Jeremy Mynott on birdscapes


Birding World called it “an absolutely fascinating book, exhaustively researched, beautifully written, both learned and humorous, and endlessly stimulating. . . . A book which informs and delights at first reading and will continue to be relished on subsequent re-readings”.

This is a newly edited version of an interview I recorded in Cambridge with Jeremy Mynott, the author of Birdscapes, from my archive.

In it he tells me “we have dream fantasies of flying, and birds are part of a third realm that we can’t quite enter – the realm of the air. Angels have wings, as birds do, and we project a great deal onto this power of flight. Birds are quick – they’re there one moment and away the next. They travel vast distances on their migrations. And I think that plays into the human imagination in literature, art and common human responses to birds.”

Jeremy’s interest in birds goes far beyond the academic; he’s been a keen birdwatcher for many years and we started our conversation with him explaining what motivates him to get up early in the morning to go out and experience the dawn chorus…