Book review: Birds in a cage

I make no excuse for bringing this back to the fore.  I have just finished reading this and a delightful book it is.

You could be forgiven for thinking that a book about Prisoners of War could be either a bit maudlin or a rather discomforting read but nothing could be further from the truth.  I was impressed that at times of discomfort, violence and separation from family these men could find a focus in not just birdwatching but improving their knowledge and then the knowledge of others to the point of becoming some of the foremost ornithologists of the post war generation.

I was also rather surprised about the contact that existed between these men and the outside world through letters.  Buxton was able to send home for copies of bird publications and even publish his poetry whilst Waterston managed to get his mediterranean bird sightings into a German journal, these sightings having been taken down whilst fighting them in the first place.

It shows what local patch birding can achieve even if it is an enforced patch with the walk being 300 yards, turn right, 300 yards. turn right and so on.  What appears to have been the most difficult was convincing the guards that your map of breeding territory was not an escape route.

These men emerged changed as you would expect but with well established ideas that they later fulfilled on Bird Observatories and sufficient data to fill books, 'The Redstart' by John Buxton being the obvious example.

I did have the pleasure of meeting John Buxton when I dealt with a road accident as a young Police Officer.  Our conversation was more about birds than road accidents but I found him very knowledgeable and a pleasure to deal with.  I would have been even more impressed had I read this book before that meeting.