Cat’s Comments (group member since Jan 28, 2015)

Cat’s comments from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.

It's interesting, for sure, and easy to read.

we don't have vultures. the main carrion bird I know of is the red kite, which was super successfully reintroduced to the Thames Valley by the Rothschilds. They are magnificent, but I suspect pale compared to a vulture! (there had to be a lot of education as they moved west into Oxfordshire, as people were leaving out steak to encourage close visitations, which isn't good for them lacking all the gristle and such.)

Set 2: 6 - 17

5. Iconic wildlife make their way to Knepp spontaneously once the land is left. Were you expecting the volume and variety that made an appearance when you started the book, with the unappealing claggy clay was described?

I was impressed at how quickly and widely species made their own way to the land once they no longer had to play dodge the tractor. The earthworms' super speedy wriggling across the heavy soil was particularly impressive. I did think the points being made about assumptions of wildlife habitats based on post WW2 landscape being very wrong were interesting - and suggests that the more marginal changes briefly touched on (hedgerows! may them bigger! maybe don't flail the heck out of them!) can be effective.

6. Beavers! In general the section on the river rewilding was probably my favourite segment, and it's frustrating that there is such a wide acknowledgement that the current management of rivers and adjacent land (in England & Wales at least) is not really compatible with effective flood reduction. Anyway, rather than politics: favourite river creature(s)?

Hard to beat a kingfisher, I reckon. They might not be superstars in regenerating the riparian environment, but they are for sure a good marketing tool!

7. The minibeasts are revealed as the unsung heroes of a healthy environment, and yet are generally unloved. Any suggestions for "sexing up" the image of the humble earthworm, or making the pesky wasp more palatable?

I was being silly with this question, but we do need to accept that if we want an environmentally richer country we need to put up with annoyances (eg hedgerows that are prickly and scratchy and might damage cars; decaying bodies of animals etc)

8. Comparisons with Norway and Scotland, and the size of deer under different management methods. To noone's surprise, Tree is sniffy about both the Scottish and Norwegian approaches, on the basis that both lack the "authentic" way of life and thus dynamism within the landscape. What do you think about her point of view? Any recommendations for other nature writing?

As mentioned before, I found her privilege, and more particularly, lack of acknowledgement of that privilege for the vast majority of the book to be very grating, and impacted on my enjoyment of the book. I think I thought there would be more suggestions for others and also more detail about the difficulties, beyond "boo hoo, DEFRA wouldn't stump up the cash for aaaaaages".
Other nature writing - The Running Hare, I mentioned before, plus I've read one of the books about trees (The Secret Life of Trees: How They live and Why They Matter? Wildwood: A Journey through Trees?)

Bonus: horsemeat: would you eat it regularly?
Pescatarian, so no. I suspect my sisters (both live in rural farming environments) would, given they both like venison, and my oldest sister is regularly given gifts of hunted hare or pheasants.

DQs Day 1
Introduction and Chapter 1-5

1. Why did you want to read this book? Are you familiar with some of the books that it quotes, such as Wendell Berry or Aldo Leopold?

I've not read either of those. I did enjoy The Running Hare: The Secret Life of Farmland, which focussed on one man's attempt to farm a small area in a more sustainable fashion.

2. This book focuses on re-wilding as compared to ecological farming or balancing crops and conservation, as is mentioned in the first chapter from other farmers. What are your thoughts on the idea and how it fits in the context in England? Did you know England had such biodiversity loss and low protected land?

I spent most of the book being exceedingly irate at Tree's attitude to other landholders for not leaping on her & Charlie's bandwagon, with no empathy for their financial circumstances. The last chapter did have some thoughts on how to balance rewilding with farming more sustainably, so I was slightly reconciled, but suspect that she's not a believer in "catch more flies with honey" approach!
I was aware of the biodiversity loss, yes. :( though I hadn't thought about the impact of the reluctance of bureaucrats to throw relatively low funding at speculative projects would effect attempts to reverse it.

3. Giant oaks. What is your experience with them and do you want to visit any now that you have read this chapter?

I've more familiarity with horse chestnuts (in my youth) and the London plane trees. But they are majestic beasts. There's an old turkey oak in a local park which is in the "branches drooping to support itself" phase, and which is splendid


4. The introduction of domestic (feral) species to replace wild animals is interesting to me. What do you think of this as a concept, and how it is handled differently in their plan versus the one in the Netherlands? Had you heard about the closed canopy theory before?

I think that filling publicly accessible spaces with wild creatures would never work! It was interesting reading about the different proxies used. One thing that made me laugh was when she was mourning that their cattle are no longer thoroughbred, because they can't track which bull impregnated which cow!

I'd heard of the theory that a squirrel could cross England without touching the ground, yes, but I'd honestly assumed that to be hyperbole. The New Forest is one of the oldest forests in England, and it has a LOT of scrubland, due to the horses.

sorry, combination of unplanned socials (and subsequent impact) plus just not getting on with the woman's attitude slowed me right down.
Happily my diversion into the Singing Hills Cycle (especially with its approach of being generous and conciliatory to neighbours) was balm to my soul!

Set 2: 6 - 17

5. Iconic wildlife make their way to Knepp spontaneously once the land is left. Were you expecting the volume and variety that made an appearance when you started the book, with the unappealing claggy clay was described?

6. Beavers! In general the section on the river rewilding was probably my favourite segment, and it's frustrating that there is such a wide acknowledgement that the current management of rivers and adjacent land (in England & Wales at least) is not really compatible with effective flood reduction. Anyway, rather than politics: favourite river creature(s)?

7. The minibeasts are revealed as the unsung heroes of a healthy environment, and yet are generally unloved. Any suggestions for "sexing up" the image of the humble earthworm, or making the pesky wasp more palatable?

8. Comparisons with Norway and Scotland, and the size of deer under different management methods. To noone's surprise, Tree is sniffy about both the Scottish and Norwegian approaches, on the basis that both lack the "authentic" way of life and thus dynamism within the landscape. What do you think about her point of view? Any recommendations for other nature writing?

Bonus: horsemeat: would you eat it regularly?

oh that's such good news Mel!

big hugs and cheers! :)

finished which was an entertaining romp, even if there were some very obvious plot points

I'm behind, sorry, so it's going to be tomorrow before I get questions up.

There's very little acknowledgement of her privilege in being able to do this, so the various harrangues of landowners (farmers) who don't follow through with their aspirations is hard to choke down (in reading terms I mean!)

oh, that makes me a bit sad as I really enjoyed it. each to their own.

have you read Yellowface? I thought that was fab

Karen ⊰✿ wrote: "Cat wrote: "I am struggling so hard with
three stories in it and I care about none of them (so far - 30% thru)
only the brown cover for UNO is seeing me grit my ..."

It's not short stories, but three storylines: Phoebe being turned into a vamp in modern times, Marcus (her mate) being turned into vamp in American Revolutionary war times and then time with Diana & co dealing with her children and as the link for getting Marcus story. and I really couldn't care less. we only get a chapter or max two in a row before we switch out to the next storyline, so just as I'm feeling interested in, eg, olden times, it switches to Phoebe being an amazing newbie vamp, or Diana being a worrywart mother.

I am struggling so hard with
three stories in it and I care about none of them (so far - 30% thru)
only the brown cover for UNO is seeing me grit my teeth and get it done, one chapter at a time

Finished off Zygons, and spun us.....

HOT PROF!!!!

Hot Prof (Dino Island)
1 100 to 175
2 takes place at a college/university
3 rock on cover
4 "dinosaur" in text
5 MC cries a lot

Nothing like a kilt to show off a shapely pair of calves

oooh! oooh! I might have War MPG on the go! brb

ETA: nope. Military, but not War :(

EETA: doh! Military works! all good!

Sophie wrote: "There's a field of highland cows close to us and I still get v excited every time I drive past."

SHAGGIES!!!!!!

Me too!

I'm getting a wriggle on! my Miles book crush put the brakes on for a while, but I've finished all the books so can now focus properly!

If you'd posted this two days ago I'd barely be scraping double figures. As it is, I managed to finish a couple these last days so I'm almost in sight (not really) of that pesky line!

I've a copy so can join in :)

can we use one that is exactly 3.6?

I do. did I misread the task??

yup! in my defence: I was tired!