Michael McCarthy (3)

How to describe this book? It's part nature writing, part memoire, part polemic, and a powerful and affecting read.

The book first got under my skin when defining 'joy', which is perhaps summed up as a moment of true happiness, with a spiritual, selfless, outward looking dimension. McCarthy's first experience of joy was as a boy, leaning to love the landscape and wildlife of the Dee Estuary. Later, it was bluebell woods, chalkland streams ... and so on.

Alongside this joy is anger, impotent anger, as he describes the pointless despoilation and destruction of Saemangeum in South Korea by the construction of a 23 mile long seawall which has annihilated the rich mudflats upon which countless thousands of migrating birds had depended.

McCarthy's nature writing is richly observed, pictorial, highly sensory. He is angry at the galloping pace of destruction of so many species and habitats. He demands that we observe too, and experience joy in our own ways as we explore the natural world.

Experiencing and observing however, is not enough. This is also a call to action.

A beautifully written book, often elegiac, and one which engaged me from the first to the last page.… (mehr)

Being out and about in the countryside has lots of positives; the views, the fresh air, the sound of bird song and restores our deep connections with the natural world. In The Moth Snowstorm he argues that we cannot be fully human if we lose those connections; for McCarthy the greatest gift that nature gives him is joy. The connections that link us to the outdoors run far back in our DNA, surveys have demonstrated that people subconsciously prefer the open savannah landscapes above all others and that patients in hospital heal faster when they have a view of the natural world through a window. Using various examples, he provides evidence of the damage that we are causing to the animals and landscapes of this world in the pursuit of profit and control. He describes pointless civil engineering projects in the South China Sea, blocking mud flats from the sea and stopping millions of birds having a place to feed on their long migratory routes.

McCarthy takes time to describe those pivotal points that changed his life. These moments of joy are deftly woven with the pain that the family suffered when he was young when his mother was admitted to an asylum and as his father was away at sea a lot, they were moved to his uncle and aunts house. His brother was traumatised by it; Michael sought solace in bird watching to avoid thinking of the pain and the loss. The family were reunited, though the relationships were fragile and strained. It took years for him to understand his exact feelings properly.

It is a beautifully written book by an accomplished author. You are not left in any doubt by his fury at the destruction of habitats and places that creatures are totally dependent on them for survival. Whilst we still have some fantastic things left to see, he remind us of what we have lost. The title of the book is a recollection of the masses of moths that people remember driving through a few decades ago that were attracted to the headlights. The decline of some species has reached 90% and they are the lucky ones; others are no longer with us. He is critical of some of the attempts to reverse the trends, explaining why he thinks that they don’t go far enough.

Frankly it is a worrying book; if we mess this up we don’t have another planet. 4.5 stars… (mehr)

This book crept up on me really slowly. I thought at first it was interesting - McCarthy writes well the personal and the political - both in ways that leave room for the reader to insert themselves. But as it developed I became more and more quietly drawn into understanding that I too, like the author, and I'm sure most human beings, had some very memorable moments orchestrated by nature and wonder, It felt good to give those moments a vocabulary. I also didn't hurt to be reading most of this book, laying on the side of Mam Tor, sheltering from the sun and wind, in the Peak District!… (mehr)

Michael McCarthys syfte här är att en sista gång hälsa på de vårens budbärare han upplever försvunnit ut ur människors liv: de som bor i staden kan inte längre glädjas över näktergalens sång, gökens galande, svalans flykt eller turturduvans kutter. De har måhända till och med glömt att sådana ting är njutbara, och de förstår knappt möjligheten att möta glädjen i en enkel sångares visslande.

Vad värre är: chansen försvinner till och med för de som annars borde få uppleva detta. Flyttfåglarna minskar i antal, till följd av klimatförändringar, ändrat markbruk, insektsgifter och invasiva arter. Snart kanske det inte finns några gökar kvar att spå ens framtid, inga svalor att agera barometrar, inga näktergalar att förvandla kvällen till något ur sång och saga.

Tid alltså att uppleva innan det är för sent. Jo, nog kommer fåglarna överleva, men mer marginaliserade, mer svårupptäckta. Bäst att söka dem nu, innan de pressas än hårdare. McCarty gör detta i sällskap med olika experter, han tar sig till de oaser som finns kvar där man fortfarande kan se grå flugsnappare, eller de flesta arterna i det brittiska beståndet av sångare, eller turturduvor. Han försöker beskriva det så vackert han bara kan (han är britt, så det blir lite väl mycket patos även när han försöker trycka det tillbaka). Det lyckas inte alltid helt väl, men känslan av glädje och spänning inför fåglarna framgår tydligt.

Farväl till göken läser man om man är intresserad av fåglar, av miljöförändring, eller bara det brittiska landskapet. Det är ingen lysande bok, men budskapet är angeläget.… (mehr)