Claxton: Field Notes from a Small Planet

In Mark Cocker’s new book, we see a return to his roots - the chronicling of life in a small and apparently unremarkable piece of countryside.The short essays in ‘Claxton’ were originally written for a variety of publications, notably ‘The Guardian’. Of these pieces, 140 have been assembled here (and some rewritten) to present a natural diary of the author’s home village and its surroundings.

These essays are not confined exclusively to the ‘home patch’. Here the net of experience is cast more widely, reaching Derbyshire, Cornwall, Scotland and even the desert fringe of Morocco. Even when away, though, one senses the presence of home and sudden connections with what has been left behind. The essay on Morocco finishes with an encounter with migrant Chiffchaffs, birds which, notes Cocker, will soon be “singing from the treetops in Claxton”. It is as though one has been jerked back home by a piece of elastic.

‘Claxton’ transcends mere natural history identification and recording, articulating the author’s aesthetic as well as scientific responses to his surroundings. And there is more here too. Some essays, such as those on the persecution of our native raptors and the (now shelved) plans to reintroduce White-tailed Eagles to East Anglia, are much more political in their stance. The overall result, therefore, is a well-balanced mix of art, science and advocacy.

This is, above all, a lyric and literary rather than a documentary endeavour. As we have come to expect from Cocker, this is beautifully-sculpted, elegant prose, clean and precise, never over-done.

I loved it.