New book by local author - The Cuckoo Calls the Year

By Lydia Unwin
Contributor
Published 24th Jun 2025, 11:17 GMT
Updated 24th Jun 2025, 13:44 GMT
The Cuckoo Calls the Year, Out now available online or from your local bookshops (2025)placeholder image
The Cuckoo Calls the Year, Out now available online or from your local bookshops (2025)

A new book by local author Pete Stroh celebrates the wildlife found closer to home as he explores and documents what he sees over the course of a year in Northamptonshire. The results are both uplifting and surprising...

After working as a botanist and natural historian for more than 25 years, walking the countryside had almost imperceptibly turned into a disheartening endeavour for Pete Stroh. He found himself resting at viewpoints and contemplating how much better it would be if a pasture had not been drenched with herbicide, if a woodland had not been planted up with regimented lines of conifer crops, if an arable field could every so often not be ploughed right up to the bloody roots of the hedgerow…

So he decided that in writing this book, he would wander within the boundaries of the parish where he lives, record weekly what he actually saw, and restrict grumblings to a minimum, to observe rather than judge. This, he writes, took a bit of getting used to but proved ultimately to be a liberating and unexpected experience.

The result is this uplifting and positive book showing the surprising abundance of nature, given half a chance.

Pete Stroh is an accidental botanist who has worked professionally in the field of natural history for the past 25 years. He is the author of numerous scientific papers, is a regular contributor to British Wildlife magazine, and has published several books about the flora of our Isles, including Grassland plants of the British and Irish lowlands, Threatened Plants in Britain & Ireland, and Plant Atlas 2020. Originally hailing from south Devon, he has been based in the north of Northamptonshire since the turn of the century following a largely bohemian existence in Scotland for much of the 1990s, when amongst other things he worked in a record shop, ventured up munros, frequented late-night bakeries, and lived for a time with ospreys.placeholder image
Pete Stroh is an accidental botanist who has worked professionally in the field of natural history for the past 25 years. He is the author of numerous scientific papers, is a regular contributor to British Wildlife magazine, and has published several books about the flora of our Isles, including Grassland plants of the British and Irish lowlands, Threatened Plants in Britain & Ireland, and Plant Atlas 2020. Originally hailing from south Devon, he has been based in the north of Northamptonshire since the turn of the century following a largely bohemian existence in Scotland for much of the 1990s, when amongst other things he worked in a record shop, ventured up munros, frequented late-night bakeries, and lived for a time with ospreys.

Professional botanist Peter Stroh decides to explore within his local parish boundaries for wildlife and flora over a year, but instead of grumbling at what is missing he determines to look at what he actually finds. His writing about his weekly meanders is highly engaging and the results he finds on his doorstep are a surprising delight.

Related topics:Northamptonshire
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