Otterly wonderful

No pictures today but I wanted to report on 3 books I have read over the last 12 months.

A while ago now I caught the tail end of a TV programme called The River, filmed by Charlie Hamilton-James. I discovered that his wife, Philippa Forrester had written a book on the making of the film. PF describes her book as "A Love Story, a New Life in the Country, and One Idyllic Year Filming Otters". That's about right and it is an enjoyable read but not a classic.

What it did do however was to inspire me to read, for the first time, Tarka the Otter. Now I guess most English people learn about Tarka at some stage in their school years but most, like me, never read the book. Pleased do so. It is just wonderful prose. It is one of the most graphic stories I have ever read. You can smell, feel, almost touch the characters and sites. It is a joy to absorb Williamson's writing. It lifts you up and makes you yearn to be out, looking for otters. The story follows Tarka from birth to death with all its ups and downs. If you have any feel at all for natural history and wildlife this is guaranteed to ignite the flame and get you into the field.

From Tarka it was a short step to Ring of Bright Water by Gavin Maxwell. There is alo a film available on DVD, starring the lovely Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers. This is autobiographical and tells the story of how Maxwell took a remote Scottish croft and settled there with first 'Mij' and later 'Edal', both wonderful otters of a character that is both captivating and enchanting. It is hard not to feel that everyone should have an otter at home. Better than cats or dogs, infinitely preferable to mice, birds or reptiles, bunnies or tortoises, otters can be taken for a walk if so inclined but essentially are free living spirits that love to roam, swim and chatter. I'm not sure how many homes have the facilities necessary to allow an otter its daily swim. Nor how many could provide a supply of live eels, an otters favorite diet it seems.

Apart from the horror of Mij's demise - how can man be so cruel - there is nothing here but sheer fun and magic. It is not too anthropomorphic, thank goodness, and Maxwell is alert to the danger of becoming so. I learned too that Maxwell had travelled with Wilfred Thesiger, a man, who has always interested me. And this is how my reading develops. I'm sure that after finishing parts 2 and 3 of Maxwell's trilogy I will re-read some of Thesiger's work. WT is a man I'm sure would have been great to have round the dinner table for his conversation.

Williamson, Maxwell and Thesiger have all shuffled off this mortal coil but young Hamilton-James and Ms Forrester are still with us. Although I love reading and take my own photo or two I am also a sucker for great natural history films and some of the output today is stunningly good. So if anybody knows how I can get a copy of the programme, The River, please let me know. I've read the book, its time to see the film.