'Shearwater is sheer delight, a luminous portrait of a magical seabird which spans the watery globe' Daily Mail.
'Charming and impassioned ... a rich tribute to an extraordinary bird.' Horatio Clare, author of A Single Swallow and Heavy Light.
A very personal mix of memoir and natural history from the author of Liquid Gold.
Ten weeks into its life, a Manx shearwater chick will emerge from its burrow and fly 8,000 miles from the west coast of the British Isles to the South Atlantic. It will be unlikely to touch land again for four years.
Part memoir, part homage to wilderness, Shearwater traces the author's 50-year obsession with one of nature's supreme travellers. In the finest tradition of nature writing, Roger Morgan-Grenville, author of Liquid Gold - described by Mary Colwell (Curlew Moon) as 'a book that ignites joy and warmth' - unpicks the science behind its incredible journey; and into the story of a year in the shearwater's life, he threads the inspirational influence of his Hebridean grandmother who instilled in him a love of wild places and wild animals.
Full of lightly-worn knowledge, acute human observation and self-deprecating humour, Shearwater brings to life a truly mysterious and charismatic bird.
"A great read" - birdwatching.co.uk
"[A] lovely blend of natural history and memoir ... Morgan-Grenville beautifully blends science, memories, and wonder in this striking homage to an amazing bird." - Booklist
"Shearwater is sheer delight, a luminous portrait of a magical seabird which spans the watery globe" - Daily Mail
"A captivating mix of memoir, travel and ornithological obsession ... A book not just for seabirders or island-addicts, but for all who have ever gazed longingly out to sea and pondered vast possibilities and connections." - BBC Wildlife magazine
"[A] pleasant mixture of facts and an imagined narrative of the shearwater ... readers will enjoy relaxing into the story." - Library Journal
"A book that delights, informs, amuses and concerns you page by page" - Winchester Today
