A glorious wildflower resurgence, Hereford cows roaming a Cotswold farm, and the largest man-made forest in England are some of the biodiversity restoration projects highlighted in Across A Waking Land: A 1,000-Mile Walk Through a British Spring. It is the entertaining account of acclaimed nature writer Roger Morgan-Grenville's epic eight-week trek from the south of England to the northwestern tip of Scotland in 2022. Based on the premise that species loss is our most urgent existential dilemma, more so even than climate change, Morgan-Grenville (Liquid Gold) set out on foot to understand for himself the extent of the crisis and visit inspiring projects around the country where farmers, scientists, and volunteers are working to reverse the trend of rapid species extinction through renaturing projects. Among the surprising details he learns while crossing grasslands, urban settlements, river systems, and ancient woodland is that botanists are going extinct at an even faster rate than birds, because fewer and fewer young people are studying botany and zoology.
Morgan-Grenville is a lyrical storyteller, his writing infused with humor; at one point he observes wryly that "[a]bandoned poo bags are the way-markers of my walk, inelegant signatures left behind by modern dog owners." His exuberance at the birdsong that defines his walk and the sublime beauty of spring's bounty makes for joyful reading and a treat for armchair naturalists everywhere. Across a Waking Land offers a nuanced, firsthand understanding of how modern agriculture has caused species loss and gives readers an opportunity to marvel at "the rubber-ball resilience of nature if and when we stop messing her around." --Shahina Piyarali, reviewer