Books by Polly

In the Company of Sheep

Birlinn, 2026

Acclaimed nature writer Polly Pullar has been fascinated by sheep since childhood, when she formed an inseparable bond with her pet lamb Lulu, and dozens more that followed.

Through her own years as a sheep farmer, personal encounters, interviews, adventures and anecdotes, Polly reveals the fascinating world of sheep culture, emphasising the importance of shepherds, crofters, farmers and their flocks as the backbone of a vital way of rural life. As she travels the country from Dartmoor to Shetland, she encounters a whole range of native and primitive breeds perfectly suited to the diverse habitats of the British Isles.

Her vivid descriptions of the animals, and those who care for them, reveal exactly why sheep matter.  And she shows that despite current ecological debates about overgrazing, with careful management, it is possible to restore habitat alongside an animal that has played a key part of agricultural life throughout Britain for thousands of years.

The Horizontal Oak: A Life in Nature

Birlinn, July 2022

Nature has always been at the heart of Polly Pullar’s world. Brought up on the Ardnamurchan peninsula where her parents ran a hotel, their extensive menagerie included a swearing parrot, and Lulu, a blackface lamb who accompanied her mother to serve the guests’ early morning tea, and Polly to school. Polly roamed freely, observing red deer, otters, seals, and golden eagles, in an era when wildcats were plentiful too. With her passion for livestock, she spent days gathering sheep with crofters and shepherds. An otherwise idyllic childhood was marred by family secrets, eventually leading to tragedy. Her charming father was an alcoholic with hilarious delusions of grandeur. When Polly was seven, her flamboyant mother could no longer comply with his behaviour, and after their divorce, remarried. Her fun-loving stepfather became her mentor and greatest support. But Polly was sent to boarding school, where she was desperately homesick, and her father’s erratic visits were deeply unsettling. Later, Gordonstoun with its outdoor ethos was different – here there was sailing, and hill walking. On leaving school, she helped her father run a hotel in Exmoor. Though the frequent Fawlty Towers moments provided humour, she uncovered disturbing revelations about his personal life and her own identity. Her affinity to animals always brought solace, and later she relished working with exotic animals at a zoo and when married became a stock farmer. Returning home devastated after her father’s funeral, she found a young kestrel that became a constant companion. Her son was raised surrounded by tawny owlets, red squirrel kits, buzzards and peregrines. When her marriage collapsed, Polly rebuilt her life, earning a reputation as a wildlife expert and nature writer, respected for her ability to rehabilitate wildlife. In the final pages of this remarkable moving and at times wittily humorous memoir, Polly returns to Ardnamurchan and reflects on how the love of nature, found in that magical place, has shaped her life, given her the strength to understand her parents, and helped her find an equilibrium.