‘how I feel about this wildlife thing’ against ‘how I feel about this pandemic thing’, and this works well in this account; one moves from the close world of filming at a nest to the broader scene with good effect. But this wildlife account is fascinating in its own right and well worth reading – it’s just that the global pandemic adds to it. This book is for anyone that loves nature, birds, exploring, and preserving what is illustrious and precious within our surroundings. This detail reveals an intimacy, formed between the photographer and his subject, which comes across in the text and transports the reader to the hide and the unfolding drama of this Goshawk breeding attempt. This intimacy is perhaps most evident in a passage describing how the author exits the hide at the end of a filming session. Aided by a colleague who walks in below, he has to judge the sitting bird’s response and you can feel the tension growing as he plans his exit under the bird’s fierce glare. It is a wonderful moment, and one of many throughout this engaging book.

Sunday book review – Goshawk Summer by James Aldred Sunday book review – Goshawk Summer by James Aldred

For most, the tangled web of a forest canopy is a dangerous, impenetrable barrier. Even a peregrine wouldn’t enter it at speed. Yet – as we have come to see – goshawks aren’t like other birds.

Here in Wales we have 4 local territories 2 regularly used and breedi8ng successful most years when the local pheasant keepers leave them alone. They are hated by many keepers and suffer heavy persecution. We probably have habitat in the UK for thousands of pairs but in many areas any birds away from big forestry are easily killed with the right traps, poison or guns. In Goshawk Summer, Emmy Award winning filmmaker, James Aldred writes very eloquently about his once in a lifetime privilege of observing, at close quarters, a female goshawk, and her mate, as they attempt to rear their offspring, in a place where even the hunters face their own immediate danger. The Scottish population has benefited from the large forests such as those owned by the Forestry Commission. Here there is no persecution and the birds nest with little disturbance. However, despite the high level of legal protection given to the goshawk, its spread from these large forests into some of the surrounding privately owned woodlands has been restricted due to persecution. Goshawks regularly occupy these woodlands but many are killed after capture in cage traps set legally for corvids. Those that evade capture attempt to breed but some are then shot at the nest so breeding in these woods rarely persists for long. I don’t see many Goshawks, and so I was interested to read about film cameraman James Aldred’s experiences filming this species for much of the spring and summer of 2020. Spending so much time with this bird would make it ‘a season unlike any other’ for most of us but it was also a season of covid for our world, although the Goshawks would have been oblivious to that. Goshawk Summer is wildlife cameraman James Aldred's diary from his return to the New Forest of his childhood to film a goshawk nest.

Goshawk Summer by James Aldred | Waterstones

Petty, S.J. (2002). Northern Goshawk Accipiter gentilis. In Wernham, C.V., Toms, M.P., Marchant, J.H., Clark, J.A., Siriwardena, G.M. and Baillie, S.R. (Eds.). The Migration Atlas: Movements of the Birds of Britain and Ireland. Poyser, London. Pp. 232-234. Even though goshawks have an unsettling ability to silently come and go, the alarm calls of these other birds would warn him when they were on their way. “By listening to what the birds in the forest were saying, I could work out which direction the goshawk would be coming from and be ready with the camera.” James Aldred filmed a family of goshawks in the New Forest over the course of the summer in the middle of a global pandemic. I really enjoyed this book. James's style is relaxed, informative and often humorous. As a weekly visitor to the New Forest I have seen many Goshawk nests, but I have never gained the insights to their behaviour that James was privileged to see. Through this book he allows us to share his experiences and to understand what it is like to be a wildlife camera operator on a mission. But the stars are the Goshawks, dominating the dense woods in which they live, in a National Park that receives 15 million visitors each year."I didn’t enjoy Aldred’s writing style though I do respect that his work and painstaking collection of data. I hadn’t planned to read it. I wasn’t enticed by the ‘pandemic’ tag from the publisher, but it won the Wainwright Nature Prize, and it became harder not to. The goshawk used to be widespread throughout Great Britain but became extinct in the late 19th century due to deforestation followed by relentless persecution. Their reputation for taking gamebirds has led them to be the victim of widespread persecution (Petty 2002, Marquiss et al. 2003). This killing prevents the establishment of breeding birds in areas managed for gamebirds, but also such persistent removal of potential recruits restricts population spread into suitable habitats elsewhere in Scotland (Francis & Cook 2011).

Goshawk Scottish Raptor Study Group | | Goshawk

Supposedly their population is increasing, the one thing that suggests their situation isn’t as dire as the hen harrier’s, but I really wonder about that. A pole trap set in dense woodland is probably even harder to spot than one on a moor and would be devastating for goshawks. I can imagine them gravitating towards the same places they shoot pheasants at anyway, all those poults would be an additional attraction – some lost to goshawk grudged whereas beak to tail roadkill is acceptable. Goshawk do need more attention. There are many lovely dates set in his amazing diary inside this book that James tells readers all what he see, and all the exploring, watching and filming that he did. Wo sonst Scharen von Tagestouristen unterwegs sind, gab es plötzlich nur noch ihn, seinen Kameramann und den Ranger. Auf der einen Seite waren es perfekte Bedingungen weil sie ungestört waren, Auf der anderen Seite fielen die drei Männer so aber den Vögeln mehr auf, eben weil sie die einzigen waren, die sich im Wald aufhielten und so unter ständiger Beobachtung standen. At this unique moment, James was granted a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to keep filming. And so, over that spring and into summer, he began to write about his experiences in a place empty of people but filled with birdsong and new life. Alongside his documentary filming, Aldred decided to keep a written record - a field diary - about his experiences. He spent an extended stretch of time in a place so devoid of people, but filled to the brim with different species, some of them rare. He writes, early on, 'Amidst the fragility and the fear, there was silver moonlight, tumbling fox cubs, calling curlew and, of course, the searing goshawks.' This record became Goshawk Summer. Goshawks are, of course, the focus - both of the book and of his documentary - but he also writes about other species which he comes across: foxes, curlews, pipits, and pine martens, to name but four.

Reading Goshawk Summer filled me with so many different emotions. Envy, happiness, sadness, and joy. Envy, because while many of us were under house arrest for sixteen months, the author had access to the great outdoors. Happiness because at least somebody was enjoying freedom denied to many of us. Sadness because of losing my mother in very similar circumstances to the author. DNA research into goshawks is currently taking place and this will allow us to build up a better picture of the species’ population genetic structure, its dispersal from nesting areas and also the relationship between different birds within the population. During the many highs and lows that flowed through the narrative, you could feel the tension, anxiety and joy of his experiences with this beautiful creature. (And plenty of other natural wildlife into the bargain). The timeline gives the reader a marvellous insight into the habits of this beautiful bird, and the authors' diary is an excellent read. Francis, I. and Cook, M. (2011). (Eds.). The Breeding Birds of Northeast Scotland. Scottish Ornithologists� Club, Aberdeen. Goshawk Summer: a New Forest Season Unlike Any Otherby James Aldred (Elliott & Thompson, London, 2021).