BTO Review The Rarity Garden

Wed 5th Nov, 2025

Barely a week goes by without another book appearing on the shelves which delves deep into how nature has impacted on the writer’s life. Often self-reflective and equally selfreverential, there’s clearly a market for this type of writing. However, Richard Baines’s extraordinarily lovely memoir of sorts is a
different kind of beast altogether. And to my mind, all the better for it.

Comprised of snippets from a daily log, compiled over a 10-year period, Baines shares the enviable experience of living at the East Yorkshire honeypot of Flamborough Head. Instrumental in improving large areas of diverse habitat through working with local landowners and farmers, Baines has helped to sculpt and shape the nature-friendly bird-magnet that we know today.

But at the heart of the book is the modest garden of its title, where Richard created a veritable clifftop sanctuary for weary migrants, and indeed mouthwatering vagrants. There’s also a shed which features rather a lot, as it provided a handy shelter from which to scope nearby top spots. One day I would like to think that this shed will have its own blue plaque. Along with the red-carpet line-up of birds, the garden is also home to a well-employed moth trap, and Baines’s obvious glee at checking this daily makes for irresistible reading. Along with regional rarities, the trap’s more familiar lodgers simply provide the author with an almost childlike joy, best summarised by his own words: “It’s such a thrill to stop for a moment and marvel at the diversity in nature, the ultimate drug.” And so the narrative runs; exciting sightings and discoveries all suffused with Richard’s inexhaustible passion and awe. We may not all have the opportunity to live on a famous coastal headland, or create such a naturegenerating backyard, but we can all share the sheer elation experienced by Baines each time some thrilling sighting, discovery or indeed new question presents itself. This is a beautifully produced book, filled with stunning photographs and maps and enhanced by Ben Green’s evocative
watercolour illustrations. Ultimately, it’s a memoir that isn’t so much about the author, or even the place, but the very wonder and pleasure of being truly invested in nature.

By Jon Carter. BTO