SHOP
Many people ask where they can buy my books from independent booksellers. The answer is either, choose the one nearest you or, if time is an issue, order them through the excellent One Tree Books in Petersfield, who have kindly agreed to send out all books free of postage charges. My latest book, The Return of the Grey Partridge, is available here.
Across a waking land
Fed up with bleak headlines of biodiversity loss, acclaimed nature writer Roger Morgan-Grenville sets out on a 1,000-mile walk through a British spring to see whether there are reasons to be hopeful about the natural world. His aim is to match the pace at which the oak leaves emerge, roughly 25 miles north each day.
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Fighting illness, blizzards and his own ageing body, he visits every main habitat between Lymington and Cape Wrath in an epic eight-week adventure, encountering, over and over again, the kindness of strangers and the inspiring efforts of those fighting heroically for nature. With surprising conclusions throughout, what unfolds is both life-affirming and life-changing.
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Order your copy now with free postage, or collect from the shop.
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LIQUID GOLD: Bees and the Pursuit of Midlife Honey
This was my first venture into conservation, something I had wanted to campaign on, and write about, all my adult life. On the surface, it is the story of my neighbour, Duncan, and me, setting up a couple of bee hives and making every mistake (and a few more) known to beekeeping over the three of four seasons that follow But below the humour, and the fact that we really did eventually get better, is a positive biodiversity story that earnestly needs to be told, and a sense of awe in the extraordinary connections that go on all around us, unseen, every single day.
Taking Stock
Birds led on to cows, mainly because I became frustrated at the blame that science, and often bad science, was attaching to the animal that has every claim to be man’s real best friend. The issue is not the animal, but the way that we farm them. I got a job as a part time farm worker, and spent the rest of the time travelling around over a hundred farms to try to understand just where cows had come from, what they do for us, what we do (or don’t do) for them, and where they could go from here.
Shearwater
After bees, I spent the best part of a year, until Covid intervened, travelling around and telling the story of one of the most extraordinary birds on the planet. This took me to all parts of the British Isles, but also down to the South Atlantic, where their journeying takes them in the summer. On one level, it is the biography of the Manx Shearwater, with its incredible migrations, ; on a deeper one, it tries to highlight the importance of going beyond the end of the pavement to treasure and protect what we still have.
Unlimited Overs
The sequel to Not out First Ball, in which middle aged sport is confronted with enthusiasm and deceptiveness. There comes a time when the arm goes, the legs go and even the eyes start to go, but this is actually the time to tackle cricket with renewed commitment. The fact that no one expects you to do well means that those precious occasions that you do something borderline competent are to be treasured every bit as much as an Olympic medal. And how the important sense of belongingness that being a member of a team brings is a key ingredient for avoiding the worst of mid life crises.
Not Out First Ball
My first book, written with my friend Richard Perkins, about the trials and tribulations of our roving cricket club. Whilst the fun comes from the eye-wiping incompetence to which we have frequently sunk, there is a deeper point to the story, which is the importance of doing something that you love, and doing it to the best of your ability, however rubbish you are at it. We are still inordinately proud of the chapter on our first French tour.