The Running Hare: The Secret Life of Farmland
May 2016 · Random House
4.9star
7 reviewsreport
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304
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About this ebook
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'BRITAIN'S FINEST LIVING NATURE WRITER' - THE TIMES
The Sunday Times Bestseller - SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE 2017
Traditional ploughland is disappearing. Seven cornfield flowers have become extinct in the last twenty years. Once abundant, the corn bunting and the lapwing are on the Red List. The corncrake is all but extinct in England. And the hare is running for its life.
Written in exquisite prose, The Running Hare tells the story of the wild animals and plants that live in and under our ploughland, from the labouring microbes to the patrolling kestrel above the corn, from the linnet pecking at seeds to the seven-spot ladybird that eats the aphids that eat the crop. It recalls an era before open-roofed factories and silent, empty fields, recording the ongoing destruction of the unique, fragile, glorious ploughland that exists just down the village lane.
But it is also the story of ploughland through the eyes of man who took on a field and husbanded it in a natural, traditional way, restoring its fertility and wildlife, bringing back the old farmland flowers and animals. John Lewis Stempel demonstrates that it is still possible to create a place where the hare can rest safe.
Shortlisted for the Richard Jefferies Society White Horse Bookshop Prize 2016. John Lewis-Stempel was winner of the Thwaites Wainwright Prize 2015 for MEADOWLAND.
'BRITAIN'S FINEST LIVING NATURE WRITER' - THE TIMES
The Sunday Times Bestseller - SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE 2017
Traditional ploughland is disappearing. Seven cornfield flowers have become extinct in the last twenty years. Once abundant, the corn bunting and the lapwing are on the Red List. The corncrake is all but extinct in England. And the hare is running for its life.
Written in exquisite prose, The Running Hare tells the story of the wild animals and plants that live in and under our ploughland, from the labouring microbes to the patrolling kestrel above the corn, from the linnet pecking at seeds to the seven-spot ladybird that eats the aphids that eat the crop. It recalls an era before open-roofed factories and silent, empty fields, recording the ongoing destruction of the unique, fragile, glorious ploughland that exists just down the village lane.
But it is also the story of ploughland through the eyes of man who took on a field and husbanded it in a natural, traditional way, restoring its fertility and wildlife, bringing back the old farmland flowers and animals. John Lewis Stempel demonstrates that it is still possible to create a place where the hare can rest safe.
Shortlisted for the Richard Jefferies Society White Horse Bookshop Prize 2016. John Lewis-Stempel was winner of the Thwaites Wainwright Prize 2015 for MEADOWLAND.
Ratings and reviews
4.9
7 reviews
flashcracker1
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June 27, 2019
a most delightful book to read yet also sad with the realisation of how much plant and animal life we have lost in such a short space of time. I studied and also worked in agriculture in the early 1970's and modern practices must be held to account for most of these losses.
2 people found this review helpful
Michael S
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June 24, 2018
Not from a farming background, but a lover of the countryside. I found this
to be nostalgic, sad, yet uplifting as to what could be achieved. However
money will always win and farmers /landowners will always be governed by
the needs of the consumer (us) , to supply cheap food.
1 person found this review helpful
About the author
John Lewis-Stempel is a farmer and 'Britain's finest living nature writer' (The Times). His books include the Sunday Times bestsellers Woodston, The Running Hare and The Wood. He is the only person to have won the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing twice, with Meadowland and Where Poppies Blow. In 2016 he was named Magazine Columnist of the Year for his column in Country Life. He farms cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry. Traditionally.
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