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Through a lifetime of biological and seabird research, Michael Brooke has been blessed with the opportunity to visit a huge array of islands dotted across all the oceans of the world. His is an island list fit to make the armchair traveller green with envy – and potentially seasick. Truly no island has been too far: from St Kilda to Spitsbergen, from Hawaii to the furthest reaches of the Southern Ocean, with all manner of destinations in between.
In this deeply knowledgeable and at times humorous book, the author shares the experience of stupendous scenery, amazing wildlife and cutting-edge scientific investigation, all blended with idiosyncratic adventures. We discover a great deal about the peculiar ecology and unique species of islands, looking at everything from plants, mammals, reptiles and birds to human aspects, with a splash of history and anecdote.
The engaging journey will appeal to anyone who wants to learn about islands that they will probably never visit in person. The reader will share the day-to-day grind and exhilaration of undertaking fieldwork in remote situations, and reflect on the curious mindset that enables equal pleasure to be extracted from, say, Sicilian architecture and the inexpressibly brown landscapes of Cabo Verde.
There a great deal to enjoy, it’s my biographical book of the year so far.
— Bo Beolens
After completing an Oxford doctoral thesis on the burrow-nesting seabirds of the Welsh island of Skokholm, Michael Brooke has been linked to the University of Cambridge as a teacher, curator and researcher. He has scoured islands across the world, both near and immensely far, to discover more about the lives of seabirds, enduring discomfort and rejoicing in quirky adventures. As well as scientific papers, he has written widely for magazines and national newspapers and authored several books, including the acclaimed Far from Land.
Introduction: A Royal Connection
FIRST ISLANDS
1. Fair Isle
2. Akerøya, Oslo Fjord, Norway
3. Bear Island
4. Spitsbergen
OUTER HEBRIDES AND BEYOND: A HALF-CENTURY OF PUFFINS
5. Shiants, Minch, Outer Hebrides
6. St Kilda
7. Faeroes
FIRST ISLAND POSTINGS
8. Skokholm, Pembrokeshire, Wales
9. Cousin Island, Seychelles
10. Skomer, Pembrokeshire, Wales
11. Iceland
FAR SOUTH
12. Marion Island, Southern Ocean
13. Juan Fernández archipelago (Islas Robinson Crusoe and Alejandro Selkirk)
14. Gough Island, Southern Ocean
15. Nightingale and Tristan da Cunha
16. Bouvet Island, Furious Fifties, Southern Ocean
17. South Sandwich Islands, Furious Fifties, Southern Ocean
PITCAIRN ISLANDS, SOUTH PACIFIC
18. Pitcairn
19. Oeno
20. Ducie
21. Henderson
22. Tahiti
23. The Marquesas and Tuamotus
IN PURSUIT OF PETRELS
24. Réunion, Indian Ocean
25. Round Island, Mauritius, Indian Ocean
26. Hawaii
27. Falklands, South Atlantic
28. Madeira
THE CAPE VERDES, TROPICAL ATLANTIC, OVER TWENTY YEARS
29. São Nicolau
30. Raso
31. Fogo
SINGING FOR MY SUPPER
32. Cocos Island, Eastern Pacific
33. Galápagos, Eastern Pacific
34. Ascension, Tropical Atlantic
35. Sri Lanka
36. Madagascar
37. Vancouver Island
38. Borneo
39. Isla Natividad, Baja California
BECAUSE THEY ARE THERE
40. Easter Island, South Pacific
41. Lord Howe Island, Tasman Sea
42. Stewart Island, South of New Zealand
43. Sicily
SCOTLAND IN MAY
44. North Rona to Jura
45. Orkney
RETURN TO JUAN FERNÁNDEZ: THE COVID YEARS
46. Isla Alejandro Selkirk, Juan Fernández Islands
Afterword
List of species mentioned in the text