Shortlisted for the Saltire Society First Book of the Year Award

Red kites were once Britain's most common bird of prey. By the early 1900s they'd been wiped out in Scotland and England following centuries of ruthless persecution. When some reintroduced kites began roosting on their 1,400-acre farm at Argaty in Perthshire, Tom Bowser's parents, Lynn and Niall, decided to turn their estate into a safe haven. They began feeding the birds and invited the world to come and see them, learn about them and fall in love with them.

A Sky Full of Kites is the story of the Argaty Red Kite project, and the re-establishing of these magnificent raptors to Scotland, but it is also much more than that. Ill at ease with the traditional rural values of livestock farming, Lynn and Niall's son Tom, who returned to work on the farm after a career in journalism, reveals his passion for nature and his desire to dedicate his family's land to conservation.

About the Author

Tom Bowser grew up on his parents' Perthshire farm. After university he worked as a teacher and then as a journalist before returning to Argaty in 2009. In 2017 he took over the running of the conservation project Argaty Red Kites, and in 2018 launched the Argaty Red Squirrels project.

Reviews

'An inspirational real-life story'

* Scots Magazine *

'Imbued with the author's passion for nature, and his desire to dedicate his family's land to conservation'

* The Bookseller *

'This book has plenty to tell us about the birds... many of the best bits of this book are the historical references and the brief history of kites in literature and history'

* Scotland on Sunday *

'An environmental story that gives hope, a story of a bird that was extinct doing really well on an estate that's trying to promote a different way of doing things'

* Dundee Courier *

'A wonderful book'

-- Euan McIlwraith * BBC TV's Landward *

'The story of how a farm was turned into a private wildlife reserve....hopefully more farmers will start to see wildlife as an asset, as this farm did'

* Birdwatcher Magazine *


Awards
Short-listed for Saltire Society Scottish First Book of the Year 2022.



Book Information
ISBN 9781780277769
Author Tom Bowser
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint Birlinn Ltd
Publisher Birlinn General
Weight(grams) 252g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 20mm