What I Read in July

 

In September 2019, Mr H and I started our own book blog; those posts are now merged with this blog, and in December 2019, I posted my very first quarterly reading round-up. I have continued to post quarterly summaries until this year, when I decided to switch to monthly posts.

Here is what I read in July 2026.

Tree Thing by Piers Torday 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
I finished this book in one sitting. Trees are something I feel so connected to so when I get to read pieces by people who also see and appreciate trees for the magical beings they are it just talks to my soul. Emotional, beautiful, thought provoking. 
I'm someone that always reads to the very last page, the acknowledgements are part of the story for me, and this one mentioned the Sycamore Gap tree. Need I say more?


Night Life: Exploring Britain’s Wild Landscapes after Dark by John Lewis-Stempel 🌟🌟
Ah it feels horrible to give any book less than three stars, especially a nature non-fiction, however this felt more like a Christian book than a Nature book. To me Mother Nature is God and while I genuinely believe that we are all free to believe in whatever brings us most comfort, I do not think religion should be so freely preached...especially in unexpected places. That inclusion so often, really took away from the whole point of the book for me.


Evenfall: The Golden Linnet by Alexander Armstrong 🌟🌟🌟🌟
It's a purposeful choice of mine to avoid reading books by celebrities or any other public figure, in an effort to seek out those true writers who don't get the same level of publicity (and tend to write better books in general, in my opinion). However, when Evenfall first came out I pre-ordered it purely from the inclusion of 'Linnet' in the title and a quick skim of the blurb without realising who Alexander Armstrong was. I did eventually click, but I won't hold it against him! 
This was a story reminiscent of fantastical series' from my childhood, with a mild level of threat that keeps you turning the page. The second book is on my shelves waiting its turn and I'm very much looking forward to it.

Lost Wonders: 10 Tales of Extinction from the 21st Century by Tom Lathan 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟[Audio]
My audio choice for July was a book that has been physically on my shelves for quite a while too. It was a beautiful and heartbreaking listen to which made me cry multiple times and I will go back and read the physical book again in the future. 


Turtle Moon by Hannah Gold 🌟🌟🌟🌟
So this feels a bit of a weird one because with Hannah Gold's previous three books I pre-ordered, read upon their release and loved. Then for some reason Turtle Moon sat on my bookcase right up until book five was announced. I personally highly disagree with the use and abuse of Huskies so it was disappointing to see someone who used their voice to stand up for animals suffering promoting dog sledding and that left me with a sour taste. I obviously did not buy The Lone Husky and ended up putting off Turtle Moon until now which really just spited myself. It was another heartfelt story that highlighted an animal in need of the spotlight and I really enjoyed it.


DragonBorn by Struan Murray 🌟🌟🌟🌟
When people say they like Dragons they mean Forth Wing and such. When I say I like Dragons I mean Eragon, The Last Dragon Chronicles and now DragonBorn! What a refreshing new fantasy series! I feel like for a first in a series it is so well fleshed out, with twists I didn't see coming and is a pretty original concept (at least as far as I can tell from my reading backlog). Again, this is another which I have the sequel to ready and waiting on the shelf!

Last year, I also had a stack of books that were laid out as daily, weekly or even monthly 'chapters'. This year, the stack is taller. I started six of those books in January, another three were added in February and I will rate and review them at the end of the year.

Year-Long Reads
Nature Writing for Every Day of the Year by Jane McMorland Hunter
Black History for Every Day of the Year by David Olusoga, Yinka Olusoga
Words for Life: To Boost Every Day of the Year by Susie Dent
Telling the Seasons: Stories, Celebrations and Folklore around the Year by Martin Maudsley
Urban Nature Every Day: Discover the Natural World on Your Doorstep Jane McMorland Hunter, Sally Hughes
Hettie Nettle's Handbook for Hedgewitches by Claire Barker
The Hidden Seasons: A Calendar of Nature's Clues and Signs by Tristan Gooley
The Wildlife Gardener's Almanac by Jackie Bennett

July Stats
July Pages - 1,360
Year-Long Reads Pages -  174
Total Pages - 1,534
Audio Listening Time - 10 hours 49 minutes 
Average Rating - 4

Birds I Met in July

We're into the seventh year of Birdy Round Ups, and compared to when I first started these posts, it would seem birding as a hobby in general has greatly increased in popularity. While it always feels a little strange when something I have loved for a long time becomes a 'trend', it's absolutely great that people are noticing and appreciating our beautiful wildlife more and more. They need as much help as they can get, and when people are more aware of who we share the planet with, it raises the chances of them getting that help.

As someone who has been a birder for around 22 years now, I vouch for the joy and peace that our bird kingdom brings. For what we get from them, we must give back. Feed the birds. Provide fresh water sources all year round (keep them topped up in Summer and the ice broken in Winter). Plant native trees, bushes, flowers - look into which are great food sources, shelter, etc. Resist the urge to sanitise your outdoor spaces (for example, leave the leaves, don't over-prune, try to keep things as wild as possible with as little concrete and such as possible). Give them space. Stop pets and children from chasing or scaring them, even more so in Winter when they need to conserve energy and taking flight takes a lot of their energy! Most importantly, just be kind. All species, from gulls and pigeons to birds of prey and 'game birds' like pheasants, are all equal and deserve to live a safe, healthy life.

Anyway! Here are all the beautiful birds I met in July.

5th July 2026
Swallow
House Sparrow
Garden Warbler (?)
Chaffinch

11th July 2026
Pigeon
Collared Dove
Magpie

19th July 2026
Swift

24th July 2026
Dunnock

27th July 2026
Wood Pigeon

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Annual Total
Avocet
Blackbird
Black-Headed Gull
Blue Tit
Bullfinch
Buzzard
Canada Goose
Carrion Crow
Chaffinch
Coal Tit

Collared Dove
Common Tern
Common Whitethroat
Coot
Cormorant
Dunnock
Eider
Fulmar
Gadwall
Garden Warbler


Goldcrest
Goldfinch
Great Black-Backed Gull
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Great Tit
Greenfinch
Greylag Goose
Grey Heron
Grey Wagtail
Herring Gull

House Sparrow
Jackdaw
Kestrel
Kittiwake
Lapwing
Linnet
Little Grebe
Long-Tailed Tit
Magpie
Mallard

Meadow Pipit
Moorhen
Mute Swan
Oystercatcher
Pheasant
Pied Wagtail
Pink-Footed Goose
Razorbill
Reed Bunting
Ring-necked Parakeet

Robin
Rock Dove
Rook
Sand Martin
Sedge Warbler
Shelduck
Shoveler
Siskin
Skylark
Sparrowhawk

Starling
Stock Dove
Swallow

Swift

Treecreeper 
Tufted Duck
Wood Pigeon

[& Greylag x Canada Goose Hybrid]

- 68

Monthly 'New' Totals
January - 28 birds
February - 8 birds 
March - 14 birds
April - 3 birds

May - 10 birds
June - 4 birds
July - 1

A bit of a disappointment for July! Especially as a month I expected to score some newbies. We had our long awaited camping trip booked for the beginning of the month but I unfortunately end up poorly and we had to travel home about 18 hours after arriving and so missed out on going to visit the Black Guillemots and more. 
I've also noticed a very obvious decline in birds, particularly small garden birds, around just now which is sad. 

Eclipse Day at the Hallow Household

 

12th August 2026, around 7pm, our view.

I have a weird take when it comes to things like the Eclipse and other natural world events that the general public become obsessed with en masse. Because, yes, you should be taking notices of the magical moments, but why this one and nothing else? Why were beaches and clifftops packed like a concert area to look at the sun, but not to marvel at a mid-Autumn sunset? It seems to be the 'limited edition' of it all - mark something as rare, uncommon, and then people will queue for hours to buy a pair of special glasses, pack a picnic and tear their eyes from their screens for an hour to be outdoors. 

We're lucky that the sun rises out the back of our house and sets out the front, so we have great views of the sky from our upstairs windows and so had the privilege of getting to watch the Eclipse from home. Well, attempt to. We didn't bother with glasses or homemade viewing devices, and I'd managed to see and photograph the partial eclipse in March 2015 with no problem, therefore wrongly assumed I would see this one too. It ended up that our Eclipse was more so dark clouds passing over the sun at the exact same moment, but we were still treat to a haunting darkening, beautiful patterns and some cloud iridescence. 

As a photographer, especially someone who documents life through daily photos and is so connected with Mother nature, it was of course slightly disappointing not to witness this enchanting Natural event in its fullest form, nor capture those prizes images. Where my disappointment is for my own future viewing of my photo books, many people seemed underwhelmed when they didn't get the perfect shot to share on social media...and I think that also ties back to why people normally not interested in Nature wanted to join the flock and stare skyward for that short time.

Anyway, here are a few images of our view during the 2026 Eclipse. 

Our Lughnasadh

 

After a wonderful Litha, I was looking forward to an equally enjoyable Lughnasadh. 
We'd planned to go for a walk once Mr H got home from work and have our meal outside, however life had other plans. Sadly that morning I woke up to find our beautiful Saga had passed away during the night and so we prioritised giving her the burial we have with all her sisters, Rura, Nyx and Calypso. 

Not only that but we had a call from our garage to say they had a pigeon for us. (Long story short, when picking up my car from it's MOT a day or two earlier we had tried and failed to get hold of a pigeon in need of help. They then returned to the garage asking for help.) So we had to go pick up this little pigeon, get them home and settled and work out a plan. 

With spirits low and motivation to do anything else absent, we sorted the pigeon and Saga, then had a slow day. Mr H made a lovely meal which we ate in the living room and watched comfort shows for the rest of the evening.

Our walk was rescheduled for the next morning, when heartbreak struck again and Saga's little friend Dan left us too. Another burial followed. Thank goodness for the wildlife who visited us while we said our sad goodbyes. 

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