BIRDSONG AND BUTTERFLIES IN SOMERSET

BOOK

SKYLARKS WITH ROSIE - A SOMERSET SPRING

BY STEPHEN MOSS, SARABAND, £12.99 (HB)

Last spring was the UK’s sunniest on record, but the glorious weather coincided with the grimmest period in our history since the Second World War. To cope, many found solace in nature. Moss remarks wryly that even his three teenage children left their bedrooms and experienced some unaccustomed doses of fresh air. But was there really more wildlife about, as many of us felt, or were we just better at noticing?

This short but sweet book explores these themes, as the bestselling author watches spring unfold around his home in the Somerset Levels, from the March equinox to the June solstice.

This isn’t the first such diary of 2020’s coronavirus spring: The Consolation of Nature by Michael McCarthy, Jeremy Mynott and Peter Marren (published by Hodder & Stoughton) – also excellent – came out last year. Like those observers, Moss is struck by how “the