Song of the Rolling Earth

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English

"'Not a cloud in the sky' doesn't happen much round here. Too much ocean squeezes us. Clouds are to the Highlands as canals are to Venice. They belong here... Great sky-rollers crashing soundlessly ashore, thundering on to ice-shattered rocks polished smooth by the rain-wave of milions of rolling centuries. Long ago I came to the conclusion that this was once hell of a place to live."

It was the Torrey Canyon oil disaster in 1967 that tipped John Lister-Kaye into becoming a naturalist and conservationist. It was a decision that led him to the Highlands of Scotland, and the derelict nineteenth-century mansion near Inverness that he turned into the world famous Aigas Field Centre.

Song of the Rolling Earth is his celebration of nature and the land that have been his home and his work for over twenty-five years. It is a powerful evocation of the turbulent human history of the Highlands and the wealth of wildlife from the magnificent landscape of mountains, forests and lochs that surround his field centre. It is a journey of personal discovery; an enchanting account that captures the hills and glens in all their glory – the brown trout in the loch, the ospreys and swifts overhead, red-squirrels and spindle-legged roe deer of the woods – and a fascinating exploration of man’s ever changing relationship with his environment.

English

Born in 1946, Sir John Lister-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. His Aigas Field Centre, founded in 1977, has won international acclaim for its environmental education programmes; it continues to welcome study groups from all over the world. He lives at Aigas with his wife and family.

English

"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"John Lister-Kaye's remarkable gift as a storyteller holds one spellbound. The book is a little masterpiece."  —Virginia McKenna, President of the Born Free Society"A lyrical memoir of Highland naturalist Sir John Lister-Kaye . . . this is old-fashioned nature writing at its very best."  —Publishing News"John Lister-Kaye establishes himself straight away as one of the finest nature writers in the language."  —Scotsman
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