Looking for the Goshawk

One of the rather dubious advantages of being off colour for the last few weeks is the chance of catching up with a lot of reading instead of wasting my time birdwatching. One of my latest has been "Looking for the Goshawk" by Conor Mark Jameson and published by Bloomsbury.The author is an experienced wildlife writer and script writer and that comes across in this book. The looking part of the title is about right as the author spends more time looking for rather than at Goshawks a point most raptor watchers will be well familiar with.It was one of those books that I felt a bit sorry about when it finished and would think it would be a good read for all fans of birds of prey.No fancy photos just a book packed with interesting reading in one birders search for this wonderful bird. One interesting point comes up on one of the authors visits to the USA is that the hunters generally respect the raptors and their right to exist,maybe not an attitude expected from a country we tend to think of as gun crazy. Also they paragraphs on his visits to American raptor viewpoints may make a few of us a little jealous of the species seen.