How to Catch a Mole - And Find Yourself in Nature

A life-affirming book about the British countryside, the cycle of nature, solitude, mortality and contentment, through the prism of a brilliant new nature writer's experience working as a traditional mole-catcher.I have been catching moles in gardens and farms for years and I have decided that I am not going to do it any more. Molecatching is a traditional skill that has given me a good life but I am old now and tired of hunting and it has taught me what I needed to learn. Although common, moles are mysterious: their habits are inscrutable, they are anatomically bizarre, and they live completely alone. Marc Hamer has come closer to them than most, both through his long working life out in the Welsh countryside, and his experiences of rural homelessness as a boy, sleeping in hedgerows. Over the years, Marc has learned a great deal about these small, velvet creatures who live in the dark beneath us, and the myths that surround them, and his work has also led him to a wise and uplifting acceptance of the inevitable changes that we all face. In this beautiful and meditative book, Marc tells his story and explores what moles, and a life in nature, can tell us about our own humanity and our search for contentment.How to Catch a Mole is a gem of nature writing, beautifully illustrated by Joe McLaren, which celebrates living peacefully and finding wonder in the world around us.

Product details

• Authors: Marc Hamer
• Publisher: Harvill Secker
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.04.2019
• EAN: 9781787301245
• ISBN: 978-1-78730-124-5
• No. of pages: 256
• Dimensions: 138 mm x 204 mm x 26 mm
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature > Letters, diaries; Guides > Nature; NATURE / Animals / Wildlife, NATURE / Animals / Mammals, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / Rural, Animals & society, The countryside, country life: general interest, United Kingdom, Great Britain, Gift books, Wildlife: mammals, The countryside, country life, Animals and society, Wildlife: mammals: general interest, Coping with ageing