The Meaning of Geese

• 3rd place in Best Bird Book of the Year 2023

Migratory geese fall into that group of species that have an accompanying cultural resonance because their arrivals and departures mark the changing seasons. This resonance is particularly strong for those birdwatchers, and others, who are rooted within the landscapes touched by these birds on their long migratory journeys. Nick Acheson is one such individual, and the significance of the pinks, brents and white-fronts that winter in his north Norfolk landscape is evident from his engaging and beautifully delivered text.

Billed as ‘one man’s thousand-mile journey … on an old red bicycle in search of wild geese’ The Meaning of Geese delivers so much more than this. Framed by living alone during lockdown, the narrative reveals a broader community of goose enthusiasts, drawn together by a fascination for these winter visitors, both common and rare.

The community includes some who watch the birds for recreation and others for whom this is a professional (ecological) relationship; then there are the landowners and tenant farmers who host the vast flocks, and the wildfowlers who take sport from them. What emerges is a sense of shared passion, and a shared responsibility for the future of these birds.

Equally evident from the text is Nick’s depth of knowledge, of the geese and the other wildlife portrayed in this book, but also of the landscape in which he was born and raised. Although the author’s encounters are presented through a season of watching geese, and made possible through the miles cycled on an ancient bicycle, don’t expect this to be your typical quest-based nature writing; it is much more than that. It is a quiet book that celebrates these winter visitors and, at the same time, reveals something of the author and his approach to watching nature. There is much that we, as readers and birdwatchers, can learn from such an account.

Book reviewed by Mike Toms