Rob Cowen

I share Common Ground with Rob Cowen. I lived, as he does now, in Bilton, Harrogate for getting on for 10 years. The edge lands of the Bilton Triangle were my back yard, as they are his. And so this is why I read his book. At first I found it a tricky read - a little overwritten, I thought. Gradually however, this book of nature writing, of memoir, of local history won me over. I loved how he brought themes together under separate chapters which were each primarily about some different inhabitant of the edge land: a fox, a badger, a mayfly and so on. Where he became anthropomorphic, as in his description of a mediaeval stag hunt, I lost some patience, finding such passages simply self-indulgent. I was uncomfortable with his attributing feelings, mannerisms to people not long dead, such as Bilton Conservation Group member Bill Varley, and - not that it perhaps mattered - I wasn't always sure which of his tales were fact, which fiction.

The Bilton Triangle is in the news again, as once more politicians try to make the case for running a major a ringroad through this precious wild are so near to Harrogate. They should read this book.… (more)

Common Ground: One of Britain’s Favourite Nature Books as featured on BBC’s Winterwatch - Robert Cowan **

I really love nature books, especially those where the author lives in the environment and observes the changing of the seasons, so when I came across Common Ground it seemed the perfect book to read in the midst of the UK winter as we wait for the first warmth of spring to wake nature. I had hoped to find an almost diary of the changing woodlands and based on actual fact, and the reviews seemed to support this. However, it wasn't quite what I expected and therefore I didn't enjoy as much as I thought I would.

Rob Cowan and relocated following a redundancy, his partner is pregnant and he senses a depression starting to come over him. To try and escape he decides to explore the 'edge lands', those areas on the outskirts of the urban landscape - not quite wilderness but far enough away for nature to still have a foothold. As he becomes more at one with the wildlife he notices things that the casual wanderer would miss. Coupled with the development of his partners pregnancy it is these experiences that fill the pages.

I just didn't like the book. I accept that I am in the minority but it was definitely not what I was expecting. For a start I felt like the author was just trying too hard to come across as intelligent and ended up being long winded. It felt as if he wanted you to be aware of his vast vocabulary and it didn't matter if he used twenty words when 6 would do. I wondered if maybe he was a Guardian columnist? My other big issue was that I wanted a truthful account of the animals he came across, no matter how tedious or mundane, for me that is the magic of the nature observation books. Instead we get the author making up his own history and backgrounds, he writes how the fox lived, how it's parents were killed, the routes it takes when not in the woods and the narrow escapes that allow it to narrowly survive. Why? The author doesn't know any of this? If I had wanted an semi anthropomorphic tale I would have picked a Henry Williamson novel and enjoyed it a great deal more.

If I had to describe the book? Well researched, wordy, fictional and self indulgent.… (more)

Life has a habit of throwing curve balls at you. Cowen has relocated to Yorkshire, has just been made redundant and is confined by the weather to home. Longing for fresh air, sky and space, but not sure of the lie of the land, he ventures out to find somewhere.

And on the fringe of a housing estate, he finds it. It is a forgotten area, frequented only by dog walkers and people who hurry through; a piece of land that isn’t wilderness, but feels wild and untamed, unloved and uncared for. Pylons pierce the sky, surrounding this edgeland, reminding you that precious little of the land in the UK is untouched by human hands.

And it is in this place that he begins to feel free and to breathe again. Visiting frequently, almost obsessively, he begins to peel back the layers that form this place. With almost forensic level of detail of all he observes, from tracking a fox, the brevity of the mayfly life, the hunt from the perspective of the quarry and the silent, lethal owl.

Intertwined thought the books too is an honest account of his anxieties and thoughts on the modern world. He learns to that he is to become a father, and they process of creating a new life is deftly woven into the narrative as his partner grows with his child.

'I am dreaming of the edge-land again'

This is nature writing of the highest quality, on a par with some of the finest out there. It is imaginative, immersive, detailed and at certain points haunting. Cowen’s attention to detail is astonishing too, not just seeing, but making deep observations of all he sees, captivating to read. The inclusion of his personal life, gives further depth to the book, but the more novel creations, portraying a hare as someone in a coffee shop for example, really didn’t do anything for me, and jarred with the rest. But other than that, this was excellent.… (more)

The natural world is something that we have lost contact with in the past generation. There are many factors that have driven people away from this, but two of the main ones are technology and the fear of the great outdoors. It has been proven that lack of exposure to the natural world is affecting us in many ways.

In Skimming Stones and Other Ways of Being Wild, Cowen and Critchely have drawn together a set of simple activities that they are hoping will make us to get outside and interact with nature once again. Using lovely sketches as well as the text, they suggest a variety of things that you can do outdoors. From the very simple skimming stones and making a kite, to tracking animals, building dams, building a den for the night and fire lighting; these are straightforward ways of reconnecting you with the landscape and nature once again.

I had picked this up after reading Cowen’s recent book, Common Ground. Whilst I really enjoyed that book, this really didn’t have the same effect that that book did. I completely get the reason behind it, connecting people with the big wild world, combined with the exercise and fresh air is something that we all need to enrich the soul and the mind. And to be fair, this book does a good job suggesting twelve activities that people should be able to undertake, with clear details of how to do so. It is written in the same vein as the National Trust campaign, 50 things to do before you're 11¾, to get children to experience different things, and it is a book that would be suitable for those wary of nature, but it just felt a little too contrived in the end.… (more)