Diary of a Young Naturalist: Powerful, lyrical and wise observations

Diary of a Young Naturalist

Author: Dara McAnulty

ISBN-13: 9781908213792

Publisher: Little Toller

Guideline Price: £16

There are plenty of things for an author to worry about in the run-up to a book launch. But who would have imagined a global shutdown the scale of which means that not only are launches and readings cancelled, but that bookshops and even distributors would be closed down? Even worse if this is you first book. And worse still if, like Dara McAnulty, author of the Diary of a Young Naturalist, you have just turned 16. And yet his is a book which should transcend the current crisis.

McAnulty was born in 2004 in Northern Ireland. At the age of five he was diagnosed with autism, a spectrum condition he shares with his mother and both of his younger siblings. One of the virtues of the diary is the insights that it provides to autistic mindsets, and behaviours such as “stimming”.

From an early age McAnulty felt an intense affinity with the natural world, and was drawn towards activism. In 2017 he was awarded both BBC Springwatch’s Unsprung Hero Award, and a Birdwatch magazine Local Hero award. A year later he was awarded Animal Hero of the Year by the Daily Mirror, and became ambassador for the RSPCA and the iWill campaign; he was also a main speaker at the Extinction Rebellion Rally in Dublin.

Last year, McAnulty became a Young Ambassador for the Jane Goodall Institute, and received an RSPB medal for conservation – the youngest person ever to do so. He recently appeared in the BBC television series Chronicles of Erne, and his diary will be BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week beginning May 25th.

Diary of a Young Naturalist follows in a tradition spearheaded by the 2005 publication of Richard Mabey’s Nature Cure, a genre which overtly connects mental health and the natural world. McAnulty’s diary takes in a calendar year during the course of which he changed school and moved to a new neighbourhood.

The diary is divided into four seasons, beginning and ending on the spring equinox, and focuses specifically on how his close observation of the natural world has allowed him to navigate life as a neurodivergent person who has been subjected to serious bullying.

Is it ageist to expect a callow book from a young author? Any such expectations will be confounded by this wise, lyrical, and well-researched book.

And why will this diary transcend the current crisis? McAnulty’s way of experiencing the world, his candid enthusiasm, his powers of observation, his passion for nature – all are being rediscovered by a world population forced to stop short and take stock. As soon as Covid-19 restrictions were announced in Ireland, people swarmed to the parks, beaches, woods and mountains in such numbers that social distancing became impossible. We know instinctively where solace is to be found.

There's no need to isolate us teenagers by constantly berating our digital habits, and if you are going to, please check your own habits first

As McAnulty puts it: “My intense connection to the natural world does ease and alleviate...debilitating emotions. When I’m immersed in nature, I am less focused on myself and more aware of the other organisms around me. Trees, plants, birds – and fellow mammals, if we’re lucky. During these encounters we experience joy, and it is perhaps in these moments that I understand so clearly that we are all in a position to make sure that this magnificent beauty is cared for, protected. We are custodians.”

More quietness

His meditation on winter may be an apt metaphor for our current period of collective confinement: “Winter, for me, is now feeling like a time of growth, of contemplation, connection with our ancestors and those that have passed. Their stories, messages, artefacts. More darkness means more quietness in the evenings, when all that can be heard is the robin’s song, the rook, the jackdaw, raven or hooded crow, the distant squealing of gulls. I can hear so much more between.”

Post Covid-19, the issues of climate change and the Sixth Mass Extinction will remain. Reading this marvellous diary leaves me with the impression that whatever the future holds, with young people like McAnulty coming to the fore it will be in safer hands.

“There’s no need to isolate us teenagers by constantly berating our digital habits, and if you are going to, please check your own habits first. Instead, provide opportunity and space for us to explore, and give us an education system that acknowledges the natural world as our greatest teacher.”

The Diary of a Young Naturalist is published by Little Toller, a small company founded to revive interest in forgotten and classic books about nature and rural life. Little Toller has done McAnulty proud with this beautifully produced book, which features an arresting cover, tasteful black and white photographs, and a glossary. The book can be ordered directly from the publisher, and deserves a wide readership.