Wintering

I have to admit that the goose is a bird I've tended to ignore, we get lots of them around here, mainly canada geese, and they keep their distance and make a right noise. I usually get distracted by other birds.

Stephen Rutt has had a similar history with the bird, it was only when he moved to Scotland (same area I'm off on holiday to in August 2020) that he saw them properly for the first time and his obsession kicked off big time. You can see why he needed to focus his energy on something, moving to Scotland is a big thing and adapting to the weather and less daylight can be challenging. This book is a memoir of sorts by a birdwatcher as he travels the country looking for the main species of goose that we get in this country. He shows some real dedication trudging through muddy fields on many frozen mornings on the off chance of spotting the bird. At first I was a bit disappointed that you don't get much info on the geese, their plumage is the main focus on information, once I realised the book is about the search and the experience of birdwatching I settled in to the book nicely, Stephen has a good voice when it comes to writing, he has a good sense of humour too, I especially liked that the cat got a mention in the thanks for sitting on his hands and forcing breaks from writing. This was a fun little book to read.

Blog review and a creepy Goose: felcherman.wordpress.com/2019/12/11/wintering-a-season-with-geese-by-stephen-rutt/