FALLING FOR THE TREES
Stempel records nature in his beloved wood.
The Wood: The Life and Times of Cockshutt Wood By John Lewis-Stempel Doubleday £14.99
“How dull is life inside a building, how clear aand vibrant life is outside, in the world bbeyond the door.” This truism, for wildlife llovers at least, comes from Stempel’s diary eentry for 14 July. This was a day of rich wwildlife delights recorded in this love-letter to hish small wood – just 3.5 acres of magic. He visits his “647 trees above the rank of sapling” every day for a year, passionately recording their dramas and mysteries, from his beloved moorhens on the pool to the nuthatches – the “kingfishers of the wood” – chiselling acorns.
It is beautiful, personal and gripping, perhaps because Stempel is not a passive observer. He uses his trees for forage, fencing and firewood and occasionally shoots those living among them, declaring that his senses sharpen in hunter mode. The work is freckled with poetry from greats such as John Clare, but its strength is in Stempel’s fierce emotional connection to nature.
Editor,