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Mistletoe Winter
A new collection of vibrant essays to inform, stimulate and inspire every nature lover.
Times of darkness offer opportunities to reflect. In Mistletoe Winter, Roy Dennis offers his reflections on the natural world from the past year – from the welcome signs of change to the ongoing problems we are posing for nature, and what humankind can and must do about them.
As in his companion volume, Cottongrass Summer, Roy Dennis balances his alarm at the crisis confronting the natural world with his own sense of optimism that new generations can make crucial changes for the future. One of our most prominent advocates for our planet and its species, he writes with insight and originality. This volume will provide inspiration and ideas for everyone who cares about our planet and its species.
Times of darkness offer opportunities to reflect. In Mistletoe Winter, Roy Dennis offers his reflections on the natural world from the past year – from the welcome signs of change to the ongoing problems we are posing for nature, and what humankind can and must do about them.
As in his companion volume, Cottongrass Summer, Roy Dennis balances his alarm at the crisis confronting the natural world with his own sense of optimism that new generations can make crucial changes for the future. One of our most prominent advocates for our planet and its species, he writes with insight and originality. This volume will provide inspiration and ideas for everyone who cares about our planet and its species.
- GenresNonfictionEssaysNature
146 pages, Paperback
Published October 28, 2021
27 people want to read
About the author
Roy Dennis
15 books11 followersRoy Dennis (b. 1940) is an English field naturalist. He has worked in conservation, rare species recording and species reintroductions, as well as directing projects fro the RSPB and other organisations. As a broadcaster and educator, he has made documentaries and been a regular presenter on the BBC's Autumnwatch and Springwatch, as well as other programmes.
After school he spent time at bird observatories on the islands of Lundy and Fair Isle where he met and worked with ornithologist George Waterston, who attempted to reintroduce the white-tailed eagle to Britain in the 1960s.
Dennis has worked in the Highlands and islands of Scotland since 1959, and has been involved in reintroducing white-tailed eagles, red kites and beavers there. He ran a project restoring the osprey population at Strathspey, where he worked as the RSPB's Highland officer, and oversaw the management of nature reserves including Loch Garten. He also undertook research on grey seals on North Rona with John Morton Boyd.
Dennis received an MBE in 1992 for services to nature conservation and an OBE in 2024 for services to wildlife. The Highland Foundation for Wildlife was renamed the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation in 2017.
After school he spent time at bird observatories on the islands of Lundy and Fair Isle where he met and worked with ornithologist George Waterston, who attempted to reintroduce the white-tailed eagle to Britain in the 1960s.
Dennis has worked in the Highlands and islands of Scotland since 1959, and has been involved in reintroducing white-tailed eagles, red kites and beavers there. He ran a project restoring the osprey population at Strathspey, where he worked as the RSPB's Highland officer, and oversaw the management of nature reserves including Loch Garten. He also undertook research on grey seals on North Rona with John Morton Boyd.
Dennis received an MBE in 1992 for services to nature conservation and an OBE in 2024 for services to wildlife. The Highland Foundation for Wildlife was renamed the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation in 2017.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 28, 2024
This was a little disappointing. After reading Cottongrass Summer, I thought this would be similar, but the essays here are far more melancholy and dispiriting than previous. Honestly, I felt depressed after reading; birds dying and numbers dwindling, land being massacred instead of rewilded, climate change, forestry mismanagement, graduates entering forestry preservation with zero practical knowledge or experience. I felt like donning a "we're doomed" placard by the end of the book!
2 star depression-inducing writing. I don't need that kind of negativity in my life Mr Dennis!
This one is straight off to the library for donation.
2 star depression-inducing writing. I don't need that kind of negativity in my life Mr Dennis!
This one is straight off to the library for donation.
January 10, 2022
This is a companion volume to the earlier book, Cottongrass Summer that was published in 2020 and in this book he takes us through each of the seasons with thoughts and essays on a wide variety of subjects. He has taken
The book begins, as you’d expect with Mistletoe, a plant that Dennis doesn’t see where he lives now, but always comes across when he is in Southern England in the winter. As the leaves fall away in the autumn, the heavy globes are their most visible. They had an attraction to people who used these still green plants in ritual ways, as well as being an important food for mistle thrushes who spread the sticky seeds onto other trees. He writes about a friend who has a barn owl in her shed and the alarm call of the Ptarmigan.
This was written during the first lockdown of 2020 and that world-changing event is reflected in some of the essays in here, he sees more of the comings and goings in his garden than he would have done previously and it gives him the time to track the white-tailed eagles that were released on the Isle of Wight. One of them has even been in Poole Harbour recently. It is not just about the UK though, there is an essay on the Californian condor, Rocky Mountain goats and Pears for bears in Germany.
He is a passionate writer with a series of persuasive arguments for always seeking to improve the way that we care for the natural world. The constant theme that runs through the book, is a warning that what we have now can be so easily lost and when it is gone, it is gone forever. It is not so much a timely book more of an urgent reminder to do something to change. Great stuff.
The book begins, as you’d expect with Mistletoe, a plant that Dennis doesn’t see where he lives now, but always comes across when he is in Southern England in the winter. As the leaves fall away in the autumn, the heavy globes are their most visible. They had an attraction to people who used these still green plants in ritual ways, as well as being an important food for mistle thrushes who spread the sticky seeds onto other trees. He writes about a friend who has a barn owl in her shed and the alarm call of the Ptarmigan.
This was written during the first lockdown of 2020 and that world-changing event is reflected in some of the essays in here, he sees more of the comings and goings in his garden than he would have done previously and it gives him the time to track the white-tailed eagles that were released on the Isle of Wight. One of them has even been in Poole Harbour recently. It is not just about the UK though, there is an essay on the Californian condor, Rocky Mountain goats and Pears for bears in Germany.
He is a passionate writer with a series of persuasive arguments for always seeking to improve the way that we care for the natural world. The constant theme that runs through the book, is a warning that what we have now can be so easily lost and when it is gone, it is gone forever. It is not so much a timely book more of an urgent reminder to do something to change. Great stuff.
January 4, 2023
Mistletoe Winter by Roy Dennis
A collection of essays on nature and conservation by one of Britain’s leading conservationists.
This is a really beautiful, well written book from Dennis about British Wildlife during the pandemic and throughout his life and fieldwork expeditions. I personally sound myself reading this slowly and picking it up and down as I mused on each essay individually. It also covers a wide variety of contemporary wildlife issues in present day Britain.
It also really cemented to me that what I’m studying and hope to pursue in my career is the right path for me. I can’t wait to get out and explore more of the wonderful wildlife Britain has to offer. And also read Dennis’s other book, cottongrass summer.
A collection of essays on nature and conservation by one of Britain’s leading conservationists.
This is a really beautiful, well written book from Dennis about British Wildlife during the pandemic and throughout his life and fieldwork expeditions. I personally sound myself reading this slowly and picking it up and down as I mused on each essay individually. It also covers a wide variety of contemporary wildlife issues in present day Britain.
It also really cemented to me that what I’m studying and hope to pursue in my career is the right path for me. I can’t wait to get out and explore more of the wonderful wildlife Britain has to offer. And also read Dennis’s other book, cottongrass summer.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews