But The Second Cut is as blackly comic as it is squalid and Welsh balances all the storylines with ease. While mainly fact and information focused there are some beautifully written lines throughout this and it’s a book that’s easy to read through in just a couple of sittings. Over seven months, Nick cycles over 1,200 miles—the exact length of the pinkfeet's migration to Iceland.

For WWF and other conservation NGOs, he worked with indigenous communities and national parks to develop ecotourism and sustainability projects. I saw Nick chairing a discussion at the Gathering Festival at Wild Ken Hill last year, and when I saw he had his first book coming out I was desperate to read it. 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. In the preparation of his first book he cycled 1,200 miles on his mother's forty-two-year-old bicycle.

Over seven months Nick cycles over 1,200 miles – the exact length of the pinkfeet’s migration to Iceland. His book is an intimate diary of his sightings and his experiences with the geese-loving communities he met along the way. He meticulously details the geese’s arrival, observing what they mean to his beloved Norfolk and the role they play in local people’s lives – and what role the birds could play in our changing world. As two Sherpas ponder what to do next, their predicament triggers Daniell’s brilliantly tangential excursions into their state of mind, personal histories and aspirations.

Next time I'm birdwatching in Norfolk, I'll be looking a little more closely at the various species of geese, and wondering where they've been, and where they're going. What emerges is a sense of shared passion, and a shared responsibility for the future of these birds.Superbly translated by Jennifer Croft – the description of the quiet, injured man “lying Britishly on the mountain” is wonderful – this book becomes a viewpoint from which we can see the whole world. This was indeed to be a low-carbon initiative, undertaken on his mother’s 40-year-old red bicycle and spanning September 2021 to the start of the following spring. He meticulously details the geese's arrival, observing what they mean to his beloved Norfolk and the role they play in local people's lives—and what role the birds could play in our changing world.