Running Wild

At the age of 86, Mike Tomkies is back doing what he does best—observing Britain’s rarest and most dramatic wildlife, unsuspected and from close quarters, and writing about it with the kind of intimate detail that has earned high acclaim from critics and conservationists for many years. Within days of arriving back from five years of studying bears, wolves and lynx in Spain, he is up a cliff in Cornwall watching three peregrine falcon chicks from hatching to flying stage. We follow his astounding adventures over the next ten years as he obsessively searches all through Britain for that elusive 'small wild paradise' so many of us would also like to find. Transcending all are his new studies and descriptions of hunting and nesting golden eagles, during which he passed his 3,050th hour in one of his home-made 'invisible' hides, and a huge female allowed him to bring much-needed meat to her chicks in their eyrie. The book ends with the triumphant filming of magnificent white-tailed sea eagles on Mull, hunting and sailing into their high nest with prey and feeding their chicks. Running Wild is a real must for anyone interested in wild nature, and the profound experiences of a leading naturalist with rare major species. It will also be a magnet for all Mike Tomkies' loyal fans.