Summer of love

STEPHEN Rutt has established himself as one of Britain’s most evocative and lyrical nature writers, and The Eternal Season only reaffirms this.

This is, in many respects, a celebration of the summer months in Britain – the long, lazy and warm days, when new life is abundant and our countryside verdant.

But, as Rutt ponders, this simplistic and rather romanticised view of summer is not as relevant or accurate as it once might have been. All too often there are reminders of how humans have disrupted the rhythm and flow of the season, causing nature to suffer as our climate becomes ever more temperamental and habitat is lost. But, fear not, this isn’t a book of doom and distress, and it is credit to Rutt in how he approaches these issues tactfully, presenting them with measured intelligence as well as poignancy.

It’s not all bad news, as the chapter Egrets shows, but Fractured Rhythms is a stark reminder of how all is not well as it addresses phenological mismatch (when interacting species change the timing of regularly repeated phases in their life cycles at different rates). There are other intricate issues that many of us would never even think to foresee (see Natterjack Toad, for example), while other topics addressed are as wide ranging as moth declines, the lengthening days, agricultural intensification and rescuing bats.

All in all, this is a very readable and relatable title, and Rutt’s analysis and resultant concerns about our natural world will be shared by many. His passion for our wildlife is plain to see, and his melodic and lilting writing style is most enjoyable.