Category: BOOK REVIEWS

This is a fascinating account of the wonders of the Pacific kelp forests that run from Baja California to Alaska (and in the southern hemisphere off Chile). Like many of the world’s other great habitats, this one is under threat but we hear of a motley, diverse group of individuals who are doing their best…

I wish this book had been available through 2025 when I was carrying out a year-long bioblitz of my garden. The Diptera is a very species-rich taxon, perhaps even richer than Coleoptera in world terms, and there are over 7000 UK species.  I found them difficult to catch, difficult to photograph and then difficult to…

  I guess I read and review a new book about wolves every year which is quite interesting in itself since there aren’t any wolves in the UK. But we are fascinated by wolves as a species and we tend to love them or hate them. Some hanker after restoring the Grey Wolf to the…

One of the best things about Galloway is that it is off the beaten track and that few people go there – they all head further north or further south – but this is such a welcoming book, with gorgeous illustrations of landscapes and inviting tales of interesting walks with wildlife, beaches, good scenery and…

How many marine crustaceans are there around our coasts? Can you guess? No? Well maybe this book isn’t for you unless you are on the cusp of becoming a Pan Species Lister (see here). There are about 2,600 marine crustaceans out of a UK species total of about 3,800 crustacean species. Most of these marine…

I enjoyed much of this book, especially the writing, and I dare say it will be greatly appreciated by many, but I found that it was rather undermined by some structural issues and some choices that seem to have been made about its scope and reach. It may be that this is an example of…

The book, Tarka the Otter, will be 100 years of age next year. This book is the tale of Otters, and waterways in the part of Devon where Tarka was set, and written. This is, in my opinion, Ian Parsons’s best book to date. Ian’s Introduction is very good. He set the scene really well…

I’m a fan of Peter Marren’s writing because he knows so much about so many things and can tell a tale so well. He seems to have an almost endless knowledge into which he can dip and he has a knack of presenting that knowledge in an accessible and interesting way. As you read his…

  Scott Weidensaul visits successful conservation projects in order to celebrate achievements and to try to dispel feelings of gloom about the natural world. I enjoyed reading about these dozen successes, some of which were, for me, close to home (bird of prey recovery in the UK and rewilding at Knepp Castle in Sussex) whereas…

Little did I think that after reviewing the CNHS’s 70th anniversary book (click here) I’d be revisiting them again so soon but this book, describing the wildlife of Middlewick Ranges is now rather topical. In the recent Wild Justice report (authored by Kiera Chapman, Malcom Tait and Rob Davies – click here), Middlewick Ranges is…