Diarist with open eyes

Press, 26 July 1986, Page 22

Diarist with open eyes

The Nature Diary. By Richard Adams. Viking/Penguin, 1985. 159 pp. $35. (Reviewed by Margaret Quigley)

“This,” writes the author of his own diary, "is not a catalogue of rare and seldom seen things, but an authentic day-to-day record made during a calendar year ... I simply wrote down what I saw or heard every day.” Those with specialised natural history qualifications will probably find this diary as simple as an ABC, but for those without specialised knowledge it should provide some gentle enjoyment and a spur to keener observation. The main virtue of the book is probably that it makes clear that on any day of the year those with eyes to see can find something to enjoy in nature. Richard Adams is of course fortunate in that in his new home on the Isle of Man he is surrounded by lovely countryside and interesting coasts, but during the year which this diary covers he managed to record natural delights in London, Copenhagen, Melbourne, and Sydney. Mostly, however, he tells of his walks

on the island with his Welsh collie, Tetter, and his observations cover a wide spectrum from snails to seals, and from stars to primroses. For a writer as experienced as Adams the style seems rather unimaginative and pedestrian (though there is one lovely flight of fancy when he imagines a conversation between Dr Johnson and Boswell on a modem jet aircraft) In comparison with the great writers of the English natural history tradition such as White and Jeffries, his observations lack the acutely described detail and lively comparisons which make their journals so vivid, but “A Nature Diary” is a gentle, pleasing and undemanding book. To quote Adams again on his own work — “Here, then, is my very ordinary nature diary. Anyone who finds it dull has a simple and pleasurable recourse — to keep his own.” If the book encourages some to follow the author’s example he will have increased their enjoyment in nature doubly. The book is attractively illustrated by John Lawrence.