In 1927, Ronald Lockley took a 21 year lease on the small island of Skokholm, just off the Pembrokeshire coast in South Wales. A keen ornithologist, he began studies of the bird life on the island, and on neighbouring Skomer, famous today for its puffins. In the 1930s he published two books about his life on the island, Dream Island (1930) and Island Days (1934), which are now combined in this one volume. Lockley was a hugely influential figure in natural history and was lauded by Sir Peter Scott and Richard Adams, the author of Watership Down, who also used him as a characterin his book The Plague Dogs. Today, Dream Island offers an insight into an extraordinary and influential figure, and strongly evoke his island life.
Amy Liptrot, the author of The Outrun, has written the introduction to this new edition.
Ronald Lockley (1903-2000) was a Welsh naturalist and ornithologist, who wrote over fifty books on the natural world, including Dream Island, Island Days, Letters from Skokholm and The Private Life of the Rabbit, an important source for Watership Down.