Lot of details about birds. ( )

I've really loved reading this even a slow drip feed of a few pages a night over the last few months. A treasure trove of description of place and of the creatures and birds that live there. I doubt I could live that life myself but it's good to experience through another's eyes. ( )

Beautifully written book ( )

A remarkable elegy to the joys of a solitary existence, long walks in the hills, overnight stays on the moors, journeys along nearby river courses, keen observations of the lives of birds and animals with the overall message that being alone does not mean being lonely. ( )

Deep Country: Five Years in the Welsh Hills - Neil Ansell ***

I came across this in a small book store, I have never heard of the author but as I live in South Wales I thought it may be worth a read. I usually love reading the odd nature book and thought it may have been something similar to a James Herriot novel, especially as it was nonfiction.

Neil Ansell decides to throw away the shackles of life and spend five years as almost a hermit in a small cottage on a hillside in Mid Wales. This basically means living without many of the amenities we take for granted on a daily basis, and although there is a village only a few miles away he is left mostly alone with only nature for company. To most this seems an idyllic lifestyle, and something I wish I was able to and/or brave enough to try for myself, but it is obviously with its own ups and downs. Neil isn’t afraid to make this sound exactly as it is and doesn’t sugar coat the experience. The book is written in almost chronological order with a dozen or so pages dedicated to each passing season, we learn how the landscape changes and how nature must also adapt to survive.

My main issue, and the reason I struggled to enjoy most of the book, is that it really should have been titled something else.... something similar to:

‘5 Years in a Cottage and the Birds Surrounding it’.

Which would be a brilliant read if you were someone that has a fascination for birds...? I unfortunately don’t. And if I had realised that a vast proportion of the book would be dedicated to our feathered friends I would never have taken it to the checkout. I mean, I like birds... and the occasional mention doesn’t do any harm, but this was literally pages and pages describing their lifecycles and habits. I really wanted more focus on how he survived, the aspects of foraging for food, his rationing, his baking, his growing his own produce, dealing with the loneliness etc. I expected Ray Mears and got Bill Oddie...

Don’t get me wrong, the book is extremely well written and at times almost poetic in its descriptions and I can see why it has received the acclaim it has, just maybe it should have been placed in the ornithology section.... ( )