Ring of Bright Water He has married me with a ring, a ring of bright water Whose ripples travel from the heart of the sea, He has married me with a ring of light, the glitter Broadcast on the swift river. He has married me with the sun's circle Too dazzling to see, traced in summer sky. He has crowned me with the wreath of white cloud That gathers on the snowy summit of the mountain, Ringed me round with the world-circling wind, Bound me to the whirlwind's centre. He has married me with the orbit of the moon And with the boundless circle of stars, With the orbits that measure years, months, days, and nights, Set the tides flowing, Command the winds to travel or be at rest. At the ring's centre, Spirit, or angel troubling the pool, Causality not in nature, Finger's touch that summons at a point, a moment Stars and planets, life and light Or gathers cloud about an apex of gold, Transcedent touch of love summons my world into being.

This web-presentation is about a famous book by Gavin Maxwell (1914-1969). The book is about his life in a remote place of northern Scotland and the wildlife he has encoutered there. It's also the story of his life with some fascinating Otters.
It was written in 1959, and originally published in 1960.
At present the book is still available as reprint edition (1996) in the Penguin Nature Classic series.

I bought a copy of the original book on july 21st, 1987, on the island of Iona, off the westcoast of Scotland. Some years later I tried to find the spot were Gavin Maxwell had lived with his otters. I found it and of course made some photographs there.

In the book there are 69 photographs and a large number of drawings, of which I scanned some to illustrate the pages of this site.

Here are the text on the sleeve-jacket, Gavin Maxwell's foreword, a picture of the last page of the book with the 'Thank you' poem by Louis MacNeice.
...and of course some otterpictures. Also you might want to know what the critics said back in the early 1960's.

In june 2001 I have added:
Books & films by others about Gavin Maxwell.
Also don't forget to visit the links page!

In due time also pictures and information will be added from The Rocks Remain (1963), which continues the story of Gavin Maxwell's life -with more otters- both at Camusfèarna, his lonely cottage on the Scottish West Highland seaboard, and abroad.

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A Peadar web presentation. (Please Email me if you would like to to be informed of developments on this site.)
You may also want to visit my homesite.

This site was launched on march 31st, 1999. Last update: june 27th, 2001