Page 96 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #10

WILD AT HOME

BOOK
The Secret Life of

the Mountain Hare

ANDY HOWARD, SANDSTONE PRESS, £24.99

Not so much a
monograph as an
illustrated love-letter to
the charismatic upland
lagomorph, this slender
but intimate tome is a passport to an
austerely beautiful world. Photographer
Andy Howard’s gorgeous images invite
you to traverse a land of heather-purpled
moors and stark, snowy mountains
inhabited by eagles, pine martens, foxes
and – naturally – hares in their various
moods, postures and seasonal costumes.
Blending memoir, photographic
manual, field guide and conservation
manifesto, The Secret Life tells the story of
Andy’s relationship with mountain hares
in the Cairngorms and Monadhliath hills
of the Scottish Highlands, from his first
attempt to capture a cowering individual
on Slochd to his new life as a tour-leader.
En route he provides an involving
overview of the species’ ecology, covering
breeding and reproduction, predators Mountain hare fur morphs three
and persecution on driven grouse moors,
times a year: white to brown in
Andy Howard along with that famously morphing spring; brown to grey in autumn;
grey to white in winter.
pelage. Paul Bloomfield Freelance writer

BOOK APP
WILD STREAM How to See Nature MCS Good Fish Guide

DOCUMENTARY PAUL EVANS, PAVILION BOOKS , £16.99 WWW.GOODFISHGUIDE.ORG
France: The Wild Side
Natural World film from 2015 This series of highly scientific This award-winning app from
presenting the charismatic yet lyrical encounters with the Marine Conservation
wildlife – wolves, wild boar nature is a talisman for our Society is an essential tool to
and even bears – found in the ‘environmentally anxious’ era help you identify the best (and worst) in
mountains and valleys across of losses. From the richness of sustainable seafood. Its USP is a
the Channel. sand martins who inhabit sands as searchable, colour-coded list of edible
BBC iPlayer, until 1 Oct unstable as our times, to intimate fish and seafood, identifying which can
meetings with orb-weaver spiders, be eaten in good conscience (green) and
DOCUMENTARY “adorned in the extra-terrestrial glow of those that are least sustainable (red).
David Attenborough’s their pearl diadems”, Evans moves us There’s also a wealth of information on
Richmond Park from concern to inspiration, blending fishery methods, conservation
Sir David presents the wildlife close observation and revelation with management and biology, plus
of the capital’s nature reserve. characteristic passion and accuracy. We a vast collection of recipes.
www.my5.tv, until 12 Oct learn that ravens are undertakers, and Whether you’re surfing
that nightingales are ventriloquists supermarket shelves or
RADIO (singing, according to Coleridge, from perusing a menu, you are
Radio 1 Meets Sir David their own “wanton tipsy joy”). The mere clicks away from
More of our favourite naturalist ordinary becomes extraordinary, written knowing whether you
chatting to DJ Greg James. with a heart-lifting mixture of literary should tuck into anchovy
BBC iPlayer, until May 2019 and personal insights. (right, yes), seabass (maybe) or
Miriam Darlington Nature writer shark (absolutely not). PB

96 BBC Wildlife October 2018