The Running Hare
The Secret Life of Farmland
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Transworld Publishers Ltd
Published:20th Apr '17
Should be back in stock very soon
In The Running Hare, John Lewis-Stempel explores the decline of traditional ploughland and the wildlife that depends on it, while offering a hopeful vision for restoration.
In The Running Hare, the narrative unfolds against the backdrop of vanishing traditional ploughland, where the corncrake teeters on the brink of extinction and hares scurry for survival. The author, John Lewis-Stempel, paints a vivid picture of the wild flora and fauna that inhabit this landscape, from the tiniest microbes in the soil to the majestic kestrel soaring above the fields. The book highlights the alarming decline of various species, including seven cornfield flowers that have disappeared in just two decades, and the growing list of birds like the corn bunting and lapwing that are now classified as endangered.
Written with exquisite prose, The Running Hare not only chronicles the beauty and fragility of this ecosystem but also serves as a poignant reminder of how industrialization has altered the countryside. Stempel reflects on a time when fields were alive with wildlife, contrasting it with the silent, empty expanses that have become all too common. He captures the essence of a rural landscape that is both rich in history and at risk of being lost forever.
However, the story is not solely one of loss; it also embodies hope. Stempel shares his personal journey of restoring a field through traditional farming methods, nurturing its biodiversity and reviving the native plants and animals. This inspiring account demonstrates that it is still possible to create sanctuaries where wildlife can thrive, allowing creatures like the hare to find refuge once more.
He describes beautifully the changing of the seasons and the habits of animals such as the hares that make their home in his field. The book is a superb piece of nature writing. -- Ian Critchley * Sunday Times *
That John Lewis-Stempel is one of the best nature writers of his generation is undisputed. * Country Life *
Englightening and stylish...Readers who enjoyed the author’s last book, Meadowland: The Private Life of an English Field, will find much in the same vein here: a mix of agricultural history, rural lore, topographical description and childhood memories. I learned a good deal.... Lewis-Stempel is a fine stylist, adroitly conjuring scenes in which “medieval mist hangs in the trees” or “frost clenches the ground”... -- Sara Wheeler * Observer *
A beautifully written paean to the countryside in all its rich diversity. -- PD Smith * Guardian *
A beautifully observed book, full of poetic descriptions. Brilliant and galvanising. * Sunday Express *
Lewis-Stempel is a fourth-generation farmer gifted with an extraordinary ability to write prose that soars and sings, like a skylark over unspoiled fields. This wonderful book (a worthy follow-up to his brilliant Meadowland) is a hymn in praise of enlightened farming methods which reject lethal chemicals and allow insects, birds and flowers to thrive, as once they did.
As an experiment Lewis-Stempel rents an ordinary arable field (his own property is a hill farm) to plough and manage in the old-fashioned way, transforming it into a traditional wheatfield to attract wildlife. Even — he hopes — hares. The work is back-breaking but the rewards are sublime. Like the hares, Lewis-Stempel’s words dance.
Fans of Lewis-Stempel's bestselling Meadowland will find here the same easy-reading prose fuelled by daft-as-a-brush enthusiasm and embellished with lyrical flourishes ... the mud-spattered details of a farming life lend The Running Hare a unique realness. * Mail on Sunday *
A beautiful love letter ... to a wheat field [and] a pleasurable read * BBC Countryfile *
A stirring rural fantasia...Lewis-Stempel's heart and mind are absolutely in the right place. I salute him and I adored his appreciation of the quirky detail. * The Times *
A stirring rural fantasia...Lewis-Stempel's heart and mind are absolutely in the right place. I salute him and I adored his appreciation of the quirky detail. * The Times *
ISBN: 9781784160746
Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 20mm
Weight: 245g
304 pages