Awards

• Long-listed for THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR CONSERVATION 2025 (UK)

Overview

Nature Needs You tells the compelling story of how Hannah set out to save swifts from extinction in the UK. She launched her campaign from scratch, employing radical tactics to try to change the law and make ‘swift bricks’ mandatory to ensure that the birds who share our walls have a future in Britain. Nature Needs You delves into the highs and lows of trying to win hearts and minds, grab the news agenda with her naked Feather Speech, survive the trolling and midnight self-doubt and raise a petition with the requisite 100,000 signatures for a Parliamentary debate. At stake, with a decline in numbers of over 60% since 1995, are the birds that have become our symbol of summer, screaming in the skies above us. Steeped in love for the wild, Nature Needs You is a clarion call to save the nature on our doorsteps and prove that passion can be a superpower in bringing change to nature-depleted Britain. Inspirational, funny, self-deprecating and unstoppable in turn, this is nature writing that reads like a thriller. Hannah is now knocking at the door of the new Labour Secretary of State for Housing, in the hope that, where Rishi Sunak and Michael Gove failed, Angela Rayner will save our swifts.

Full Product Details

9781783968701

Table of Contents

Reviews

‘A voice for nature’ Emma Marsh, RSPB ‘A true mark of courage is the willingness to be vulnerable. Putting yourself on the line, nakedly so in Hannah’s case, is the mark of a young woman who faces the challenge of making nature count. Courage is not fatalistic, nor does it follow the crowd to bland acceptance, it is stepping up and standing out. I applaud Hannah’s book; her inner steel and her sassy take on conservation are inspiring. I am so heartened that there are courage-driven young women holding nature in the light so that it WILL be seen by the powerful.’ Mary Colwell, author of Curlew Moon ‘An inspirational book that screams with urgency, bravery, heartache and hope. By the end you'll be flocking to take swift action of your own to protect a world that needs us as much as we need it.’ Matt Gaw, author of In All Weathers   ‘Nature Needs You is the story of [Hannah Bourne-Taylor’s] impressive campaigning, but you may find yourself seething in frustration at the indifference of parliamentary representatives … This passionate book could be a primer for other would-be campaigners about the blockers they will face.’ Country Life ‘This book might make you scream. It is the story of a fight that started with a promise to a small bird. It is about bird spirit and the spirit of a very singular human. Hannah Bourne-Taylor has a searing eye for both truth and charlatans. It is candid, courageous, powerful and profound. It is also riveting and nothing short of revelatory. Hannah is a hero of our times who pitted herself against giants and the dark business of vested interests. In the process, she is shamed, humiliated, trolled, disappointed, and let down. She becomes ‘a pest’ buzzing in their ears, and hopefully their conscience, and thank god, she will continue to be one.‘ Keggie Carew, author of Beastly   ‘Hannah Bourne-Taylor is doing for swifts what Mary Colwell is doing for curlews. In a country where growth of consumption is the only game in town, we desperately need people like Hannah to call the governments and vested interests to account. A wonderful book that will make you furious, hopeful and inspired by turns. Buy it, read it and then become an activist yourself.’ Roger Morgan-Grenville, author of Shearwaters   ‘A compelling and powerful story of magnificent determination and love for the natural world. We need more people like Hannah.’ Lev Parikian ‘We save what we love. Reading Hannah’s story, compellingly told, you will fall in love with these increasingly endangered birds, true masters of the sky, and realise we must work together to save them.’ Jane Goodall, PhD, DBE, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute & UN Messenger of Peace 'A powerful inspiration for anyone concerned about the fate of our beautiful natural world'. Tony Juniper CBE, environmentalist ‘A fierce and inspiring ride. I loved its passion, seriousness and courage. Hannah is Nature’s suffragette and in time will be seen as one of the heroes of this struggle.’ Adam Nicolson, author of Bird School and The Sea Bird’s Cry ‘A passionate, eloquent polemic from a conservationist so attuned to the natural world that is singing and dying all around us’ Saga ‘[Hannah] is an engaging and impassioned communicator, and her rallying cry highlights the struggle of liaising with campaigners, lobbyists and politicians in a bid to effect meaningful change.’ The Observer Praise for Hannah Bourne-Taylor’s debut nature memoir Fledgling: ‘Intelligent, poetic and moving.’ THE OBSERVER ‘Thoughtful, entrancing and beguilingly honest’ WILLIAM BOYD ‘A story of hope, Fledgling gladdens the heart’ STEPHEN MOSS ‘A haunting and joyously immersive book’ RICHARD GIRLING ‘Heart-rending and heart-mending, Fledgling kindles a fierce fire and sense of protection for the wild’ JULIAN HOFFMAN ‘A tender, passionate and absorbing memoir, shot through with love for the natural world.' LEV PARIKIAN

Author Information

Hannah Bourne-Taylor is a conservationist, bird lover and author of the acclaimed nature memoir Fledgling (2022), described by The Observer as ‘intelligent, poetic and moving’. Dubbed ‘a voice for nature’ by the RSPB and with a loyal following on X for #firstbirdofmyday, Hannah is an award-winning nature-campaigner, named on the Ends Report green policymaking 2024 Power List. She lives in Oxfordshire with her husband and their two Ghanaian rescue dogs.

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