From little acorns … to his 1,000th article for the Guardian country diary

Mark Cocker completes 1,000th article for The Guardian's country diary, reflecting on his journey and the changing natural world.

The full report

Mark Cocker has completed his 1,000th article for The Guardian's country diary, a milestone for the world's oldest column in an English-language newspaper. Cocker's first diary was published in 1987, and he has been writing for the publication for 39 years.

Cocker's diaries have taken him to various locations, including the Peak District, where he first marvelled at rare birds as a boy. He has seen a significant change in the birdlife over the years, with some species becoming extinct and others becoming more common.

The Guardian country diary began in 1904 with the nature-loving dispatches of Thomas Coward. Today, there is a diverse roster of about 30 diarists spread across the UK, including farmers, scientists, conservationists, and writer-naturalists like Cocker.

Cocker has honed his skills as a writer-naturalist through his work as a warden at Holkham national nature reserve and by studying English at university. He believes that writing a diary is a deceptively difficult craft that requires a long apprenticeship to master.

Cocker's approach to writing is to seek powerful encounters with nature, which he believes is a discipline that benefits all writing. He points to the surprising number of literary greats who have also kindled a passion for wildlife, including Margaret Atwood and Vladimir Nabokov.

Cocker's latest book, The Nature of Seeing, explores how we might experience nature more fully. He believes that close observation is essential for appreciating nature and that this discipline can be applied to all writing.

Cocker's journey as a writer-naturalist has not been straightforward. He worked as a refuse collector, a road sweeper, and a potato picker before becoming a writer. His big break came after a conservationist friend wrote to the Guardian to complain about the quality of the diaries.