The Worshipful Companies

Images and Poems from the Norfolk Coast

The Worshipful Companies is a sparkling mixture of poetry, prose and colour photography about wildlife you find at the north Norfolk Coast. An enchanting souvenir and gift such that all may bring a bit of Norfolk home. This is the second in the series of Encounters with Norfolk Wildlife. The first volume is Rings in the Shingle which can be purchased here.

Author: Stuart Medland
Publisher: Brambleby Books
Year of Publication: 19 December 2018
Format and Pages: Hardback, 112pp
ISBN: 9781908241603
Retail Price: £28
Our Discount Price: £22

Sample text from The Worshipful Companies

Gilded Curlew

How the purpose, striding,

creek-light bouncing from the eye.

How the gown, mud-fabricated,

gold and silver threaded

with the last-glance sun, how

Navigating at the end of callipers to

measure and to mark upon a

mind-map of his own, the gentle,

saucer-shallow, soft-suck,

World-without-an-end horizons.

How the purpose, striding.

Beaks extraordinaire

Thirteen Spoonbills this day at the pool and,

at their masters’ feet, two dozen Avocets

with half and half again of only late-apprenticed

summer-sozzled Godwits –

One reflection sleeping-off another:

Fire-tong, steam-press-stamp utensils,

upsy-daisy sewing sailing needles,

finger-licking, dead-eye drills

to pump the mud – all

Smoothing out and skinning,

puncturing the soon-as-maybe,

closing-over, shoehorn shine.

Dunlin Nappin’

Keeps the wide world ticking over

with the one eye open for a moment,

closed – whilst holding me at bay

in our best interests, assigning me a

squint-that-dares-me distance as he

wobbles on a single leg with shuffleshifting

all his feathers once again –

to drop them into place – so hardly

bothered to be bothered by this

slack-jaw saltmarsh bluster wind.

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Reviews and readers' comments

This is a lovely book to flick through. It is well presented and it scores highly on originality, as a very personal set of ideas and thoughts. It will, I think, best suit the more reflective types who are interested in how others see birds and the connections they can inspire in our minds. If you simply want a book about birds in Norfolk, describing their behaviour and where you might expect to find them, this may not be for you. But if you have a log fire, a spare winter evening and half a bottle of red wine, this is perhaps the perfect complement. - Ian Carter, Mark Avery's Blog, https://markavery.info/2019/02/10/sunday-book-review-the-worshipful-companies-by-stuart-medland/

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