Field Notes From a Hidden City: An Urban Nature Diary

Against the background of austere and beautiful Aberdeen, Woolfson observes the seasons, the streets and the quiet places of her city over the course of a year. She considers the geographic, atmospheric and environmental elements which bring diverse life forms together in close proximity, and in absorbing prose writes of the animals among us: the birds, the rats and squirrels, the spiders and the insects. Her close examination of the natural world leads her to question our prevailing attitudes to urban and non-urban wildlife, and to look again at the values we place on the lives of individual species.

About the Author :
Esther Woolfson was brought up in Glasgow and studied Chinese at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Edinburgh University. Her acclaimed short stories have appeared in many anthologies and have been read on Radio 4. She is the author of Corvus: A Life with Birds, which is also published by Granta Books. She has won prizes for her nature writing and received a Scottish Arts Council Travel Grant and a Writer's Bursary.

Review :
This is a beautiful book, a meditation and an investigation, a contemplation of our uncaring attitude to wild animals. Part autobiography, it is shot through with the solitude and wisdom of older age, as Woolfson pursues her scientific studies alone Woolfson turns her beady eye to the muddled and fascinating ecology of her hometown of Aberdeen... It can only be hoped that books like this play a part in making us both notice and value the lovely creatures we stand to lose, before the wild portions of our cities have been entirely swept and tidied and paved out of existence An illuminating, humane and informative companion in the great tradition of the finest nature writing Woolfson writes vividly about all things feathered ... She deserves only praise for bringing her hidden city - and our hidden prejudices - so enjoyably to light... A likeably quirky book Woolfson charts with thought, compassion, and no little expertise, the coming and goings of those who share our city space Woolfson has a novelist's ear for pacing and a keen eye for nature description... Highly engaging; learned, thoughtful, studded with anecdote, aphorism, myth and scientific facts Genial, readable, warm-hearted and on nature's side Splendid The joy of this book is that it teaches us to observe afresh and to live peaceably with every species - no matter how slimy Woolfson is a thoughtful diarist, using events as jumping-off points for digressions into scientific information or passionate argument... Superb Woolfson specialises in demonstrating how little most people understand about creatures they think ordinary. Her writing flows beautifully A beautifully written celebration of nature, and a warning about our own potential for destruction A measured, lyrical and idiosyncratic chronicle of a year in Aberdeen [and] a plea to value the everyday richness we have on our doorsteps Woolfson changed our minds about rooks and crows with her memoir Corvus and now her new book is going to change our minds about other species, specifically those that have moved into the cities and made their home among the glass and the concrete This is a reflective work that isn't quite as gentle as it might seem - [it] underlines the fact that if we don't appreciate the value of nature under our noses, we may change it irrevocably Wonderful... with this expansive, thoughtful and profound book [Woolfson has] added another tome to the canon of wonderful modern nature writing There is plenty of poetry in the beautiful descriptions of her garden and its hinterland Knowledgeable about our native creatures, Woolfson considers what nature is in an urban context... A beautiful and absorbing account Precise, and often lovely, prose A quietly enthralling, generous book; Woolfson's sympathy and precision of observation makes new observers of her readers too The ordinary is revealed as extraordinary A beautifully written celebration of nature An examination of how much we value what's around us and the sort of decisions we make. It is this level of thought and empathy that distinguishes the book Absorbing There is plenty of poetry in the descriptions of her garden and its hinterland A beautiful book A beautifully-written, carefully-crafted and thoughtful account' A warm-hearted read A fine portrait of Aberdeen