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The Eye of the Wind
THE EYE OF THE WIND is the autobiography of a great naturalist, sportsman, nature artist, and adventurer. Peter Scott's father, Captain Robert Falcon Scott, became a national hero when he died tragically in the Antarctic in 1912, leaving his young son a legacy of fame and honor. Peter Scott grew up amongst distinguished people and memorable events. Once, at the age of four, he created consternation on the lawns of Buckingham Palace by insisting that Queen Alexandra play "trains" with him. The playwright James Barrie was his beloved godfather. Axel Munthe invited him to San Michele. Among the other famous men of the time who came to his family's house were Lord Asquith, George Bernard Shaw, HG Wells, and Lord Baden-Powell. Peter Scott was at first a hunter. On cold mornings of winter, he would go down to the marshes, where the geese gathered in their thousands, to stalk them from the bottom of a silent punt, a cannon mounted on the bow. When he shot a noble tag, silhouetted on the mountainside, his excitement was mixed with remorse. Later at Cambridge, as a zoology student, Scott could not work up much enthusiasm for dissecting voles, much preferring to study living animals---his pet ferret and bats. The discovery that he could actually sell his under-graduate paintings led him to the serious study of art. It is in fact as a painter of birds that he is best known in this country. In time Scott came to prefer stalking deer with a camera to shooting them and learned how to capture geese alive with a rocket-propelled net. In 1946 at Slimbridge, in the West of England, he created the Wildfowl Trust, a unique reservation where ducks, geese, and swans have been assembled, joined in winter by hundreds of wildfowl. Each year 150,000 people come to see them.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1961
About the author
Peter Markham Scott
45 books2 followersGenerally known as Sir Peter Scott.
He represented Great Britain at sailing in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, winning a bronze medal in the O-Jolle class single-handed dinghy at Kiel.
During World War II, Scott served in the Royal Navy. He served first in destroyers in the North Atlantic but moved to commanding the First (and only) Squadron of Steam Gun Boats against German E-boats in the English Channel. He is also jointly credited with designing 'shadow camouflage', which disguised the look of ship superstructure. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for bravery.
He was the skipper in the 1964 challenge for the America's Cup and from 1955-69 was the president of the International Sailing Federation. In 1963 he won the National Open Gliding Championship.
One of the founders of the World Wide Fund for Nature (formerly: World Wildlife Fund), and designer of the famous panda logo. He devised the Red Data Books for documenting endangered species of flora and fauna. Founder of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (formerly: Severn Wildfowl Trust) at Slimbridge.
He represented Great Britain at sailing in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, winning a bronze medal in the O-Jolle class single-handed dinghy at Kiel.
During World War II, Scott served in the Royal Navy. He served first in destroyers in the North Atlantic but moved to commanding the First (and only) Squadron of Steam Gun Boats against German E-boats in the English Channel. He is also jointly credited with designing 'shadow camouflage', which disguised the look of ship superstructure. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for bravery.
He was the skipper in the 1964 challenge for the America's Cup and from 1955-69 was the president of the International Sailing Federation. In 1963 he won the National Open Gliding Championship.
One of the founders of the World Wide Fund for Nature (formerly: World Wildlife Fund), and designer of the famous panda logo. He devised the Red Data Books for documenting endangered species of flora and fauna. Founder of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (formerly: Severn Wildfowl Trust) at Slimbridge.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 21, 2023
This book belonged to my mother, or my father, not sure which. I quite enjoyed reading it despite a large part being taken up by Peter Scott's wartime experiences as a junior naval officer. His very detailed exploits are written with concise language, belying the excitement and tragedy of the events he describes.
Early in life Peter Scott's main claim to fame was as son of the ill-fated Antarctic explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott. Before WW2 Peter was making a living as a painter of portraits and wildfowl and I was initially mostly interested in his art and relationship with wildlife and the countryside. He was also a very keen sailor, to Olympic standards and flew light aircraft and gliders. He gives the impression of a person who couldn't sit still for long.
There's no avoiding the fact that as a young man Peter Scott was a hunter who spent much of his 20's working out the best ways to trap and shoot animals, mainly wildfowl. However later this leopard changed his spots, realising eventually that he couldn't reconcile his love for birds, especially geese, with the activity of regularly slaughtering them. His understanding of the birds habits and experience of luring and trapping them were put to good use studying them, ringing them and in collecting live ones which eventually formed the foundation of the Wildfowl Trust flocks at Slimbridge, which he set up in the early 1950's.
I remember being taken there as a child to meet the geese, my father was a huge fan. I know that we met the ne-ne's or Hawiian geese, a species which Scott was certainly responsible for saving from extinction. So hunter or not, he was a great conservationist.
Early in life Peter Scott's main claim to fame was as son of the ill-fated Antarctic explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott. Before WW2 Peter was making a living as a painter of portraits and wildfowl and I was initially mostly interested in his art and relationship with wildlife and the countryside. He was also a very keen sailor, to Olympic standards and flew light aircraft and gliders. He gives the impression of a person who couldn't sit still for long.
There's no avoiding the fact that as a young man Peter Scott was a hunter who spent much of his 20's working out the best ways to trap and shoot animals, mainly wildfowl. However later this leopard changed his spots, realising eventually that he couldn't reconcile his love for birds, especially geese, with the activity of regularly slaughtering them. His understanding of the birds habits and experience of luring and trapping them were put to good use studying them, ringing them and in collecting live ones which eventually formed the foundation of the Wildfowl Trust flocks at Slimbridge, which he set up in the early 1950's.
I remember being taken there as a child to meet the geese, my father was a huge fan. I know that we met the ne-ne's or Hawiian geese, a species which Scott was certainly responsible for saving from extinction. So hunter or not, he was a great conservationist.
November 7, 2019
Sir Peter Scott's autobiography is quite an eye-opener on the life of a privileged English naturalist, certainly not the only one. I was mainly interested in the ornithological aspects but I think the book has more on his sailing, education, and wartime activities.
February 7, 2016
The autobiography of Antarctic explorer Rober Scott's son.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews