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Books, Charts & Maps Biographies & Non-fiction
Biographies
All Things Reconsidered
Roger Tory Peterson
A collection of essays and photographs, carefully selected and edited by Bill Thompson III.
All Things Reconsidered reminds the reader of Roger Tory Peterson's unique perspective on birding and how he came to be recognized as one of the most important figures in bird watching. 354 pages.
Anoraks to Zitting Cisticola
Sean Dooley
By the author of Big Twitch. This is a humorous guide to the secret world of birdwatching. 265 pages. More details...
Arrivals and Rivals: a duel for the winning bird
Adrian M. Riley
New Edition. This book is all about determination, 'true grit' and the obsession to become the top year-lister in the British Isles. 165 pages. More details...
Bearded Tit
Rory McGrath
This is Rory's story of his life among birds, which is a thoroughly educational, occasionally lyrical and highly amusing romp through the hidden byways of birdwatching. 350 pages. More details...
Beguiled by Birds - Ian Wallace on British Birdwatching
DIM Wallace
Part history, part life story, this book describes the course of British birdwatching, particularly over the last 125 years. It is interspersed with numerous (and sometimes controversial) anecdotes which enhance the appeal of Ian's engaging and entertaining text.
"It makes you want to bring Ian home, feed him, open a bottle of something - preferably Scottish in origin - wind him up and then sit back as he regales you with stories all night."
- Gordon Hamlett, Bird Watching
304 pages. More details...
Hardback £29.99 £26.99
The Big Year
Mark Obmascik
The rollicking chronicle of the 275,000-mile odyssey of three unlikely adventurers who take their bird-watching so seriously it nearly kills them. 268 pages. More details...
Biggest Twitch: around the world in 4000 birds
Alan Davies & Ruth Miller
The story of how Ruth Miller and Alan Davies decided to pack in their jobs, sell their house and take on the ultimate birder's challenge - to smash the world record for the number of species seen in one calendar year. 320 pages. More details...
Softback £12.99 £9.99
Bill Oddie's Gripping Yarns
Bill Oddie
Read the uncut versions of Bill Oddie's tall tales and side-splitting yarns. 208 pages. More details...
Softback £8.99 £7.99
Binoculars and people
Brin Best
A highly illustrated account of the social history of binoculars. 205 pages.
Bird Brain of Britain
Gallimore & Tim Appleton
The Ultimate Quiz Book for Birders, based on the popular Bird Brain of Britain contest, hosted by Bill Oddie at the annual British Birdwatching Fair. 160 pages. More details...
Softback £7.99
The Bird Collectors
Barbara & Richard Mearns
Examines the history and uses of bird skin collections and the many colourful explorers involved in their development. 490 pages. More details...
Hardback £50.00 £39.99
Birders - Tales of a Tribe
Mark Cocker
The story of the birding community, its characters, rules and adventures - often hilariously funny. 230 pages. More details...
Birding from the Hip
Anthony McGeehan
A collection of entertaining, gloriously funny stories about the obsession that is birding. More details...
Birding on Borrowed Time
Phoebe Snetsinger
These posthumously published memoirs chronicle the birding adventures of the then world's all-time top lister (over 8400 species). The book is also a profoundly moving human document, as it details how the author's obsession with birds became a way of coping with terminal illness. 307 pages.
Birdman Abroad
Stuart Winter
As Fleet Street's only birding journalist, Stuart Winter has reported on every significant bird story and personality over the last three decades/ In Birdman Abroad he recounts his overseas birding escapades, from Basil Fawlty-esque run-ins with German holidaymakers and showdowns with Maltese hunters to insulting Americans in their own backyard and heart-rending tales of conservation success in Africa. 224 pages.
Birds in a Cage
Derek Niemann
Four British birdwatchers in a POW camp, the unlikely beginnings of modern wildlife conservation. 302 pages. More details...
Birds Through Irish Eyes
Anthony McGeehan & Julian Wyllie
328 pages. More details...
Birdscapes
Jeremy Mynott
Birds in Our Imagination and Experience.
A thoroughly entertaining birder's bedside book, brimming with bird lore and anecdote. More details...
Birdwatcher: The Life of Roger Tory Peterson
Elizabeth J Rosenthal
An intimate biography of the father of American birdwatching. 437 pages. More details...
Blokes and Birds
Stephen Moss
A humorous look at 40 British and Irish birders and their exploits. 96 pages. More details...
A Brush with Nature
Richard Mabey
25 Years of Personal Reflections on Nature. The definitive collection of Richard Mabey's columns written especially for BBC Wildlife Magazine over 25 years. 244 pages. More details...
Butterfly Isles: A Summer in Search of Our Emperors and Admirals
Patrick Barkham
A summer in search of our Emperors and Admirals. 304 pages. More details...
Conservation: A Beginner's Guide
Paul Jepson & Richard Ladle
208 pages. More details...
Corvus: A Life with Birds
Ester Woolfson
The story of an accidental pet that came into a human life and turned it upside down. 337 pages. More details...
Crow Country
Mark Cocker
Mark Cocker's brilliant description of his journeys in search of crows and ravens, birds that obsessed him and changed his life for ever. 224 pages. More details...
Dry Storeroom No. 1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum
Richard Fortey
Behind the public façade of any great museum there lies a secret domain: one of unseen galleries, locked doors, priceless specimens and hidden lives.This is a witty, affectionate account of just such a fascinating world. 352 pages.
Softback £8.99The Feathery Tribe: Robert Ridgway and the Modern Study of Birds
Daniel Lewis
346 pages. More details...
Fighting for Birds: 25 years in nature conservation
Mark Avery
A personal, philosophical and political history of 25 years of bird conservation. 325 pages. More details...
Days with the Golden Eagle
Seton Gordon
Reprint of a classic 1927 account of the eagle's behaviour and biology, based on the author's painstaking observations. Still beautifully readable. 174 pages.
Golden Wings and other Stories about Birders and Birding
Pete Dunne
Collection of 41 of Dunne's articles and essays from various media, offering his perspective on birders and birding. 122 pages. More details...
Looking for the Goshawk
Conor Mark Jameson
Traces Conor Jameson's travels in search of the Goshawk. 368 pages. More details...
The Great Naturalists
Edited by Robert Huxley
The stories of nearly 40 great pioneers from all over Europe and America take us from Classical times to the end of the 19th century, when natural history changed from an amateur pursuit to the specialized profession we know today. 304 pages. More details...
Guardian Spirit of the East Bank
Moss Taylor
More than just a biography of the acclaimed bird artist and field ornithologist Richard Richardson, as it is lavishly illustrated with examples of his watercolours and line drawings. 232 pages. More details...
The History of Ornithology
Valerie Chansigaud
A clear, chronological approach to the subject. The lively text is enhanced by over 250 illustrations of birds and the ornithologists who have studied them. 239 pages.
Hardback £17.99 £15.99
How to be Wild
Simon Barnes
We are all wild. It's just that civilisation keeps getting in the way. In this book Simon Barnes takes us on a journey through a year, from one raucous spring to the next, helping us to realise the essential truth: that by enjoying the wild world our own lives become richer and more satisfying. 282 pages.
Life List: A Woman's Quest for the World's Most Amazing Birds
Olivia Gentile
Fascinating biography of Phoebe Snetsinger and her legendary quest to be the first birder to see 8,000 species. 345 pages.
Life on Air
David Attenborough
Revised edition.
David Attenborough hardly needs any introduction; his voice has accompanied so many of the best natural history programs that have graced our televisions over several decades. Life On Air, his autobiography, tells the story of how he has managed to professionalise his schoolboy interests in such a remarkably successful way.
A lot has changed since his first television documentary, and in this updated edition of "Life on Air" Sir David tells us of his experiences of filming in the 21st century. 416 pages. More details...
Life on the Wing: A Bird Chronicle from the pages of The Times
Derwent May
An evocative and charming volume. 288 pages. More details...
The Man Who Planted Trees
Jim Robbins
224 pages.
The Meinertzhagen Mystery: The Life and Legend of a Colossal Fraud
Brian Garfield
Entertaining and thoroughly researched read about a flamboyant figure. 354 pages. More details...
Minding my Peas and Cucumbers
Kay Sexton
Quirky tales of allotment life. 216 pages. More details...
My Garden and Other Animals
Mike Dilger
After the best part of forty years spent either living under his parents' roof, in the tropical rainforests of three continents, a vast array of student digs or most recently a one-bedroom flat, Mike Dilger has at last bought a house - and with it, a (potentially) glorious garden! 357 pages. More details...
My Natural History: The Animal Kingdom and How It Shaped Me
Simon Barnes
Simon Barnes, like a modern-day Gerald Durrell, weaves together the story of his life via the animals and the natural encounters that have shaped it. 249 pages. More details...
Nature Cure
Richard Mabey
Personal story of how Britain's foremost writer on natural history battled his way back from depression through his love of nature and the English countryside. 232 pages.
New Life Stories
David Attenborough
More Stories from his Acclaimed Radio 4 Series. A personal view of the natural world. 224 pages. More details...
Otter Country: In Search of the Wild Otter
Miriam Darlington
368 pages. More details...
Over the Farmer's Gate
Roger Evans
Roger is an active diary and poultry framer and has been for 45 years. He records the daily joys and frustrations of his work and his delight in the wildlife around him. 192 pages.
The Peregrine, The Hill of Summer & Diaries
J A Baker, Introduction by Mark Cocker, Diary Edited by John Fanshawe
Such luminaries as Richard Mabey and Andrew Motion have cited this as one of the most important books in 20th Century nature writing. 416 pages. More details...
The Poetry of Birds
Edited by Simon Armitage & Tim Dee
384 pages. More details...
The Profit of Birding
Bryan Bland
A light-hearted examination of the profit of birding from one of birding's greatest story-tellers, 240 pages. More details...
Redbreast: The Robin in Life and Literature
Andrew Lack
A celebration of the life of the robin, based on the classic Robin Redbreast by the author's father David Lack, published in 1950. The text is illustrated, including original cartoons by Euan Dunn. With a foreword by Richard Mabey. 294 pages.
Running Sky
Tim Dee
An extraordinary, inspiring book about a lifetime of observing birds 272 pages.
Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names
James Jobling
A major ornithological reference, giving the derivation and meaning of all valid scientific bird names. Makes fascinating reading. 432 pages. More details...
Hardback £40.00 £34.99
Scilly Birding: Joining the Madding Crowd
Simon & Amanda Davey
A must read for any birder who has ever been to the Scillies or wants to go there. 162 pages. More details...
Seeing Further: The Story of Science and the Royal Society
Bill Bryson Ed.
496 pages. More details...
Shetland Diaries: Otters, Orcas, Puffins and Wonderful People
Simon King
304 pages. More details...
A Single Swallow
Horatio Clare
Combines the best of travel and nature writing as one man follows the migration of the swallow on the epic journey from South Africa to South Wales. 327 pages.
A Sky Full of Starlings
Stephen Moss
Stephen Moss began on 1 January 2007 to chronicle each species of bird as he saw it for the first time throughout the year. He writes about his birdwatching episodes in his usual good-humoured style. 192 pages. More details...
A Supremely Bad Idea: Three Mad Birders and Their Quest to See It All
Luke Dempsey
A Supremely Bad Idea is one man's account of an epic journey around America, all in search of the rarest and most beautiful birds the country has to offer. 272 pages. More details...
Tales of a Tabloid Twitcher
Stuart Winter
A window into the sometimes shady worlds of tabloid journalism and birdwatching, exploring the tales behind the very best scoops. Stuart relates tales of obsession, tragedy, celebrity, crime and scandal - just what is the most debauched use of a bird hide? 208 pages. More details...
Tales of a Low-Rent Birder
P Dunne
A collection of 19 essays illustrated by David Sibley. 176 pages.
This Birding Life
Stephen Moss
Highly readable - a selection of extracts from the popular Birdwatch column in the Guardian. 216 pages.
John Kirk Townsend - Collector of Audubon's Western Birds and Mammals
Barbara & Richard Mearns
This is the first in-depth biography of Townsend, an ornithologist from Philadelphia who crossed the Rocky Mountains to the Columbia River in 1834 and made two visits to the Hawaiian Islands. He returned home with a great haul of bird and mammal specimens used by J.J. Audubon in his Birds of America and Viviparous Quadrupeds.
Barbara and Richard Mearns examine Townsend's Quaker upbringing, track him on his journey westwards, provide a modern zoological commentary on his discoveries, trace his troubled career and discuss his association with Audubon and the major contribution that Townsend made to his famous works.
The book is essential reading for those with an interest in early Western travels and the Oregon Trail, the wildlife of the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest, or the history of birding. 389 pages. More details...
UK500: Birding in the Fast Lane
James Hanlon
An anecdotal, humorous and highly personal account of the author's quest to see 500 bird species in the UK before his 30th birthday. 16 colour plates of photos and illustrations. 127 pages. More details...
Urban Birder
David Lindo
An inspirational look at the birdlife in our cities, or more accurately, the author's personal journey of discovery involving encounters with racism, air rifle-toting youths, girls, alcohol, music, finding urban wildlife oases and of course, birds. His story is entertaining and sometimes controversial, but the one guarantee is that the reader will be left feeling inspired enough to pick up a pair of binoculars and head to the nearest park. 224 pages. More details...
Was Beethoven a Birdwatcher?
David Turner
Did the Cetti's Warbler inspire the opening notes of the last movement of Beethoven's Second Symphony?
A quirky look at birds in history and culture. 288 pages. More details...
Wesley - The Story of a Remarkable Owl
Stacey O'Brien
When biologist Stacey O'Brien rescued a 4-day-old baby barn owl, little did she know the encounter would turn into an astonishing 19-year love affair. 230 pages.
While Flocks Last
Charlie Elder
Charlie Elder writes with humour as he travels the length and breadth of the British Isles to see our 40 key species in decline and meet the enthusiasts trying to save them. 329 pages. More details...
Whose Bird? Men and women commemorated in the common names of birds
Bo Beolens & Michael Watkins
Potted biographies of every individual who has given his or her name to a species of bird. 400 pages. More details...
Softback £17.99
Wild Life
Simon King
Amazing Animals, Extraordinary People, Astonishing Places 312 pages. More details...
Wildlife Detective: A Life Fighting Wildlife Crime
Alan Stewart
384 pages. More details...
Wildlife in Trust: A Hundred Years of Nature Conservation
Elliott & Thompson Limited
792 pages. More details...
Other non-fiction
Adventures Among Birds
WH Hudson & Robert MacFarlane
Part of a new series of classic British nature writing - Collins Nature Library - reissues of long-lost seminal works. The titles have been chosen by one of Britain's best known and highly-acclaimed nature writers, Robert Macfarlane, who has also written new introductions that put these classics into a modern context. 272 pages. More details...
The Attacking Ocean
Brian Fagan
Available from 6 June 2013. The Past, Present, and Future of Rising Sea Levels 320 pages. More details...
Beside the Seaside: A Celebration of the Place We Like to Be
Jane Struthers
288 pages. More details...
Bird Coloration
Geoffrey Hill
Authoritative yet accessible and engaging text describing how and why birds have the colours they do. Illustrated with over 200 photographs and 100 detailed illustrations. 255 pages.
Bird Conservation
Williams, Pople, et al
575 pages. More details...
Bird Observatories of the British Isles
Mike Archer Ed.
Detailed coverage of the history, location, habitats and ornithological interest of each of the 20 observatories scattered around the British Isles, written by wardens and ringers from each location. 448 pages. More details...
Hardback £60.00 £51.99
Birdwatching With Your Eyes Closed
Simon Barnes
An Introduction to Birdsong - with a free podcast. 288 pages. More details...
Catching the Bug: A Sound Approach Guide to the Birds of Poole Harbour
Mark Constantine & Nick Hopper
288 pages. More details...
Rough Guide to Climate Change
Robert Henson
Third edition. Fully revised and expanded edition of this popular guide. Stunningly illustrated in full colour and includes developments from the retreat of Arctic sea ice to the progress of UN negotiations and local initiatives. 406 pages. More details...
Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle
Thor Hanson
336 pages. More details...
The Firth of Forth: An Environmental History
T C Smout & Mairi Stewart
240 pages. More details...
Good Birders Don't Wear White
Tim Gallagher et al
Featuring a collection of 50 original essays from North America's top birders. Offers advice to birders of all levels with a generous helping of humour and entertainment. 268 pages.
Great Animal Orchestra: Finding the Origins of Music in the World's Wild Places
Bernie Krause
Available from 6 June 2013. A fascinating exploration of nature's music from plants and animals to the wind and rain. 288 pages. More details...
The Great Extinctions: What Causes Them and How They Shape Life
Norman MacLeod
What is extinction? What causes it? Can it be prevented? Leading palaeontologist Norman MacLeod reveals how, contrary to popular conception, species extinction is as natural a process as species evolution. 208 pages. More details...
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution
Richard Dawkins
480 pages. More details...
Growing Barn Owls in my Garden
Paul Hackney
An enjoyable and informative story of the author's success in restoring this beautiful bird to areas of the country where numbers had declined. 160 pages. More details...
The Hedgerows Heaped with May
Stephen Moss (Ed), Contibutors: Clive James, Richard Mabey, Robin Page, Max Hastings, Joanna Trollope, Boris Johnson, Peter Marren, James May, JHB Peel, Byron Rogers, Fiona Armstrong, John Humphrys, WF Deedes, Clive Aslet
The Telegraph Book of the Countryside 354 pages. More details...
Here Be Dragons
Dennis McCarthy
How the study of animal and plant distributions revolutionized our views of life and Earth.
"Excellent book. McCarthy makes biogeography into a story that is both intelligible and compelling."
- Mark Cocker
214 pages.
How to Be a Better Birder
Derek Lovitch
This book will take your birding skills to the next level. 202 pages. More details...
Jewel Hunter
Chris Gooddie
Insightful, compelling and funny, this is more than just a book about birds. It is the true story of an impossible dream: a quest to see all of the world's most elusive avian gems - the Pittas - in a single year. 424 pages. More details...
The Last Rhinos
Lawrence Anthony
The powerful story of one man's battle to save a species. 321 pages. More details...
Life with Birds: A Story of Mutual Exploitation
Malcolm Smith
192 pages. More details...
The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True
Richard Dawkins & Dave McKean
272 pages. More details...
The Marsh Lions
Brian Jackman & Jonathan Scott
The true story of a pride of lions in Kenya's world-famous Masai Mara game reserve. 320 pages. More details...
Mathematical Nature Walk
John Adam
96 common and not so common questions inspired by the natural world neatly solved (with detailed steps and illustrated). How heavy is a cloud? How long does it take for a snowball to melt? Why do large haystacks spontaneously combust?
Never a Dull Moment: A Naturalist's View of British Wildlife
Ross Gardner
164 pages. More details...
Books and Naturalists
David Allen
New Naturalist series 112. Explores the world of nature publishing through the course of history, from its very early days in the dawn of publishing, through various significant new discoveries and into the 21st Century. 320 pages. More details...
On Extinction: How We Became Estranged from Nature
Melanie Challenger
272 pages. More details...
Perfect Exposure: The Professional Guide to Capturing Perfect Digital Photographs
Michael Freeman
Unlock the secrets of taking properly exposed photographs using this in depth guide. Contains clear examples from real photo assignments and accompanies them with explanations. 192 pages.
The Perfumier and the Stinkhorn
Richard Mabey
A sextet of inspiring mediations exploring how our sensory responses influence our interactions with and attitudes towards nature. 110 pages.
Planet Earth, The Future
Fergus Beeley, Rosamund Kidman Cox & Jonathan Porritt
256 pages.
Red Sky at Night
Jane Struthers
The book of lost countryside wisdom.
An indispensable guide to everything we knew and loved before we went inside and turned on the TV. 289 pages.
Samphire Coast
Robert Greenfield
Former British fashion designer Robert Greenfield, risks everything for a 'no going back' adventure that turns his comfy city life upside down as a dramatic new life beckons as a budding hotelier. 315 pages.
Saving a Million Species: Extinction Risk from Climate Change
Edited By: Lee Hannah and Thomas E Lovejoy
417 pages. More details...
The Sea Inside
Philip Hoare
Available from 6 June 2013. 350 pages. More details...
Shifting Sands
Andy Stoddart
Blakeney Point and the Environmental Imagination. 186 pages. More details...
Silent Spring Revisited
Conor Mark Jameson
Fifty years after the publication of the seminal Silent Spring, Conor Mark Jameson reflects on Rachel Carson's legacy and ask the question - are we still silencing the spring? 288 pages. More details...
A Slow Passion
Ruth Brooks
Snails, My Garden and Me.
The story behind the BBC Radio 4's Amateur Scientist of the Year. Grandmother-turned-scientist Ruth Brooks poses this question "Do snails have a homing instinct?" Rich in anecdotes and misadventures. 244 pages.
Small-Headed Flycatcher. Seen Yesterday
Pete Dunne
A collection on thirty-two essays originally published in 'American Birds' and 'Birdwatcher's Digest' among others.
Pete Dunne is Director of the New Jersey Audubon Society's Cape May Bird Observatory in Cape May Point, New Jersey, and consultant to the Peterson birding field guide series. His previous essay collections include Tales of a Low-Rent Birder, Golden Wings and other Stories about Birders and Birding, and "Before the Echo". 156 pages.
Smart Swarm: Using Animal Behaviour to Organise Our World
Peter Miller
A fascinating lesson in how much we still have to learn from nature. Paperback due 14/04/2011. 304 pages. More details...
So Much Wind: The Myth of Green Energy
Struan Stevenson
288 pages. More details...
Survival of the Beautiful: Art, Science, and Evolution
David Rothenberg
A revolutionary new examination of the interplay of beauty, art, and culture in evolution. 320 pages. More details...
Survivors: Animals and Plants Time Left Behind
Richard Fortey
An awe-inspiring journey through the eons of time and across the globe, in search of visible traces of evolution in living creatures which have survived from earliest times and whose stories speak to us of seminal events in the history of life. 400 pages. More details...
Waking the Giant: How a Changing Climate Triggers Earthquakes, Tsunamis, and Volcanoes
Bill McGuire
Available from 27 June 2013. 320 pages. More details...
What has Nature ever done for us?
Tony Juniper
Money doesn't grow on trees. Or does it? This book is full of immediate, impactful stories. It will change the whole way you think about life, nature and the economy. 324 pages. More details...
Wild Hares and Hummingbirds
Steven Moss
The Natural History of an English Village. 305 pages. More details...
Winging it: Birding for low-flyers
Andrew Fallan
Engaging tales that recount the highs and lows of being an avid birder in a world seemingly populated by experts and high-flyers. 146 pages.
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