Raptor: A Journey Through Birds

by James Macdonald Lockhart

A stunning debut in the tradition of Robert Macfarlane and Helen Macdonald

Of all the birds of the British Isles, the raptor reigns supreme, sparking the imagination like no other. In this magnificent hymn to these beautiful animals, James Macdonald Lockhart explores all fifteen breeding birds of prey on these shores – from the hen harrier swimming over the land in the dregs of a May gale on Orkney, to the ghostly sparrowhawk displaying in the fields around his home in Warwickshire. This is a book that will change how we think of our own skies.

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Birds, Animals, Science, Natural History, Biology

376 pages, Hardcover

First published February 11, 2016

About the author

James Macdonald Lockhart is a literary agent with Antony Harwood Limited as well as an associate editor with and regular contributor to Archipelago magazine. Raptor is his first book and the recipient of the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Aware for Non-Fiction. He lives in Whichford, United Kingdom.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raptors have captivated and enthralled man for millennia. Remains of sea eagles have been found in Neolithic tombs and imagery of these magnificent creatures have been discovered all over Europe in art dating back thousands of years. These birds are the pinnacle of the food chain, each having some specialty that makes them super deadly killers. In his debut book, Lockhart uses a chapter to explore each of the 15 species of raptors that live and breed in this country visiting parts of the country from the far north in Orkney, to the sunny climes of south Devon, where it is best to see these magnificent birds.

But there is more to this book than just the raptors. It is also an eulogy to the Scottish naturalist William MacGillivray. He was an artist and writer of some repute, and was famous for walking over 800 miles from Aberdeen to London with the intention of visiting the British Museum’s natural history and bird section. Along the way he collected many plants, and was described as a walking scarecrow at times. MacGillivray was also fascinated by the raptor, though he thinks nothing of killing the subjects of his study, but he did contribute much to the study of all things wild.

It is the raptors that star in the book though. In each of the locations he visits, Lockhart is prepared to camp out and wait for the birds to appear on their daily hunts. He sits watching massive sea eagles harassing gulls for the fish that they have caught, trying to catch the blistering fast peregrines hunt over Coventry cathedral, sees red kites hovering over the Welsh Hills and a hobby plucking dragonflies from the air at the Arne peninsular in Dorset. Each of the birds has a moment to shine in its chapter. He notes other birds that he encounters on his trips, from the tiny wrens that flit throught the hedgerows, ravens that mob buzzards, to a surreal

Whilst this is a really good debut book by Lockhart, it sadly doesn’t soar like the birds he is following. His writing is lyrical and the detail on each of the raptors and his journeys to see them is fascinating, but I think the addition of MacGillivray’s epic journey, even though there is strong links to what Lockhart is writing about, is a bit of a distraction. There is precious little on the challenges facing these birds even today; they are still poisoned and shot by gamekeepers and by others afraid of losing livestock. That said, Lockheart has the potential to be a quality natural history writer and I am looking forward to his next book.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love watching birds, but I'm not a birdwatcher. If I am out walking and see a bird I'll stop and watch it until it has gone, I don't have the patience to spend the day hiding in a hedge hoping to catch sight of a certain bird, I get restless and end up leaving to explore elsewhere. Lockhart has spent a large amount of his time walking in dire conditions, camping on remote islands for days, stalking wasps and hiding in hedges so that he can catch the briefest glimpse of the various Raptors mentioned here, he has written this book to give lazy bastards like me a taste of the birdwatching experience.

Another side of birdwatching is the boredom and how your mind will wonder, Lockhart has captured that here, in between glimpses of Raptors you get a history lesson on the bird and the areas it inhabits. A huge amount of this book is in fact a biography of William MacGillivray, an amazing man, born in 1796 he is obsessed with nature, any animal (especially raptors) or plant fascinates him. One day he walks from Aberdeen to London, he has many diversions but manages the journey in 2 months and on a budget of £10, that in itself is amazing. He writes, not for fame or money but for his love of nature, his main works are a history of British birds in five volumes. Unfortunately because of his modesty his work is largely unknown, other writers since have taken the limelight from him. Hopefully this book will raise some awareness for the chap, I'd never heard of him but will be reading up on him more now.

I've enjoyed this book, full of interesting facts about the birds as well as info on how to identify them. Lockhart has put so much effort into creating this book, it really shows and adds to the reading experience.

Link to my Blog review of this book. https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2017...

[Mark Avery · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a disappointment.

The basic structure is a chapter by chapter account of 15 species of UK raptor, each described in a different place, stretching from Hen Harriers on Orkney in Chapter 1 to Devon Sparrowhawks in Chapter 15. Wrapped into this structure is a tale of the life, and a previous journey, of William MacGillivray (1796-1852), the Scottish ornithologist and naturalist who wrote important works and contributed much to John James Audubon’s Ornithological Biographies. All this seemed very promising but I don’t think the author carried it off.

Starting with Hen Harrier in Orkney makes quite a lot of sense, although we get rather little of Hen Harriers in this chapter (entitled Hen Harrier). What we do get is some pleasant description of Orkney where the sea is ‘always at your back’ (it’s always at your front too – it’s true of all islands), an account of the White-tailed Eagle bones found on South Ronaldsay and some general wildlife observations. There is the rather trite observation ‘But management of grouse moors and protection of hen harriers should not – does not need to – be incompatible’ which comes from nowhere and takes the reader nowhere. It just hangs there rather limply, although I warmed to the earlier statement that ‘A landscape devoid of hen harriers is an impoverished one’. But we finish the chapter with White-tailed Eagle bones and I was left wondering whether that was ‘it’ for Hen Harriers in this book – after all, I had just finished the Hen Harrier chapter.

And so we journey onwards to the Flow Country of Caithness and Sutherland, a place I know quite well, to meet the Merlin. But here, we get introduced to what is a raptor and to MacGillivray as he sets off on a journey from Aberdeen. The Hen Harrier makes a lengthy reappearance and I left the chapter feeling a bit cheated of Merlins and not a lot better introduced to the Flows.

And so we journey on.

I enjoyed, very much, learning of MacGillivray’s life but he intruded into the author’s journey through birds, and this device just didn’t work well for me: maybe you will love it.

There are many good bits in this book, which is generally well-written. I liked many of the descriptions of the birds and some of the places, and most of the information about MacGillivray. There are some truly memorable passages: on bedbugs, the shooting of a Golden Eagle and hammer throwing in Wales. There are many, many good bits, but the book lacks, for me, a coherent structure – for a journey through birds it is all over the place and often loses its way.

This book is also very weak on the conflicts between birds of prey and people – as with the Hen Harrier, but also with the Sparrowhawk, Peregrine, Goshawk etc. This seems a bit odd to me.

The title, Raptor, is not very helpful in telling you what this book is about, and the jacket illustration (which I don’t like at all) doesn’t help either. There is no Introduction or Preface (or Foreword) and so the reader plunges into a book with raptor names as chapter headings without any guidance as to the journey on which one is embarking. An index might have been a good idea too.

If you are looking for an account of each of our raptor species then you should stick with A Sparrowhawk’s Lament by David Cobham, and if you crave a book of species accounts that get deep into the species , the places they live and the people they live with or who study them, then Michael McCarthy’s Say Goodbye to the Cuckoo is the place to go. If you are prepared to go on a mystery tour of a ramble with the author, and trust him to take you to some nice places, then you may like this book more than I did.

This review first appeared on my blog on 6 March 2016 http://markavery.info/2016/03/06/book...

[Graychin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but it doesn’t quite live up to back-cover comparisons with J.A. Baker’s The Peregrine or T.H. White’s The Goshawk or even Helen Macdonald’s H is for Hawk. It loses to the first two in its prose (Lockhart’s is often very good but can’t quite match White’s and Baker’s) and for its narrative bloat compared to their compactness.

Lockhart gives Macdonald a run for her money in the prose category but Raptor loses for lack of focus. This is unavoidable to a degree, since Macdonald had a single subject whereas Lockhart has chosen seventeen. But it makes his book relatively easy to set aside or to read piecemeal.

That said, if he’s not always the most compelling writer on birds, Lockhart nevertheless succeeds wonderfully in his depiction of British landscapes. He expertly matches language to the textures and colors of the land and weather, and his offerings of folklore and history make his descriptions of fascinating places like the Flow Country and Culbin Forest all the more fascinating.

Really, I wish that he had written a travel book instead. There’s an idea for you, Mr. Lockhart.

[Nicole Miles · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only thing I knew about this going into it was the title. It was great finding out a little about these different British birds of prey and learning about William MacGillivray who I had never heard of. One thing that I already knew about but that keeps coming up (and rightly so) even in the little I’ve read of British nature writing so far is how destructive the grouse shooting moors are.

[Paul Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the descriptions of encounters with raptors and the countryside were right up there with Baker, they are all too often interrupted by overlong passages about MacGillivray.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

RTC

[Olly L-J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nearly a 5. This book is a wonderfully personal investigation and account of the 15 different raptors that call the UK home (although some just for the summer). Written in clear, crisp, poetic prose, Lockhart gets up close and intimate with the raptors as he travels the length and breadth of the UK (excluding Northern Ireland).
One criticism is perhaps he didn't detail enough the conflict between estate management (especially grouse moors) and raptor conservation, this is something which is decimating certain populations of birds (as they are poisoned and shot) and we as a society need to decide which is more important - (rich) peoples seemingly insatiable desire to hunt or the survival of an entire species in our country ... the answer, surely, should be obvious.

[Shalini · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an account of the fifteen species of British raptors drawing parallels from William MacGillivray's 19th century journey from Aberdeen to London. The technique is similar to Helen MacDonald's Hawk where she describes T H White and Rob Macfarlane's Landmarks' account of Nan Shepherd, J A Baker and Roger Deakin. Somehow the technique does not work well for this book as it did for the other two. However there are some wonderful descriptions of both raptors and MacGillivray which makes me want to travel these isles and see its landscapes and birds.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've had this on my list for a little over 8 years.
I was recently looking through my "to-read" books and decided to get this one from the Library.

I'm glad I did.
One reason is it begins in Scotland, specifically Orkney, both of which we had just travelled through this past year - so I could get a really good feel for the landscape and, say, wind described.

It tells an interesting tale of the author trying to catch glimpses of and describe fascinating features of each bird of prey from the British Isles in its native habitat. That made me realize just how little I do know about the variability of the geography. I've experienced a fraction of what is on offer - and imagined how fun it would be to track raptors in various places (if I had the time).

One of the conceits of the book is partially following along with Lockhart's discovery/journey of one of the major ornithologists of the 19th century, now largely forgotten: William MacGillivrary - who was a colleague, influence and friend of (the still famous, American) John J. Audubon. MacGillivary was a great walker and part of the relayed story is his epic walk from Aberdeen to London to see the bird collection in the British Museum. I enjoyed the travel back in time, where things were so different a mere 150-200 years ago. How we treated animals, the cost of things, the uncertainty of thriving, the Highland clearances, the deep and immediate experience of nature without the cheap knowledge and frameworks we're afforded today.

I would have liked there to be included maps of the locations and more images of the birds. I did use my phone quite a bit looking up pictures, maps, bird-calls etc. which I think enriched the experience.

I'll include a few quotes or highlights that caught my eye (and I must say, this was made a lot easier by how good the iPhone OCR is these days):

We need to let harriers back in [to England]. Because a bird like this can change the way you see a landscape. Because (I promise you this) these birds will astonish you with their beauty. I wish others could see what I saw over Orkney, how the harriers made a ballet of the sky (20)

That the sea eagles were involved in the excarnation of the human dead on Orkney is almost certain given that the bird is such a prodigious carrion feeder.
Excarnation: the separation (of the soul) from the body at death, the opposite of incarnation, where the soul or spirit is clothed, embodied in flesh. Excarnation is not just a method for disposing the dead (to excarnate means to remove the flesh). (27)

Before I set out on this journey I had planned to try to look for each species of raptor in a different place, to dedicate a bird to a particular landscape, or rather the landscape to the bird, to immerse myself as much as l could in each bird's habitat. But the plan unravelled soon after I lay down in the heather on Orkney and a jack merlin, a plunging meteor, dropped from the sky, wings folded back behind him, diving straight at a kestrel who had drifted over the merlin's territory. It was astonishing to see the size difference between the birds, the merlin a speck, a frantic satellite, buzzing around the kestrel. He was furious, screaming at the kestrel, diving repeatedly at the larger bird until the kestrel relented and let the wind slice it away down the valley.
I stayed with that jack merlin for much of the day. Sometimes I would catch a flash of him circling the horizon or zipping low across the hillside, full tilt, breakneck speed. The sense of sprung energy in this tiny bird of prey was extraordinary, a fizzing atom, bombarding the sky. (44)

This quote reveals the subtitle of the book:

I was fascinated by this idea of a community of raptors extending right across the country. It touched on my experience of re-encountering and being revisited by birds of prey as I journeyed south. Balfour's idea also seemed to challenge the notion that many birds of prey were solitary, non-communal predators, inviting the idea that even a species we perceive as being fiercely independent, like the eagle, still belongs to - perhaps needs - a wider community of eagles. It got hold of me, this idea, it got hold of the initial map I had sketched for my journey and redesigned it. Instead of moving from one isolated area of study to the next, from Orkney to the Flow Country and so on, I started to see myself passing through neighbourhoods - through communities - of raptors, the boundaries of my map - the national, topo-graphic, linguistic borders - giving way to the birds' network of interconnecting, overlapping territories. A journey through birds. (48)

Size dimorphism is reversed in many birds of prey because the male cannot afford to become too big; he needs to maintain an efficient size and weight in order to hunt efficiently. The female can afford to become bigger because, during the critical breeding season, she does not hunt as prolifically as the male. This hunting respite allows her to lay down sufficient fat reserves to produce and then incubate her eggs. There is the additional advantage that the female's larger size better equips her to defend the nest against predators. (69)

Lightness and lift, will-o'-the-wisp, the soul set adrift like a plume of smoke ... The poet John Clare described the Montagu's harriers he saw from his home on the edge of The Fens as swimming close to the green corn. It is in her lightness and ease of buoyancy that the corn-swimmer is most distinct from the hen harrier, the heather-wanderer, a sense that you have met, in the Montagu's harrier, the epitome of lightness and drift, that you could not perceive any creature more buoyant than this. (184)

Mostly it misses: most birds of prey miss most of the time. They are not the super-efficient predators we take them for. Five to 10 per cent is around the average success rate for raptors. (243)

I thought this was interesting:

Diet dictates migratory behaviour: the general rule of thumb is those raptors that feed on warm-blooded prey stay put, those that feed on cold-blooded species get out for winter as their prey dries up in the north. But why come back in spring? Why bother with such a long, hazardous migration twice a year?
Why not stay in their wintering grounds, where it is generally warmer, where there is still food even for the insectivorous raptors in winter? Because the north in summer can be a land that is overbrimming, a place which offers much better opportunities for these birds to breed successfully. (283)

This surprised me (so I had to listen on my phone):

A buzzard's call is among the most beautiful sounds I know. (307)

If he [MacGillivray] is to study the natural world, it must be out there - he needs to be out there - immersed, on the interface with nature:

I felt my love of Natural History very much increased by the inspection of the museum. At the same time I felt convinced that to study nature I must have recourse to nature alone, pure and free from human interference.

(311)

To be stilled - stopped - that is what birds of prey do to me. There is a phrase particular to Dartmoor: The Ammil. It describes the phenomenon, occasionally witnessed on the moor in winter, when everything exposed to the air, every blade of grass, every rock, every twig, becomes encased in ice. The Ammil is the thaw put on hold, paused for a while. The temperature suddenly drops below freezing and the thawing, dripping, running world is held in check, suspended, so that everything, even the great rocky outcrops of the tors, is sheathed in ice. Ammil: from ammel, the Old English term for enamel, to encrust, to coat with a vitreous sheen. A rare event. The moor is decorated, it glistens. The land is stilled, and to witness it is also to be stilled. (319-20)

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating combination of autobiography, biography (of the almost-unknown Scottish ornithologist and naturalist, William MacGillvray) and study of Britain's raptors.

It's not a detailed technical guide but, in some ways, it's more than that. Lockhart gets inside the minds of the birds, his prose sometimes soaring with the buzzards and kites. He describes each bird against the backdrop of a specific geographical area of Britain - and not always the most obvious location for each bird. While white-tailed sea eagles are described in one of their natural habitats of Morvern - and I've seen one just across the Sound of Mull in Tobermory, myself - peregrine falcons are discussed against the background of the Second World War bombing of Coventry Cathedral.

My first read of the year and it's gong to be difficult for anything else I read this year to match its poetic lyricism.

[Youp · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like books about birds.
I like books about people.
I like books about history.

Apparently, I do not like books about birds which are actually more about people and historical events. There is remarkably little content on raptors, sometimes entire pages without one mentioning of a bird species. Even though it is wonderfully written, it could barely hold my interest due to the lack of content. Possibly recommended if you are interested in a semi-biographical account of a naturalist's life.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would rate this a 3.5 really. Its interesting and informative. I definitely learned something about our native raptors with this book but It wasnt quite as gripping or capturing as I had maybe hoped.

[Nigel · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK - if you are a raptor fan then this book is probably a "must read". If you are a birdwatcher who loves wild places this may well be for you - I qualify on both counts 😀. If you have an interest in the history, flora and fauna of mainly remote places in the UK then again this is a book you may well be interested in.

The writing is excellent and the descriptions of the places the author visits to observe the raptors are very good. Each UK raptor has its own chapter and each are at different locations. The book runs from Orkney to the edge of Dartmoor in Devon. Prior to reading this I thought I knew a fair amount about UK raptors but I learnt a lot reading this. Sadly I lack the author's patience to simply wait and watch and observe these wonderful birds!

For each area there's some historical or contextual information, again I learnt a lot and ended up searching for some places (and may well visit some when I can). The author is a fan of a Scottish naturalist/ornithologist from the 19th century called Macgillivary. I'd not heard of him but the snippets quoted added to the read for me. My only real issue was with the chapter on Coventry/peregrines where the alternation between the birds and Coventry's war history simply made for disjointed and irritating reading for me. Otherwise a gem of a book for anyone with an interest in the subject.

[Ross Mckinney · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Raptor" is a parallel exploration of remaining wilderness places in the UK, the raptors that live there, and a biography of a William MacGillivray, an ornithologist/naturalist of the early-mid-19th century who Lockhart feels is wrongfully neglected. MacGillivray took a trip on foot from the north of Scotland to London, documenting birds and animals he saw along the way. MacGillivray was a poetical writer, who captured the spirit of the animals and places he was describing, as well as their technical details. Lockhart strives for the same goal, although the highlights in the book are when he uses MacGillivray's words to describe some place or bird. "Raptor" is a lovely book, paced slowly - there's no racing plot, but rather a gentle and carefully observed plod, as Lockhart visits forests and field from one end of the UK (the Orkneys) to the other (Dorset). For lovers of books heavy on natural description, particularly of birds. Your heart won't race reading this, but it might sing.

[Tim Street · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is one part bird observations, one part travel writing, and one part history lesson about James MacGillivray. The writing throughout is solid, but really shines when Lockhart is describing his bird observations. As an American birder, I was only previously familiar with the Merlin, Kestrel, and Peregrine Falcon -- the other birds Lockhart explores were all new to me, and I enjoyed intimate descriptions.

The history of MacGillivray is wonderful, and though the travel writing strays into the obscure and frequently seems off-topic, the book comes back together when it returns to the birds.

A minor complaint: this book needs a map! Lockhart seems to assume the reader has intimate knowledge of the British isles. Not only would a map illustrate his journeys, but an overlay of MacGillivray's historic would would have been tremendously helpful as well.

[Leonie Redfern · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed dipping in and out of this book over a few weeks and read the chapters out of order. Each chapter focusses on a different bird and I chose the chapter depending on what bird I was particularly interested in at that moment. The book is beautifully written with detailed descriptions of the bird's habitat and behaviour, however, during each chapter, the author refers to the studies of William MacGillivray, known as "Scotland's greatest field naturalist". Whilst this is of interest, I felt that it sometimes became a distraction from the author's own thoughts and feelings. It has, however, piqued my interest in MacGillivray and I will now find out more about him. Definitely well worth a read if you love birds.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully experienced and written book on the adventure of waiting for and following all so to be watching raptors. The descriptions are so complete that though I am highly unlikely to get to go and see these birds in the manner he has, I feel like I have and the thrill of that. I also love his natural and social observations, and appreciate the objectivity and research behind them. I also am grateful to have learned about William McGillivray, whose books I will now pursue.

I will read is book again and again, it is up there, for me, with Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinkers Creek.

[Terri Gorden · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that I could go back to again and again. I feel like opening it to a random page to read a few sentences, paragraphs, or pages would be like putting on a favorite old sweater. I loved the flow between the story of the birds, his experiences following them, the story of the landscapes, and the biographical information about William McGillivray. I enjoyed reading the Gaelic and Welsh terms for the birds and places. It gave a sense of how long these raptors have belonged to the land. However, I did have a very hard time reading about the cruelty and greed that have driven them from areas that are surely more theirs than ours.

[Ian Howells · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the lyrical nature writing even if the technique of squeezing each bird into it's own chapter seemed a little contrived at times. Lockhart's writing about the finer details of nature were beautiful and evocative and I often felt as if I was along with him on his journeys out to see the raptors in their varying habitats and parts of the UK. The writing about Macgillivray which dominates a lot of the book was also very interesting and I am surprised the book jacket isn't confident enough in it's own abilities to broadcast this aspect a little more. I would happily look out for further works by this author.

[Kyri Freeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Writing is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose, to some extent. To help readers judge for themselves, here is a quote from page 2: “Late May on a hillside in Orkney: nowhere I would rather be. It is a place running with birds. Curlews with their rippling song and long delicate bills and the young short-eared owls keeking from their hideout in the heather. And all that heft and noise of goose.”

This, to me, is evocative, gorgeous, and brings the scene vividly alive. It is anything but poor writing in my view.

I enjoyed the book tremendously.

[MadameNovelist · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent nonfiction on the raptors of the UK. You feel as if you are traipsing through different corners of Wales, Scotland, and England right along with Lockhart. His prose on birds, on people, on changing landscapes is super vibrant and engaging. I especially appreciated the short but powerful anecdotes on how much WWII affected both bird and human habitats. He also quotes and fanboys over William MacGullivray a lot, lending new appreciation for Victorian ornithology. Excellent book!

[Christopher Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was loaned to me by a friend, and at first I thought I would only give it a go out of politeness. However, it soon had me caught, due to the poetic brilliance of the language. Each chapter records the author's pursuit of the sight of a different bird of prey, each in a different part of Britain. Well I know that it is a bit of a cliché, but this book places you right there in each case, and you're immediately caught up in the atmosphere and excitement that the author shares so well.

[Sylvie Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm gonna be honest - I didn't 100% pay attention to this. I consumed this one via audiobook and with everything going on right now I have been so distracted that nothing can hold my attention. This is not the fault of the book in any way! I think birds are fascinating and I enjoyed the information about different raptor species combined with a sort of meandering walking tour of Scotland and the North of England. I just couldn't focus on it.

[SanaBanana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a beautifully written journey. I love when the writers are undergoing their own journey but have some historical person's journey occurring alongside them - sort of reminiscent to Helen McDonald and T.H.White in 'H is for Hawk' without the melacholy - but this time round it was James McDonald (COINCIDENCE?!?!) Lockhart and William MacGillivray. It really adds flavour and depth to what would ordinarily be a book just describing different birds that the author sees out and about.

[Don Kent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Those people, like myself, who are fascinated by Raptors should most definitely not miss this book. Skillfully contrived and beautifully written, it was a joy to read. Access to a British/Scotish dictionary would clarify a good measure of the content, but the author's phrasing is so eloguent that this minor stumbling is a minor impediment.

[Duntay · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely mix of history and natural history. It introduces William MacGillivray, the underrated ornithologist ,to those of us who have never heard of him. James MacDonald Lockhart writes a lot about the spaces in between, and his has to fit his raptor watching into the spaces of his own life. It is also a heartbreaking story of absences and persecution, both historic and ongoing.

[Mike Augustine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although raptors are a central thread running through this work, the title feels a bit misleading in retrospect. It is more of a nature travel memoir, that wishes to resurrect an ornithological forbearer while working through a list of British raptors. Places and aspects of their natural and social history are significant topics also.

[Alex Large · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adored this book. His prose is just magical and whilst the myriad of referees to William MacGillivray were occasionally too much for me, there is no doubt the writer has researched his topic meticulously. He has a fabulous eye for detail. The final chapter , on the sparrowhawk , was my favourite.

[Stella · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully written and fascinating journey into the behaviour and biography of UK raptors linked historically through the changing landscape of the British Isles. Dispersed within is the story of the life of Victorian ornithologist and botanist, William MacGillivray.