THE NATURE OF WINTER
In December 2016, Jim Crumley ventured into the Scottish highlands to explore the nature of winter and immediately found it to be elusive and endangered; “the Scottish wildcat of the seasons”. Climate change, of course, is the culprit, and is an ever-present thread in this tapestry of wildlife encounters, poetry and landscape history. It is granted the gravitas it demands, but the book, suffused in Crumley’s characteristic wit and wonder, is far from gloomy.
Crumley writes with conviction. Novice naturalists and nature-writers will find his insights into creatures such as beavers, dippers, narwhals and wolves, useful and fascinating. Culture-vultures will appreciate his homages to artists and writers. And connoisseurs of nature and good writing will be enthralled by his first-person wildlife encounters. His accounts of watching and listening to ravens, golden eagles, red deer and snow buntings are written with dazzling clarity, lyrical lilt and a story-teller’s skill.
An authority on and advocate for Scottish wildlife, Crumley is as fearless in his flouting of bad land management and journalism as he is convincing in his appeal for the reintroduction of native species and the wilderness on which they depend. He is quieter about climate change policy, but this is only the second book in a quartet of the seasons, and I look forward to this commentary evolving. For now, his descriptions of climate change are as compelling as those of his animals, as he stakes it out, stalks it, watches, listens and waits. Julie Bromilow, outdoor writer