Len Howard – författare

Brought to you by Penguin.Enter the secret lives of Britain''s ordinary garden birds and the brilliant, unconventional woman who opened her doors to them.In the late 1930s, Len Howard packed up her life in London, bought a plot of land in Sussex and built herself a little house there. This was to be Bird Cottage, a place where the doors of the house were open to the birds of the garden – great tits, blue tits, robins, blackbirds, willow warblers and many others. Len lived the rest of her life alongside her bird neighbours, with some sleeping in her bedroom and many flitting in and out all day long.This is the book she wrote about the birds – a study not just of their behaviour but their individual personalities. We learn about their intelligence, emotional lives, and characters, their capacity for play and humour, the range of their song, their likes and dislikes, and their bond with Len.Enchanting, life-enriching, revelatory and completely original, this is a gorgeous evocation of a life lived in intimate contact with nature and a book about birds unlike any other.© Len Howard 2024 (P) Penguin Audio 2024

Brought to you by Penguin.Following the success of Birds as Individuals, Len Howard spent the 1950s continuing to deepen her understanding of the birds in her garden.This book tells the story of one exceptional great tit that Len called Star. With patience, consistency and sensitivity, Len succeeds in teaching this little bird to count using taps. Star''s character and intelligence is revealed in this intimate bird biography, unlike any told before. In opening her home to wild birds, Len gains their trust enough to make astonishing discoveries about their capabilities.Full of joy and wonder, as well as deep knowledge and fascinating detail, Living with Birds also takes in the story of a lame fledgling, tales of great tit parents and their babies, observations of migrant birds, and how exactly Len succeeded in developing such unusual relationships with wild birds.''Howard seems to have stood on the brink of communication with a wild bird, something till now hardly conceivable...awe-inspiring'' Observer© Len Howard 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025