Thursday 19 November 2009

Beautiful Birds (15): 'Crow Country' by Mark Cocker

Above: corvid capers...

I was delighted to learn that Mark Cocker had won the £2000 New Angle Prize for East Anglian Literature, awarded by the Ipswich Institute for a book 'set in or influenced by the East Anglian region.' Many congratulations to Mark.

If you have not read this remarkable book about corvids in their natural habitat and a man's desire to chart their lifestyle, I would highly recommend that you add 'Crow Country' to your Christmas wishlist. You will find details of it in my Amazon 'Buy a Book' sidebar on this blog (you may - or may not - have to click p.2, as the order is random, I think, and seems to change!).

Meg Rosoff took second place and the late Roger Deakin's book (already on my list to read), 'Notes from Walnut Tree Farm', was highly commended.

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P.S. Friday: I have just watched BBC Autumnwatch, and enjoyed seeing the Norfolk footage of Simon King with Mark Cocker, watching the amazing dawn and pre-roost dusk spectacles of the airborne corvids.

P.P.S. Tuesday: I have just been enjoying pictures of large numbers of Lesser Snow Geese in the air over on the Rock Paper Lizard blog. Do take a look. I have also greatly enjoyed the article in The Observer on the phenomenon of bird watching. Thank you to Matt of Polyolbion for pointing this out. There are a number of bird books mentioned in the article: my Christmas wishlist is about to multiply!

4 comments:

poefusion said...

these birds have the right name judging from this picture. they all look very animated. that one on the left acts as if he's walking the plank, lol.

congrats to all the writer's. have a great day.

Crafty Green Poet said...

I was impressed by that part of Autumnwatch too. I saw Mark Cocker at the Edinburgh Book Festival, last year it must have been....

Matt Merritt said...

It's a terrific book, isn't it? And Birds Britannica is even better - I rarely get through a day without opening it at some stage.

Cathy said...

Hi Caroline. Thanks for visiting. Crow Watch is a wonderful book, beautifully written. I love rooks and crows - quite fascinating. I am glad he was awarded a prize. My Amazon wish list is enormous. I wonder if I will get any for Christmas?