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When writer Simon Barnes heard a Cetti's warbler sing out as he turned up to look at a house for sale, he knew immediately that he had found his new home. The fact that his garden backed onto an area of marshy land only increased the possibilities, but there was always the fear that it might end up in the wrong hands and be lost to development or intensive farming.

Simon Barnes is one of Britain's leading bird writers and humorists. His weekly column in The Times (London), his essays for the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) magazine, and his two books on bad bird-watching have made him one of the characters of the bird world.

Anyone who has ever gazed up at the sky or stared out of the window knows something about birds. In this fun, eye-opening and inspiring book, award-winning nature writer Simon Barnes paints a riveting picture of how birdwatching has framed his life and can help us all to a better understanding of our place on this planet. How to be a Bad Birdwatcher shows why birdwatching is not the preserve of twitchers, but one of the simplest, cheapest and most rewarding pastimes around.

Mammals you never knew existed will enter your world. Birds hidden in treetops will shed their cloak of anonymity. With a single movement of your hand you can make reptiles appear before you. Butterflies you never saw before will bring joy to every sunny day. Creatures of the darkness will enter your consciousness. And as you take on new techniques and a little new equipment, you will discover new creatures and, with them, new areas of yourself that had gone dormant. Once put to use, they wake up and start working again.

Self-confessed bad birdwatcher Simon Barnes thought he knew nothing about plants. He didn't object to them: trees are interesting, because birds perch in them; plants are useful as they create habitats and birds live in habitats. But while admiring the tenacity of some sea kale and yellow-horned poppy to thrive on an inhospitable shingle beach, he was struck by a truth - it all begins with plants. In this funny and inspiring book, Simon Barnes tells the story of a lifelong relationship with plants, and the realisation of the fact.

In the autumn of 2020, Simon Barnes should have been leading a safari in Zambia, but COVID restrictions meant his plans had to be put on hold. Instead, he embarked on the only voyage of discovery that was still open to him. He walked to a folding chair at the bottom of his garden, and sat down. His itinerary: to sit in that very same spot every day for a year and to see - and hear - what happened all around him. It would be a stationary garden safari; his year of sitting dangerously had begun.

This is an autobiography from which the author, award-winning writer Simon Barnes, has been surgically removed. He has reported on six World Cups, seven Olympic Games, cricket on five continents and more than 20 Wimbledons, watching Diego Maradona, Usain Bolt, Sachin Tendulkar and Roger Federer at their peaks. Along the way he had soul-revealing conversations with Ayrton Senna and sat on Desert Orchid.

No one would call David Rose - or ‘Rosie’ as he’s known to one and all - a star, but he’s good at his job and proud of his work as a sportswriter for a national newspaper. He’s used to seeing flashier talents come and go - both on the field, and in the competitive world of the press. Football comes first in the way he spends his working life, but he’s happy to pitch in whatever the sport - from Formula 1 to Test cricket in the West Indies, the Olympics to a heavyweight championship bout in Japan.

Den nittenårige Paul møder Susan Macleod en sommer i 60’erne, da han er hjemme fra universitetet for at besøge sin familie. Susan er otteogfyrre, selvsikker, ironisk og en gift mor til to næsten voksne døtre. Snart - og tilsyneladende uundgåeligt - bliver Paul og Susan elskere. Senere flytter de sammen til London for at slippe væk fra Pauls forældre og Susans voldelige mand. Årtier senere er Susan død, og Paul ser nu tilbage på deres liv sammen. Han husker forelskelsen, hvordan han befriede hende fra et dødt ægteskab, og hvordan - gradvist og nådesløst - det hele faldt fra hinanden.