He was a wildlife guide in South America and Africa for more than a decade before, waking up to the enormity of the climate crisis, he vowed never to fly again. Mainly written as a diary of Acheson’s daily discoveries and sightings during 2020-2021 this format worked really well. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. It is a quiet book that celebrates these winter visitors and, at the same time, reveals something of the author and his approach to watching nature. What emerges is a sense of shared passion, and a shared responsibility for the future of these birds.

Having studied the arrival and departure of the Brent Geese for almost forty years I purchased this book with high expectations - particularly given the 'rave' reviews. In the UK he has worked on a huge range of projects for Norfolk Wildlife Trust, The Wildlife Trusts, Pensthorpe and others. In the preparation of his first book he cycled 1,200 miles on his mother's forty-two-year-old bicycle.Thank you very much to the publisher and NetGalley for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Nick has contributed to New Networks for Nature, Norwich Science Festival, British Bird and Wildlife Fair, Self-Isolating Bird Club, The Tree Council's Hedge Harmonies, and Oxford Real Farming Conference. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. Framed by living alone during lockdown, the narrative reveals a broader community of goose enthusiasts, drawn together by a fascination for these winter visitors, both common and rare. Nick has written for BBC Wildlife, British Birds, British Wildlife, The Guardian, The Big Issue, BTO News, The Countryman and numerous other publications.

During a time when many people faced the prospect of little work or human contact, Nick followed the pinkfeet and brent geese that filled the Norfolk skies and landscape as they flew in from Iceland and Siberia. Having worked in the wild landscapes and seascapes of every continent, Nick has huge experience of their biodiversity. Nick is proud to be an ambassador for Norfolk Wildlife Trust and Pensthorpe, a trustee of Pensthorpe Conservation Trust, a member of the steering group of New Networks for Nature, a patron of Felbeck Trust, and a recent president of Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society.But The Second Cut is as blackly comic as it is squalid and Welsh balances all the storylines with ease. The Meaning of Geese is a book of thrilling encounters with wildlife, of tired legs, punctured tyres and inhospitable weather. By November he has started to think like geese, to feel their overhead chatter vibrate in his chest. Chelsea Green Publishing is a 100% employee-owned leading publisher of books on the politics and practice of sustainable living. Above all, it is the story of Nick Acheson’s love for the land in which he was born and raised, and for the wild geese that fill it with sound and spectacle every winter.