The Barley Bird

The Barley Bird Synopsis

First prize winner in the Nature and Placecategory of the 2010 EDP/Jarrolds East Anglian Book Awards

"So vividly written you can almost hear the song of these rare birds" - Kate Kellaway, The Guardian

Richard Mabey, described as "Britain's greatest living nature writer", explores the nightingale's links with Suffolk culture and landscape, and traces the bird's course through myth, lore and tradition. He plumbs his subject for its fascinating literary and historical references, and opens the reader's ears to the bird itself and its extraordinary song, a hymn to survival. New images by Derrick Greaves accompany the text.