Very British, w/ references to things of popular culture or whatever that I don't know. But that's not a big deal. Literary, as intended, almost pretentious. I think you'll get a good idea of what it's like, whether you'll like it, just from the first short essay, 'Nests.'

So far my favorites are 'Field Guides' and 'High Rise.'
---
Maybe my favorite essay is 'Murmurations' which ironically is "Words to accompany Sarah Woods' 2015 film Murmuration x 10." I marked three passages: I want to learn more about the blank air-age globes from the 1930s, marked only with locations of airports. I want to read *Garden Bird Study" but the closest I can find is [b:The Young People's Nature-Study Book, in Garden, Field, and Wood - How to Keep Nature-Notes, How to Make an Observing-Glass, How to Make a Nature-Camera, and How to Identify Birds' Nests|14487248|The Young People's Nature-Study Book, in Garden, Field, and Wood - How to Keep Nature-Notes, How to Make an Observing-Glass, How to Make a Nature-Camera, and How to Identify Birds' Nests|Sidney Newman Sedgwick|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348254824l/14487248._SY75_.jpg|20129800] which may or may not be what Macdonald remembers. I also want to read [b:The Birds|1030934|The Birds|Daphne du Maurier|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1438631203l/1030934._SY75_.jpg|6698712] by [a:Daphne du Maurier|2001717|Daphne du Maurier|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1422444467p2/2001717.jpg], the story which inspired the film.
---
I wish the essays were dated. Is it worth checking to see if the project to track cuckoos' migration has any results yet, or is this one of the most recent essays?

I really wish there was a bibliography, or, at least, recommendations for further reading. Macdonald throws out all these facts under others' names, but we've no way of checking whether she's reporting accurately. I also wish there were pictures, but I guess it would be a different (and more expensive) book then.

Overall, I just found it boring. I don't see nature and people's place in it the way she does, and she doesn't help me value her pov either. Imo, it reads like just another blog from just another ordinary writer. ( )

ref Mirabel Osler's A Gentle Plea for Chaos - similar concerns about development destroying habitats ( )

I decided to read 'Vesper Flights' after watching Helen Macdonald's International Book Festival event. I recommend it, not least because she introduces her adorable little parrot at the end. She is a fascinating speaker and thoughtful environmental commentator. While I found 'Vesper Flights' a structurally very different book to [b:H is for Hawk|18803640|H is for Hawk|Helen Macdonald|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442151714l/18803640._SY75_.jpg|26732095], it is just as eloquently written. 'Vesper Flights' is a collection of short essays, some just a couple of pages long. I would have liked many of them to be longer, to give similar space for digression as in [b:Sightlines|13818573|Sightlines|Kathleen Jamie|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1545014653l/13818573._SY75_.jpg|19177747] (a collection tonally and thematically similar essays by [a:Kathleen Jamie|117633|Kathleen Jamie|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1399982612p2/117633.jpg]). Macdonald's writing combines nature observations, autobiographical anecdotes, and reflections on the dynamics between humanity and the environment. This paragraph could be a thesis statement for the whole book:

Encounters with creatures are always with a real creature. But they are also built out of all the stories and associations we've learned about them throughout our lives. They are always already emblematic. And while we should honour their lived reality, and trust the science, I wonder if we might also be readier to accept what animals' emblematic selves are trying to tell us.

There is definitely something gentle and calming about this collection. Although Macdonald doesn't ignore habitat loss, species decline, and climate change, the focus of each piece is very narrow. Looking carefully at a single creature or context distracts somewhat from the overall environmental crisis capitalism has created. My favourite essays concerned eclipses, birdkeeping, wildlife hides, and rescuing swifts. The cover image of a swift also has a lovely retro charm. ( )

A great selection of essays on a wide variety of nature or nature adjacent topics. I love her writing as she usually presents the animals she encounters as they are, without putting her own expectations on them and they never fail to interest and delight. Especially enjoyed her analysis of her own attitude towards deer, which I think many people share ( )

Love love love, I want to be your friend. ( )