<br /><br /><br />"a deeply evocative meditation on the Teifi river, its wildlife, and the surrounding landscape ... As well as being a book to lose yourself in, it adds to the growing body of ecological writing that could help to reshape and rebalance the Earth." - Jenny White, <i>Western Mail</i><br /><br />"Holmes' love letters, addressed to water, to weather, to the wild world we forget we belong to, are tender but un-whimsical, rooted in the real. And the result is beguiling: an unconventional devotional, full of feeling, wild magic, and awe." Mab Jones, <i>Buzz Magazine</i><br /><i><br /></i><br />"With so much of what we might call ‘new nature writing’ now which focuses on the plight of the planet – and rightly so – it’s been a pleasure to sit back for once and just enjoy the pure elation of traditionally immersive and beautiful nature writing... <i>Love Letters on the River</i> provides a reminder of why we love nature, how we appreciate it, and when that happens we naturally want to protect it." Lottie Williams, <i>Nation.Cymru</i>
This collection of essays, beautifully illustrated throughout, are each of them love letters to the Teifi valley and to the river that winds through Carly's days. The wild animals - the badgers who visit nightly for peanuts; the juvenile osprey who learned to fish on the estuary across the lane; the young jackdaw she nurtured until it was healthy enough to ignore her whenever she went into the garden; the cuckoos she discovered in flagrante one afternoon on a lockdown walk - are the very heart of it.
BEYOND THE GARDEN WALL:
Mating Cuckoos by Foxhill Farm
Juvenile Osprey on the Teifi Estuary
Skydancing Ravens at Cwm Gwaun
Nightjar at Cross Inn Forest
Bittern at the Teifi Marshes
IN THE GARDEN:
Runty
Tapdancing Tawny Owls
Steak Dinner for Four
Des Res
Pumpkin Eyes
The Bereft Sparrowhawk
Dawn Chorus
BEYOND THE GARDEN WALL:
Winter Barn Owl over the Teifi Marshes
Hobbies at Cors Caron
Swifts at the Watch House
Racing Swans on the Teifi
Murmurating Starlings over the Teifi Marshes
Crossbills at Pantmaenog Forest
Afterword