UNOFFICIAL BOOKCLUB NO 8

Gerry Maguire Thompson Rewilding an Urban Garden: An Illustrated Diary of Nature’s Year, Wild Books, £9.99. A link to Gerry and Marina’s website is here

So often we hear about the crisis of climate change and the sixth extinction and feel not only overwhelmed by the scale of the problems, but also helpless to make a difference. For me, the main takeaway from this delightful book is that no action is too insignificant, no piece of ground too small for you to change the world. If you want to know how to go about rewilding your own domestic soul, it offers a multitude of hot tips while infecting you with its author’s own deep passion for the outcome.  

We also have a wildlife friendly patch. Our sighting of the day is a worker bilberry bumblebee, my favourite among all its glorious family members.

Yet Thompson has attracted new neighbours to his plot that make me green with envy: stag beetles, wood mice, hedgehogs, holly blue butterflies and foxes. Over the course of the book, he supplies not just the practical know how; he also illuminates what fascination, health-giving mental absorption, entertainment and endless daily drama you acquire when you fill your own part of the Earth with homes fit for a 1000 other species.

There are two things I really love about this upbeat, do-it-yourself book. The Thompson couple – Gerry and Marina – have published the book but also filled it with delightful nature-rich illustrations. For the sheer diversity of creatures packed into every pic they remind me of the fabulous work of Charles Tunnicliffe for the Look series by Ladybird books. Here’s an example.

The other thing that stands out is that no creature is too commonplace to enjoy the attention of the author. For their busy-ness, infectious social lives and their overlooked background music, Thompson declares himself a ‘sparraholic’. Alas house sparrows have declined in Britain probably by well over 60%, but especially in urban areas. Not, however, in the Thompson nature reserve, which is exactly what their garden is. And if all of us did what the author’s family are doing, we could scale up from a few, to many, to all gardens. Then we would revitalise something like 2 million acres of very important habitat. As I said, no plot is too small for you to change the world.