Birds in a Cage
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Narrated by:
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Derek Niemann
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By:
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Derek Niemann
About this listen
Birds in a Cage is the untold story of one of the most bizarre and enriching episodes in the history of British environmentalism.
At Warburg, Germany, in 1941, four British PoWs find an unexpected means of escape from the horrors of internment when they form a bird-watching society and embark on an obsessive quest behind barbed wire. Through their shared love of birds, they overcome hunger, hardship, fear and stultifying boredom. Their quest draws in not only their fellow prisoners but also some of the German guards, at great risk to them all....
©2012 Derek Niemann (P)2018 Strathmore PublishingCritic reviews
"A wonderfully crafted hymn to the life-giving qualities of birds." (Simon Barnes)
"It’s a remarkable tale which is beautifully told." (Mark Avery)
"Immensely moving...a beautiful and gripping story." (BBC Wildlife Magazine)
Interesting but not riveting
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4 stars, this was our book club book for this month.
The incredible story of 4 British PoW’s in WW2, this is the story of those men who didn’t make it to Dunkirk and were captured by the German army. It is about despair, resilience and will power, the power to survive when all seems lost. These men are truly the forgotten army. We celebrate the evacuation at Dunkirk, D-day and VE/VJ Day, but these men get forgotten. When films are made of Dunkirk there is little of nothing about those that never got there. My Nan’s brother was part of The Royal Norfolk Regiment that were captured and then massacred at La Paradis, so when in this book one of the men talk about being lined up to be shot it made me wonder how many times this happened. We only know about La Paradis because 2 of the soldiers pretended to be dead.
Anyway back to this particular book, these men were captured in 1940 and spent 5 years as a prisoner, they felt like they were abandoned. Some were marched hundreds of miles from where they were captured to their new home, prison. They were crammed into rooms designed for far less than was crammed into them. They had hardly anything to do apart from what they could come up with themselves.
These four men overcome hunger, fear, hardship and boredom that found some purpose.
I have never been much of a bird watcher, to me most birds fit into the little brown bird, they move about too quick for me to see the finer details, so I didn’t know much about bird watching. I didn’t know that before the war it wasn’t a common hobby for adults, or that there wasn’t many books about it. What these men did while they were PoW’s was remarkable.
The fact that they went on to do for birdwatching and nature is just a testament to your own courage and determination. It is also worth trying to borrow a copy of the ebook because there are some lovely illustrations in it which you miss in the audiobook
A remarkable and inspiring book of a dark time in the lives of these men. Peter Condor, John Barrett, Edward Buxton and George Waterston
The forgotten Army
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Fascinating story, beautifully put together.
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How birds kept people sane in very very difficult circumstances Educational too
More birds then than now
Love of Birds No Matter What
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