Kevin Parr – författare

The ancient Celts lived by and worshipped the moon. While modern, digital life is often at odds with nature – rubbing against it rather than working in harmony with it – is there something to be said for embracing this ancient way of being and reconnecting to the moon’s natural calendar?January’s Quiet Moon reflects an air of melancholy, illuminating a midwinter of quiet menace; it was the time of the Dark Days for the ancient Celts, when the natural world balanced on a knife edge. By May, the Bright Moon brings happiness as time slows, mayflies cloud and elderflowers cascade. Nature approaches her peak during a summer of short nights and bright days – this was when the ancient Celts claimed their wives and celebrated Lugnasad. With the descent into winter comes the sadness of December’s Cold Moon. Trees stand bare and creatures shiver their way to shelter as the Dark Days creep in once more and the cycle restarts.In The Quiet Moon, Kevin Parr discovers that a year of moons has much to teach us about how to live in the world that surrounds us – and how being more in tune to the rhythms of nature, even in the cold and dark, can help ease the suffering mind.

‘It wasn’t just cats on the prowl. There were other animals that seemed too exotic or dangerous to go unnoticed and some were not simply surviving but thriving. Mammals such as the wild boar, once driven to extinction but now reestablished following escapes and illegal releases; a colony of yellow-tailed scorpions that have scuttled since Victorian times; wallabies, as far away from their native range as they could possibly get, bouncing around dale and moor … How exciting would it be to go and try to see some of them for myself?’Many are unaware that scorpions, Aesculapian snakes, eagle owls, wallabies and many more unusual non-native species are living and breeding in the British Isles – but here they are.In An Unnatural History of Britain nature writer Kevin Parr travels the length and breadth of the country seeking out these rare creatures and exploring the myths and folklore that have emerged around them along the way.

Rivers Run is a love letter to Britain’s rivers and waterways by well-known angler and naturalist Kevin Parr. On a journey around his favourite watery hideaways – such as the River Stour in Dorset, the Exe in Devon, the Avon in the Midlands and Parrs Pool in Shropshire – the author shares the thoughts and insights that bubble up while sitting peacefully by the riverside, watching the world go by and waiting for the fish to bite.Each river that he visits has played a central part in his own development as both an angler and a person, and reflects the ways in which landscape, wildlife and plants mirror the themes that flow through all our lives. Rivers Run is a delightful yet profound philosophical and poetic examination of water, of the fish that live within it, the nature that surrounds it and how human life is intrinsically linked to its flow.