Since Rachel Carson’s 1962 earth-shattering book Silent Spring, there have been numerous books about the calamities facing our natural world and many about enjoying and cherishing nature, so one is spoilt for choice. One book, I have just read, has moved me more strongly than many others, and I cannot recommend it too strongly to Ealing Wildlife Group members. It’s Curlew Moon by Mary Colwell.
You might wonder why a book about Curlews would be of interest to us in Ealing. While we don’t have breeding Curlews in the borough, sadly, Colwell’s book is about much more than this iconic bird. She takes it as a symbol for what is happening to so much of our wildlife and about which EWG members are closely concerned.
Colwell quotes the US sociologist Eric Hoffer who has studied revolutions in history. He says perceptively:
“Those who would transform the world cannot do so by breeding and captaining discontent or by demonstrating the reasonableness and desirability of the intended changes or by coercing people into a new way of life. They must know how to kindle and fan an extravagant hope.”
It struck me how appropriate these words are for describing the work of Ealing Wildlife Group. Individuals like Sean and other activists in the group are indeed kindling hope and inspiring others to be part of the change.
Even though we live in a largely urban borough with degraded patches of “wilderness”, EWG has already achieved amazing results: reintroducing Harvest Mice to the borough, the (hopefully, soon to be) introduction of Beavers, installing Owl boxes, fighting to rescue Warren Farm, encouraging the creation of new wildlife havens. I could go on. These are truly revolutionary achievements!
But to return to Curlew Moon, it also kindles hope and energises its readers to do their utmost to cherish and defend the natural world. Mary Colwell is a natural history producer and ardent Curlew devotee who in 2016 undertook a 500-mile walk from the west of Ireland to the east coast of England to raise awareness of the bird’s plight.
The “Curlew Walk”, as she calls it, forms the thread of the book’s narrative. On the way, she meets many inspiring activists who are doing their utmost to restore landscapes and rescue dwindling populations of Curlews. She is full of praise for these “wildlife stars” she meets along the way; conservationists at the cutting edge.
Her text is interwoven with evocative quotations from poets who have immortalised the Curlew in their works, demonstrating how this bird has inspired some of our greatest writers in the past.
The birds’ bubbling song and their melancholic “cur-lew” calls were once familiar sounds across so much of our landscape, evoking yearning, nostalgia, and spiritual uplift, but they are now rarely heard.
Once common nesting birds, they have been under threat from intensive agriculture and loss of habitat over recent decades. In England and Scotland, the number of breeding pairs has declined by 60% in the last 20 years.
Colwell’s walk is also a sort of pilgrimage, she visits historic Curlew locations on her way and is inspired by fellow worshippers. She describes watching Curlews as “an inner experience, at the level of the soul, where the ordinary and every day become extraordinary.”
An inspirational read for anyone who loves the countryside.
John Green has become a regular blogger for EWG, sharing insights into the natural world.