As a European birder, the title of this book may at first seem slightly baffling; what exactly are Oystercatchers returning from? However, the eponymous bird is in fact the American Oystercatcher, a species which, following near catastrophic declines in recent years, has shown encouraging signs of recovery.

Of course, the reversal in fortunes enjoyed by this distinctive wader didn’t happen by chance. A great deal of work, and significant sums of money, went into halting a potentially precipitous crash. This rare win is one of sadly few true success stories in avian conservation.

Scott Weidensaul is a rightly respected name in American ornithological literature, and in his latest book he travels far and wide in search of projects and people that are making, or attempting to make, notable changes to the often-calamitous state of many of the world’s birds and habitats.

Scattered throughout the text, are the names of countless pioneering and inspiring people and organisations, doing all that they can to try to stem the tides of terminal decline. The author visits a suite of sites engaged in radical conservation work, from Sussex’s Knepp, to the mountains of Bulgaria, to Hawaii and the boreal forests of Canada, to North Atlantic seabird islands, and many more.

While there is certainly an air of optimism coursing through the narrative, often delivered with Weidensaul’s dry wit, I couldn’t help but be constantly reminded of why these remarkable attempts to reclaim nature were needed in the first place. The facts are often grim. We have relentlessly and wilfully destroyed so much, and now as we attempt to redress the balance, new challenges just keep coming – all of them the result of human activity. It really never ends. This book, despite the writer’s warm, enthusiastic and accessible style, is barely uplifting, yet conversely, its pages are filled with hope.

Reviewed by

Jon Carter