Sunday book review – Why Do Birds Suddenly Disappear? by Lev Parikian

I’m not keen on the cover of this book and I’m not that keen on its title, but I really enjoyed the  story. A middle-aged lapsed birdwatcher takes up the hobby again and tries hard to see 200 species in a calendar year while also being a freelance conductor (of music).  Does he succeed?  I…

Sunday book review: A Richness of Martens by Polly Pullar

I really hadn’t appreciated that the collective name for a bunch of martens was a ‘richness’ until reading this book. And there are many individually-known Pine Martens that feature in this book, all living on the westernmost peninsula of Britain, on Ardnamurchan. The book is an account of the behaviour of Craig, Clive, Chris, Chloe,…

Sunday book review: Bird photographer of the Year (collection 3).

I was one of the judges for these awards – the judging was in early January and the book is out and was selling well at the Bird Fair last weekend.  That’s pretty good going. The cover photograph, of American Flamingos at a flamingo sanctuary in Madrid, and by Pedro Jarque Krebs from Peru, was…

Book review – Mind of the Raven by Bernd Heinrich

  This book was published quite a long time ago – 1999 in hardback – but it deals with a topical subject and I noticed it on sale in the bookstores of Yellowstone National Park a few weeks ago.  I almost bought it then, particularly as there was a Raven running around on the roof…