For me to even pick up a book subtitled How Birds Can Change Your Life is noteworthy, never having had any interest whatsoever in birds, and in fact having a fear of them, but references on the jacket flap of Waiting for the Albino Dunnock to mythology, philosophy, history, literature, and folklore caused me to open it and I was captivated from the first page.
Rosamond Richardson writes with flair and sensitivity and with such knowledge of topics far beyond matters avian that her book is an engagingly multi-textured one and an example of nature writing at its best. She describes how a chance encounter led her to discover a fascination with birds which helped her at a difficult period in her life, but this is no confessional account of personal sadness - rather she is discreet and allusive - it is far more about seeing, observing, appreciating, understanding, and making connections, and about the enriching effect of a year of watching birds in East Anglia and far beyond.
When I was in Suffolk last autumn we went for a walk on Dunwich Heath, right next to the bird reserve at Minsmere. It was a very wet day and the keen birders in our party knew there would be little to see so they contented themselves with a ramble instead of a session with the binoculars, but even if conditions had been ideal nothing would have induced me to go and sit in a hide and try to spot birds (I did it once, years ago, and found it dull to say the least). But, having now read this book I would certainly join my bird-watching friends if an expedition were proposed, and I tell you this to illustrate the fact that Rosamond Richardson has opened my eyes and my mind, for which I thank her.
Let me sketch the map of the book for you in the hope that there will be territory here which draws you to it as it did me: the author writes of John Clare, Montaigne, Thomas Merton; she quotes Graham Greene, T.S. Eliot, Shakespeare, and G.K. Chesterton; her chapters are subtitled "stillness", "silence", "music", "joy", "the consolation of beauty", and "the uncommonness of the commonplace". She is discursive but always to the point; she brings to her discoveries "the beginner's mind" but retains a clear sense of perspective; her "personal crossroads" led her to find the extraordinary in the ordinary, but she doesn't rhapsodize, she speaks with quiet containment.
As to the book's title, it's inspired by R.S. Thomas, poet and priest, "who spent hours in wild landscapes in west Wales, watching for birds, never knowing whether he would see any or not". Alerted to the possible presence of an albino dunnock on the Lleyn Peninsula, "he muttered Waiting for birds is like waiting for God but I don't think I'd wait three hours for God." Rosamond Richardson closes thus: "the waiting is more about the search than the result [...] as much an inner journey as a field trip. Likewise 'waiting for the albino dunnock' is not about the achievement of spotting a rare bird and recording it on a list [...] but an intuition about what is mysterious and just beyond our reach".
I commend this book to you.
Karen - thank you very much for this recommendation. I will definitely procure. I never gave birds too much thought until a very lovely local friend, who is a keen birdwatcher, opened my eyes to the joys of birds. We had a really magical late afternoon one autumn out in Aberlady watching the geese and others. Very memorable. This book sounds completely up my street. Thank you!
Posted by: Anne B-A | 26 April 2017 at 01:27 PM
I'm amazed at the effect the book has had on me, Anne - that alone speaks volumes!
As to my own birdwatching, I've hung a feeder in the garden and am enjoying seeing the bullfinches and other small birds having their fill.
Posted by: Cornflower | 26 April 2017 at 02:25 PM
I'm grateful for this review as I've had this book on my wish list for a while and was never sure whether it would really be for me. Like you, I'm not much of a bird watcher but now I'm sure, I would like it. It sounds like she has a lot to offer and the authors she mentiosn appeal to me.
Posted by: Caroline | 26 April 2017 at 03:33 PM
I'm glad it appeals, Caroline. It's full of lovely lines such as blackbirds being the Beethoven of the birds (one is singing as I type!), and the in-between time of the evening being known as 'owl-light': delights on every page.
Posted by: Cornflower | 26 April 2017 at 03:52 PM
I don't call myself a birdwatcher in the true sense of the word but I was drawn to birds when in a boring job on Reception where I put up a couple of feeders. The result was that I was able to really concentrate on the birds, note their flight patterns, which were ground feeders, which preferred small seeds to peanuts and such like. I find joy in seeing the small birds on the feeders and the Corvidae on the ground scavenging, such individual characters, these. I thought that I had put this book on my wish list but I had not so I shall now go and order it, thank you for the reminder.
Posted by: Toffeeapple | 26 April 2017 at 04:14 PM
You're welcome, Toffeeapple, and I very much hope you will get as much from the book as I have done.
Posted by: Cornflower | 26 April 2017 at 05:03 PM
Karen - it is so exciting when you discover a book that works so well. I am excited for you!
Posted by: Anne B-A | 27 April 2017 at 08:30 AM
I can hardly believe what I have just read! Much love and welcome to the enthusiasts corner :-) xx
Posted by: Dark Puss | 27 April 2017 at 08:06 PM
Since childhood I have watched birds. I am not a twitcher or someone who rushes from one end of the country to spot some elusive warbler with no distinguishing features which has washed up on our shores. But I watch birds. The sparrows who live in a noisy community in the hedge beside my house, the antics on the bird feeders and now, daily I am scanning the skies to see the return of house martins, swallows and other migrants. I do keep a list of dates each year, just for curiosity as our climate changes and spring starts earlier than in years past. Just last week I was thrilled to hear a willow warbler beyond the garden fence...last year I failed to hear one in the trees.
I have read quite a bit on the loss of so many of our native birds, the reasons why, the possibility that we may lose more. Sad reading at times so when I first saw your mention of this book I knew it was for me. A trip to the nearest independent book shop is imminent as this sounds to be a book I really can't be without. Very pleased to hear how it has worked for you.
Posted by: Fran H-B | 28 April 2017 at 06:15 PM
It's very heartening to read such positive reviews for this wonderful, life-enhancing book. I enjoyed every thoughtful word and found it so humbly written . I was devastated when I researched Rosamond Richardson and discovered she had passed away before I had read Waiting for the Albino Dunnock. Such a loss. I felt I had met a like-minded soul in Rosamond as her book resonated with me such a lot. I would have loved to pass on my heartfelt admiration of this book to Rosamond but the next best thing is to find appreciative fans! May Rosamond's beautiful spirit always be with us.
Posted by: Lou Weekes | 24 February 2018 at 06:43 PM
Hear, hear, Lou.
Posted by: Cornflower | 24 February 2018 at 07:14 PM