Fingers in the Sparkle Jar

Chris Packham

Lessons in Life and Death.

An introverted, unusual young boy, isolated by his obsessions and a loner at school, Chris Packham only felt himself in the fields and woods around his suburban home.

But when he stole a young Kestrel from its nest, he was about to embark on a friendship that would teach him what it meant to love, and that would change him forever.

In his rich, lyrical and emotionally exposing memoir, Chris brings to life his childhood in the 70s, from his bedroom bursting with fox skulls, birds' eggs and sweaty jam jars, to his feral adventures. But pervading his story is the search for freedom, meaning and acceptance in a world that didn't understand him.

Beautifully wrought, this coming-of-age memoir will be unlike any you've ever read.

"Fingers in the Sparkle Jar is like nothing else I know - a flickering vat of life itself. A brilliant and remarkable book."

 - Robert Macfarlane

Chris Packham CBE is one of our top television naturalists and an award-winning conservationist, photographer and author. He is involved in the work of many charities, in the role of president, vice-president, patron or supporter. In 2010, he was awarded the Dilys Breese BTO medal for 'his outstanding work in promoting science to new audiences'. From the moment he could crawl he was fascinated by wildlife and as he grew so too did his menagerie and knowledge. As a young scientist, he studied kestrels, shrews and badgers, both in his teens and undergraduate days at the zoology department of Southampton University. At this time, his passion for music was shaped by punk rock, speaking as it did to the rebel in him with its 'DIY ethos and determination to never take no for an answer'. His TV career began with the award-winning Really Wild Show. His more recent BBC series include Inside the Animal Mind, World's Weirdest Events, The Burrowers and the critically acclaimed global series Secrets of our Living Planet. He is co-presenter of Springwatch, Autumnwatch and Winterwatch for the BBC.

WILD Sounds & Books will donate £5 from every sale of this book to Wild Justice. 320 pages.

Softback £10.99 £9.99

Signed Softback £12.00