Wainwright Prize winner explores oceans in Blue Machine

We’re proud to be a partner of the Wainwright Prize, celebrating the best nature writing and outdoor exploration books. The winner was announced this September.

Alex Try, RSPB Director of Strategic Communications, was a judge in the Conservation category, which was won by Helen Czerski’s Blue Machine: How Oceans Shape Our World.

“It’s an incredible book that highlights the importance of our oceans, from their impact on our climate and weather systems through to the wildlife and people that depend upon them,” Alex says. “Blue Machine shines a light on our oceans’ ‘complex, interlinked systems’.”

The prize for Nature Writing was awarded to Late Light: The Secret Wonders of a Disappearing World by Michael Malay, while the Children’s Writing on Nature prize was won by Foxlight by Katya Balen.

This extract from Helen’s book shows her wide-ranging knowledge and vision:

“The coast of Tanzania faces eastward, away from the massive African continent and out into the Indian Ocean. The beaches here are narrow sandy strips sandwiched between the turquoise water and a line of scrubby greenery that looks determined to overflow from the land. It’s peaceful, basking in its remoteness, but that doesn’t mean nothing of note ever happens here. In December 2004, two turtle conservation officers, Jumanne Juma and Saidi Jumbe, watched as an animal the size of an upturned kettledrum got a last push from the ocean waves and then advanced up onto the beach near the village of Kimbiji. Sea turtles often come to these beaches to nest, doggedly dragging themselves up the sand with powerful flippers that are ill-suited to moving on land.

“But this new arrival was no turtle. It was walking. The lower half of its shell and its feet were covered in huge Goose Barnacles, and as its determined plodding lifted it out of the waves, it became clear that it was a giant tortoise. It had drifted in on the ocean currents, a passenger from far, far away. Giant tortoises are very definitely creatures of the land and this one’s journey was an accident, the consequence of unwittingly hitching a ride with a parcel of salt water on its way around the globe. Seawater is a convenient host for accidental drifters like this, because it’s generally benign and has a huge carrying capacity. And these ocean passengers matter, because this is how the blue machine keeps our planet connected.”