Nature on the Doorstep: A Year of Letters

In these pleasant dispatches, entomologist Douglas (Insects and Their Beneficial Microbes) collects the weekly newsletters she wrote for her family in the U.K. about the flora and fauna in her yard in Ithaca, N.Y., during the first year of Covid-19 lockdowns. The pandemic goes largely unmentioned, with Douglas instead offering winding reflections about the natural phenomena she spots each week, as when she notes a web on her back deck and describes how caterpillars and spiders produce silk. Other letters explain that stink bugs like to winter in wooden houses because they’re attracted to the dry “cracks and crevices” and that crab spiders hide in goldenrod plants to sneak up on the bees and butterflies that frequent them. However, most entries emphasize naturalistic observation over scientific explication, such as when the author ranks the flowering trees on her property and details the daily routine of a red squirrel that lives in her spruce trees. Filled with wide-eyed wonder, the lighthearted letters charm, though some readers may be disappointed by the thin scientific background. Still, this has plenty to offer those looking to discover the magic in one’s own backyard. (Mar.)