* A lyrical memoir from Highland naturalist John Lister-Kaye, founder of the famous Aigas Field Centre, this is old-fashioned nature writing at its very best.
Conservationist and naturalist John Lister-Kaye, founder of the Aigas Field Centre, writes about his life in the glens, the wildlife that surrounds him and the primeval magical exchange that takes place between man and nature once so central to ancient civilisations. He describes finding the ruined nineteenth-century estate that is to become Aigas, taking it over and turning it into a going concern as an Educational Centre, and his own personal motivation, following the Torrey Canyon oil spillage and natural disasters in the 1960s, to become a conservationist. Interspersed within the narrative detail are engaging and enlightening descriptions of flora and fauna. John Lister-Kaye carries the reader very effectively into the minute worlds he observes and backs up keen scrutiny with facts and figures.
SONG OF THE ROLLING EARTH is a notably entertaining and enlightening addition to the canon of naturalist writing that includes Gavin Maxwell's RING OF BRIGHT WATER, Henry Williamson's TARKA THE OTTER and the works of Gerald Durrell.
Deeply personal and perceptive...a wonderfully lyrical book surging with the sheer joy of nature, from Scotland's premier nature writer - Magnus Magnusson
A personal, finely poetic book, an odyssey of people, places and wild things. - Christopher Smout, Historiographer Royal in Scotland
Lister-Kaye establishes himself as one of the finest nature writers in the language - SCOTSMAN
An environmental classic - SPECTATOR
Sir John Liste-Kaye is one of Scotland's best-known naturalists and conservationists. He has lectured on wildlife and the environment on three continents and served prominently in the RSPB, the Nature Conservancy Council, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Scottish Wildlife Trust. He lives at Aigas with his wife and family.