A Wild Life: Ruby Free on seabirds & island living

An ode to a very special island and its dizzying array of wildlife written from the heart

'Colourful and exuberant and full of energy – a great celebration of life, Ruby’s and the planets.' Chris Packham, Writer, Naturalist and Broadcaster

'A Wild Life is a joyous, heartfelt account of learning what it means to live with, love and care for the more-than-human world. Free’s prose sings and zings with an open-hearted passion for nature, people and place.' Robert MacFarlane, Writer

In 2021, Ruby Free, 21, got her dream job working on an RSPB reserve. But this position wasn’t for the faint hearted – it meant moving to live on Rathlin Island, off the County Antrim coast. One of the wildest and most biodiverse corners of the UK and Ireland, to Ruby, who had grown up in the south-west of England, it felt both thrilling and very far from home.

Ruby thought she knew what wildness was but arriving on the island at the same time as a quarter of a million seabirds, her perception of it changed forever. From swimming with seals and late-night trips to hear the call of the corncrake, to spotting dolphins from her front door and getting to know some very special seabirds, this is the story of Ruby’s time on Rathlin. It’s also the story of what happened next – how Ruby took everything she’d learned through living on the island to the following stage of her life.

Heartfelt, impassioned and full of joy, Rathlin: A Wild Life is a love letter to the island and the wildlife Ruby finds there, but it’s also a call to action; a reminder of everything we stand to lose if we don’t change.

About our speaker: Ruby Free is an award-winning campaigner, writer and conservation biologist based in County Antrim. Her first book, Rathlin, A Wild Life has just been published. Passionate about saving nature and reconnecting people to it, she’s worked and volunteered in the environmental conservation sector since she was 16 and has been named one of the 100 most influential Environmental Professionals in the UK on the ENDS Power List.