“The Secret Life of Birds: Who they are and what they do” by Colin Tudge : 15 August 2011. I have not been doing a great deal of birding this month because I have had a bad cold that has meant that I have been a bit house-bound. Having already read any outstanding books on…
RSPB British Birds of Prey by Marianne Taylor & Stig Frode Olsen : 8 August 2011 This book was recommended to me particularly for the photographs by Stig Frode Olsen and it has to be said that it is hard to imagine better photography than this. Each species has eight to ten accompanying photographs each…
“The Running Sky: A Birdwatching Life” by Tim Dee : 20 July 2011 “The Running Sky” is one of those bird books that belongs to the “emotional” or “aesthetic” tradition of natural history writings. In twelve chapters, one for each month of the year starting in June, Dee relates stories from a lifetime of birding….
“Corvus : A Life with Birds ” by Esther Woolfson : 4th July 2011 This book has been sitting on the bookshelf for a while. I actually bought it as a gift for Anne but I borrowed it to read on our holiday to Montacute and then the New Forest. The title gives the story…
“The Secret Lives of Garden Birds” by Dominic Couzens I came across a first edition hardback copy of this book at our local Oxfam shop so I only paid £3.99p for it which was quite a bargain. I mainly know of Dominic Couzens from his regular features in “Bird Watching” magazine where he specialises in…
“Tracks and Signs of the Birds of Britain and Europe” by Roy Brown, John Ferguson, Michael Lawrence and David Lees . I have just finished reading this fantastically detailed book. The title pretty much says it all – it is a field guide to help identify the habitats, remains and signs of life resulting from…
“Birds and Men, The Bird Life of British Towns, Villages, Gardens and Farmland” by E.M. Nicholson, Collins Press, 1951 I have just finished reading “Birds and Men” by E.M. Nicholson. Anne got me this book as a present from the online Oxfam shop. It is an original hardback. Max Nicholson, who died in 2003 aged…
I have just read this beginners introduction to the kinds of wild birds you are likely to encounter at a WWT site. Aimed at the newcomer to waterbirds, it splits the birds into logical groups (if not exactly taxonomically correct) and in “Kate’s Top Tips” it appears to aim at provide the reader with various…
“Owl” by Desmond Morris is part of the “Animal” range of books published by Reaktion Books. I had previously read “Falcon” by Helen Macdonald and like that book, Owl deals in great measure with the mythical, sociological and iconographic history of Owls as well as the natural history of owls. In this book, however, the…
We have been on holiday for a week in Funchal where we did see some birds, Swifts, Blackcaps, Blackbirds, Grey Wagtails and inumerable pigeons. We didn’t really go there to bitd watch however but I did need a good solid book to read to I took “Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds” …
