LOCAL author, Jane Russ, has published another book in her British wildlife series, this time focusing on the robin.
This book has also been selected as the Books Council of Wales’ Book of the Month for December, distributing it to all independent book shops in Wales.
“I feel pretty chuffed,” Jane told White Horse News “although I was a bit anxious on the run up to its release as it was touch and go as to whether I would have stock for my first book signing in Chepstow, as the book was late, but luckily it made it in time!
“The thing about the robin, which is one of the reasons why I decided to write about them, is that they have such a connection to humans. If you speak to people about the robin they say ‘when my mother died, there was a robin that visited the garden every day’. There is a very definite connection and when I started looking in to it, it was absolutely fabulous. Everybody has a tale to tell. The fact that in winter, you look out and everything is cold and grey, but there are always robins out there having a song, which is lovely.
“One of the most fascinating things I found out during my research for this book, which many people don’t know, is that robins are migratory. They don’t all migrate, it’s usually females or young males without territory, but they can migrate to France, Spain – anywhere a bit warmer really.
“My research for this book started with David Lack’s seminal book ‘The Life of the Robin’, published in 1943, and I have greatly enjoyed it.
“I’m absolutely thrilled with it, it looks so good. The book council thing was an added extra and my publishers, Graffeg, were very excited about that.
“Now i’ll be on to the next one, writing about the 10 different native ponies!”
To get a copy of ‘The Robin Book’, just in time for Christmas, visit: https://www.graffeg.com/ product/the-robin-book/.
