Roger Morgan-Grenville’s part nature memoir, Shearwater, In conversation with Emily Jeffery

Ten weeks into its life, a Manx shearwater chick will emerge from its burrow and fly 8,000 miles from the west coast of the British Isles to the South Atlantic. It will be unlikely to touch land again for four years.

Part memoir, part homage to wilderness, Shearwater traces Roger Morgan-Grenville’s 50-year obsession with one of nature’s supreme travellers. In the tradition of nature writing, Roger Morgan-Grenville unpicks the science behind its incredible journey; and into the story of a year in the shearwater’s life, he threads the influence of his Hebridean grandmother who instilled in him a love of wild places and wild animals.

Roger Morgan-Grenville was a soldier from 1978–86 and later helped to set up the charity Help for Heroes, acting as its first head fundraiser. His book in conversation on the 5th of November with Emily Jeffery.