Birds as Individuals, Len Howard
Birds as Individuals, Len Howard
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Birds as Individuals

Author: Len Howard

Narrator: Jane Slavin

Unabridged: 8 hr 26 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/05/2024


Synopsis

Brought to you by Penguin.

Enter the secret lives of Britain's ordinary garden birds and the brilliant, unconventional woman who opened her doors to them.

In the late 1930s, Len Howard packed up her life in London, bought a plot of land in Sussex and built herself a little house there. This was to be Bird Cottage, a place where the doors of the house were open to the birds of the garden – great tits, blue tits, robins, blackbirds, willow warblers and many others. Len lived the rest of her life alongside her bird neighbours, with some sleeping in her bedroom and many flitting in and out all day long.

This is the book she wrote about the birds – a study not just of their behaviour but their individual personalities. We learn about their intelligence, emotional lives, and characters, their capacity for play and humour, the range of their song, their likes and dislikes, and their bond with Len.

Enchanting, life-enriching, revelatory and completely original, this is a gorgeous evocation of a life lived in intimate contact with nature and a book about birds unlike any other.

© Len Howard 2024 (P) Penguin Audio 2024

Reviews

Goodreads review by Francisca on May 14, 2025

Len Howard fue una ornitóloga amateur, naturalista y música británica, que estudió los pájaros de su jardín de una manera autodidacta y viviendo prácticamente aislada, con muy pocos vecinos a su alrededor. Los pájaros han sido y son uno de los aspectos más amables de la naturaleza. En ellos podemos......more

Goodreads review by Alonzo on August 10, 2021

Un libro muy cercano tanto al lector profesional de la ornitología como de quien no tiene peregrina idea del tema. La escritura y descripciones sinceras de Len Howard hacen de las aves que describe sujetos de admiración y de curiosidad más allá de toda posible taxonomía sobre las especies. Una de la......more

Goodreads review by Bea on November 01, 2025

Lo mejor de este libro es entender que Len Howard era una más para los pájaros que habitaban en su jardín. Es un gusto apreciar la intensidad con la que se sentía parte. Claramente no es un libro científico y contiene mucha antropomorfización, pero es apasionante leer a alguien que dedicó su tiempo......more

Goodreads review by Agnes on February 02, 2025

absolutely delightful. made me very happy. birds are so incredibly clever and as is len howard for being able to know these birds so intimately. she definitely was anthropomorphizing them but as she pointed out herself, she doesn't have another option when ornithological vocabulary either doesn't ex......more

Goodreads review by Odette on July 18, 2020

3,5* Interessante observaties over verschillende vogels, maar de toevoeging van ‘mijn’, alsof ze van haar zijn stond me tegen. Het is goed dat antropomorfisme benoemd als iets waar ornithologen schuldig aan zijn. Ze gaat er helaas wel laat op in, waardoor het los komt te staan van alles wat ervoor is......more