Laurence Rose is a writer, conservationist and composer. He has worked for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds since 1983, and since 2017 has helped run a £7 million species recovery project, Back from the Brink. His recent book The Long Spring was published by Bloomsbury in March 2018.
Rose is excellent on the science that underpins our understanding of migration, but if he is an environmentalist by profession he is a musician by vocation. His ear for the sounds of birds is exceptional, while his ability to render their spring songs in precise language is among the foremost pleasures of the book.
No book has made me want to sprout wings and fly quite like Laurence Rose’s modern classic as it chronicles nature’s progress from winter slumber to verdant awakening in language so beautiful it sings.
As a detailed primer to the world above our heads, The Long Spring makes for an inspiring, eye-opening read.
I am currently writing and researching a new book, planning a research visit to India and working on various collaborations with other artists who are inspired by nature.
"We had not descended far when the beam reflected back two cats’ eyes, like stationary fireflies against the black of the forest."
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Last month’s North Cornwall Book Festival was memorable, and the talks are available as podcasts for those who missed it. Click below for my talk, and relive the whole festival here.
Continue reading →A year ago, I was at the North Cornwall Book Festival from where a BBC Countryfile programme was being filmed. The poet Chrissie Gittins was running a workshop for local schoolchildren, exploring the world of words and the words of nature, and I was being interviewed too. I had been campaigning against the decision by...
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We’ve known it for ages, but every three-year State of Nature report reminds us how impoverished our wildlife has become, and each new report paints a worsening picture. Between 1970 and 2013 56% of UK species declined, and 15% are now threatened with extinction. The UK is officially among the most nature-depleted countries in the world. It...
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“Over there behind those trees is the most extensive area of scrap metal yards in Europe” said Steve Ely, poet
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The Old Court Room, Huddersfield Town Hall
United Reformed Church, Park Green, Macclesfield SK11 7NA
St Thomas's Church Hall, Market Street, Stourbridge DY8 1AQ
Parkwood Community Centre, Parkwood Green, Rainham Kent ME8 9PN
