The countryside – The Bell Bookshop

Bob the robin

Emma — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

‘When a robin appears, a loved one is near’

In 2019, Tony Putman was working as a gardener in Edenbridge, Kent, when he noticed a bold robin sitting on a branch of an old plum tree. The robin glanced in his direction as he approached, but he didn’t move, so Tony grabbed his camera and took a photo. This would be the first of hundreds of photos that Tony would take of Bob the robin – and the start of an extraordinary friendship that would last for years.

As Tony shared his pictures on his social media account, Putman and Robin, he witnessed an outpouring of love – not just for Bob, but for robins everywhere, who populate our gardens with song and movement even on the direst winter days.

In this book, Tony shares his touching journey with Bob, and tells the story of our unwavering affection for these magnificent creatures. This is an informative book about the life of a robin, as well as a beautiful love letter to these spirited and lively birds – who offer us a connection with nature, a moment of contact and a great source of comfort and joy.

Raising hare

Emma — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Imagine you could hold a baby hare and bottle-feed it. Imagine that it lived under your roof and lolloped around your bedroom at night, drumming on the duvet cover when it wanted your attention. Imagine that, over two years later, it still ran in from the fields when you called it and snoozed in your house for hours on end. This happened to me.

When lockdown led busy professional Chloe to leave the city and return to the countryside of her childhood, she never expected to find herself custodian of a newly born hare. Yet when she finds the creature, endangered, alone and no bigger than her palm, she is compelled to give it a chance at survival.

Raising Hare chronicles their journey together and the challenges of caring for the leveret and preparing for its return to the wild. We witness an extraordinary relationship between human and animal, rekindling our sense of awe towards nature and wildlife. This improbable bond of trust serves to remind us that the most remarkable experiences, inspiring the most hope, often arise when we least expect them.