A yearning for nature

He is one of a younger generation of nature writers and deserves his reputation as an evocative and eloquent descriptive writer.

He not only takes us to his chosen wild places, bringing them alive in his powerful prose but he makes interesting links with literary forerunners.

He demonstrates how a connectedness to wildness is something that so many of us need and yearn for, that umbilical cord to an untouched and pristine natural world that is being lost at an alarming rate, not only here but throughout the world.

It is indeed virtualy impossible to be anywhere in Britain today and not hear or see the sounds and signs of man's incursion - a distant roar of traffic, the sonic boom of a plane or a tractor ploughing.

Macfarlane takes us to the very few places where it is still possible, but they are small islets, threatened and fragile.

The one drawback with this fine book is that it is purely descriptive writing without a solid narrative or story to hold the reader's interest, but it is still a joy to read.

JOHN GREEN