Cruelly beautiful and brutally exact, it sees the countryside anew to give us nature in the wild and in the raw.’ The Scotsman Baker's poetic prose has a hard intensity and an exquisite lyric grace that takes it far beyond the stereotypical stuff of larks ascending and questing voles. ‘… what is certain is that The Peregrine is the most precise and poetic account of a bird – possibly of any non-human creature – ever written in English prose.’ Daily Telegraph ‘A rapt and remarkable book … his phrases have a magnesium-flare intensity.’ Observer ‘A tour de force … what can I do except praise writing which involves all the senses? This book goes altogether outside the bird-book into literature.’ The Sunday Times ‘… some of the most marvellous prose of the twentieth century.’ Literary Review

‘The Peregrine should be known as one of the finest works on nature ever written' BBC Wildlife ‘… a literary masterpiece, one of the 20th century’s outstanding examples of nature writing.’ Independent ‘…an inspiring example to future writers, and a gift to lovers of nature.’ The Times Literary Supplement ‘Passionately fierce but also wonderfully tender’ Andrew Motion I would recommend to anybody who loves the English language, let alone birds of prey’ Monty Don, Financial Times ‘A masterpiece of natural history writing. This new edition of the timeless classic, published to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its first publication, features an afterword by one of the book’s greatest admirers, Robert Macfarlane. Baker spent long winters looking and writing about the visitors from the uplands – peregrines that spend the winter hunting the huge flocks of pigeons and waders that share the desolate landscape with them. Luminaries such as Ted Hughes, Barry Lopez and Andrew Motion have cited it as one of the most important books in twentieth-century nature writing.ĭespite the association of peregrines with the wild, outer reaches of the British Isles, The Peregrine is set on the flat marshes of the Essex coast, where J. Greeted with acclaim, it went on to win the Duff Cooper Prize, the pre-eminent literary prize of the time. Baker’s extraordinary classic of British nature writing was first published in 1967.

Baker’s extraordinary classic of British nature writing, with an exclusive new afterword by Robert Macfarlane.

The Peregrine by J.A. Baker