Shearwater: A Bird, an Ocean, and a Long Way Home

Roger Morgan-Grenville

Ten weeks into its life, a Manx Shearwater chick will emerge from its burrow and fly 8,000 miles from the west coast of the British Isles to the South Atlantic. It will be unlikely to touch land again for four years.

Part memoir, part homage to wilderness, Shearwater traces the author's 50-year obsession with one of nature's supreme travellers. In the finest tradition of nature writing, Roger Morgan-Grenville unpicks the science behind its incredible journey; and into the story of a year in the Shearwater's life, he threads the inspirational influence of his Hebridean grandmother who instilled in him a love of wild places and wild animals.

Full of lightly-worn knowledge, acute human observation and self-deprecating humour, Shearwater brings to life a truly mysterious and charismatic bird. 304 pages.

Softback £10.99 £9.99