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The life of an Exmoor stockman reads like bloody-knuckled rural noir

Through her interviews with the exuberant countryman ‘Tommy’ Collard, Catrina Davies provides a vivid picture of nature in the raw

15 April 2023

9:00 AM

15 April 2023

9:00 AM

Once Upon a Raven’s Nest: A Life on Exmoor in an Epoch of Change Catrina Davies

riverrun, pp.400, 18.99

British nature is having a moment, thanks to David Attenborough’s Wild Isles (BBC One). As ever, spring brings a crop of new nature writing, but you are unlikely to come across anything like Once Upon a Raven’s Nest. This is the story of the life of an Exmoor man – Hedley Ralph Collard, known as Tommy – and it reads like bloody-knuckled rural noir.

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