Bøger af Mark Cocker

This book describes the ornithological work of the remarkable naturalist, scholar and administrator, Brian Houghton Hodgson. Born in 1800, Hodgson was for many years British Resident in Katmandu, where he described or collected over 120 species of birds new to science. To document his discoveries, he trained a team of Nepalese artists to produce water-color plates for a projected work on the birds of the Himalayas. Though this was never completed, the superb collection of paintings remains and is now in the possession of the Zoological Society of London. Of the plates selected for this volume, most have never been published before.

We meet key characters who shaped the story of the British countryside - Victorian visionaries like Octavia Hill, founder of the National Trust, as well as brilliant naturalists such as Max Nicholson or Derek Ratcliffe, who helped build the very framework for all environmental effort.

The British love their birds, which are inextricably entwined with every aspect of their island life. British customs, more than 1,000 years of English literature, the very fabric of society, even the landscape itself, have all been enhanced by the presence of birds.

'After Mark Cocker's glorious book, you will never look at a blackberry bush the same way again.' Philip Hoare, New Statesman In 2001 Mark Cocker moved to Claxton, a small village in Norfolk.

One night Mark Cocker followed the roiling, deafening flock of rooks and jackdaws which regularly passed over his Norfolk home on their way to roost in the Yare valley.

Since 1972 Mark Cocker has been a member of a community of obsessional people, almost all male, who sacrifice most of their spare time, a good deal of money, sometimes their chances of a partner or family, even occasionally their lives, to watch birds.