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Call of the Kingfisher is the enchanting debut from composer and wildlife recordist, Nick Penny. This love letter to a short stretch of Northamptonshire’s River Nene celebrates all the wild things that live there, especially the kingfishers. Uniquely, it comes with bonus audio content to complement the text, accessed via QR codes.
For four decades, Penny has walked beside the river at Oundle – a lovely but little-known part of England where where Clark Gable and thousands of American airmen were stationed during World War II, and where bandleader Glenn Miller performed his final airfield concert before going missing in action. For a whole year, Penny gave the waterway all the time it asked for. The more attention he gave, the more he saw the kingfishers and heard their high whistling calls.
Call of the Kingfisher relates a year by the river, the author’s experiences there and the people he meets. Other strands weave around the feathered protagonist: explorations of history and landscape, from Roman and Bronze Age sites to watermills and centuries-old stone churches; homages to naturalists who lived nearby; forest dawns and dusks listening to the precious song of nightingales. But the background tapestry is the riverbank’s sights and sounds, and its greens and browns, shot through with the blue and orange threads of a kingfisher’s glowing feathers.
As a composer and wildlife recordist, Penny has a deep interest in sounds in the natural environment. He uses the local landscape and wildlife sounds as inspiration, and brings fresh insights into countryside sounds. The book includes access to an hour of high-quality birdsong recordings made alongside the River Nene – audio soundbites of nature’s riches, from kingfishers and nightingales to owls and cuckoos.
This is a book about the things that can be seen and heard when we approach nature with patience and curiosity. It celebrates people who have used that focus to help preserve wildlife and pass on their knowledge to future generations. Above all, Call of the Kingfisher serves as a call to appreciate what we’ve got, wherever we are, and to use our ears as much as our eyes when we experience the natural world.
Info autore
Nick Penny grew up in many different parts of the world before doing an arts degree at Oxford University. He then set up his own workshop making musical instruments, as well as writing and playing the Paraguayan harp. After moving to rural Northamptonshire four decades ago, he became fascinated by the birdsong in his local woods, starting to record it and use the sounds in his own music. He also began to watch and photograph the kingfishers on the River Nene close to his home – experiences captured in his nature-writing debut, Bradt’s Call of the Kingfisher. Although not a trained naturalist, Penny is an inspiring speaker about wildlife and birdsong, and writes with a deep passion and concern for his subject. Always curious, always with his musician’s ear to the ground, Penny is keen to learn about nature – and delights in passing that knowledge on to others. Penny is from Peterborough, UK.
Riassunto
Call of the Kingfisher - an enchanting nature-writing debut. This love letter to River Nene and the wild things that live there, especially kingfishers, celebrates a year's worth of Northamptonshire riverbank walks. Written with a musician's ear, the book includes access to a number of high-quality birdsong recordings made where the book is set.
Prefazione
Key Sales Points
. Includes access to a number of high-quality birdsong recordings, made locally
. The first full-length book of nature writing about kingfishers
About Bradt Travel Guides
. Founded in 1974, Bradt is now the largest independent guidebook publisher in the UK with over 200 titles in print
. Serial winner of the Gold award for Best Guidebook Series in the Wanderlust Reader Travel Awards
. Bradt guides are written by authors who really know their destinations. Many are resident there, or have been visiting regularly over a number of years
. Each new Bradt guide is backed by a dedicated press and social media campaign
Testo aggiuntivo
none;text-autospace:none'>"All writers want the reader to see through their eyes, but few succeed in
making them hear through their ears as successfully as Nick Penny. Very
special." Country Life
"From the glimpses of kingfishers in a frosty January to
the sweet-scented honeysuckle and nightingale song in early June, the book
beautifully illustrates the joy of observing nature with patience. Complete
with a suite of high-quality wildlife audio recordings, Call of the Kingfisher
is a glorious homage to wildlife." CPRE website
lang=EN-US style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;mso-bidi-font-family:
Verdana;mso-font-kerning:0pt;mso-ansi-language:EN-US'>"Penny's detailed
observations and philosophical and historical musings fill this gentle book
which seems to walk at its own pace through the gradually changing seasons" -
Birdwatch Magazine
line-break'>
none;text-autospace:none'>"[A] wonderful book. [Penny] brings his knowledge as a musician to this
book too, and the sounds that he has recorded of specific birds and some of the
dawn and evening choruses that he heard whilst researching this book. You can
follow the link in the book and I thought this gave an excellent extra
dimension" Paul Cheney, Halfman, Halfbook blog
"An utterly delightful, uplifting invitation to escape to
a wonderful world of nature! Highly Recommended!" Escapelearncreate.co.uk
"Call
of the Kingfisher is a beautiful book. he delights in what can be seen and
heard when we approach nature with patience and curiosity." Julia Thorley,
NN Journal
"Nick writes with honesty, a deep respect of and connection to his patch
of the natural world... I highly recommend this book and especially suggest
that readers explore the audio tracks listed within the chapters." P
Stevens, Amazon review
