There is grass, and there are meadows. They aren’t the same. As you travel around the countryside, particularly in the west of Britain (although, as in other respects, the country used to be less polarised than it now is), you will see a lot of grass. It looks pretty, or, at least, quite pretty, but…
Category: BOOK REVIEWS
Sunday book review – Forest Vision by Roderick Leslie
This is a book about the politics of forestry by someone who knows them better than just about anyone else in the UK. Roderick Leslie went into the Forestry Commission straight from Oxford University in the 1970s and occupied a variety of senior roles in forest policy and practice including a spell as Chief Executive…
Sunday book review – buzzing by Anneliese Emmans Dean
I met the author of this book a couple of weeks ago when we were both at the Hay Festival recording programmes of Shared Planet – Anneliese’s episode first broadcast on Tuesday (and repeats Monday at 9pm) whereas ‘my’ episode goes out on Tuesday at 11am. I gave Annliese a lift back to our hotel…
Sunday book review – Urban Peregrines by Ed Drewitt
I like this book – it’s clearly written, has lots of interesting facts and some cracking images. It took me a while to ‘get’ the cover – that road sign – you’re probably quicker than I am. This is a good book about a bird which represents a conservation success story. Peregrines are much commoner…
Sunday Book review – Birds of a Feather by Colin Rees and Derek Thomas
This is a lovely book – written by two ornithologists about the changing seasons on either side of the Atlantic Ocean. It’s a simple idea but it works very well. I don’t know Colin Rees at all, and I really only know Derek a little – he posed me an identification challenge in Ohio once….
Martha
The current month’s Birdwatch has extracts from my forthcoming book A Message from Martha: the extinction of the Passenger Pigeon and its relevance today. I’ve been touched by how many people have emailed me, after reading Birdwatch, to say that they are definitely going to buy it. The book looks at the story of the…
A Message from Martha
In two months’ time, A Message from Martha: the extinction of the Passenger Pigeon and its relevance today will be published in the UK. Chris Packham is one of only about half a dozen people who has read it so far and he says: ‘This hugely thought provoking and important book is the kick up…
Sunday book review – A Field Guide to Monitoring nests by Ferguson-Lees, Castell & Leech
I’m rubbish at nests and eggs. I have little experience in finding them and am usually pretty clueless at identifying them when I do stumble across them. This, then, is a book for me. The book is a handy size to take into the field. Each of 146 British breeding species gets its own account…
Sunday book review – The Birds at the Bottom of the Garden by Carl Mynott
This is a small book for small people of around pre-school age. I’m a bit older than that, and so are my kids, but I bet they would have loved this book 20 years ago. The words, which are mostly in rhyming verse, and pictures, which are diagrammatic, are both by the author. It’s a…
Sunday book review – Top Gun of the Sky by Martin Bradley
This is a beautifully illustrated book. It is illustrated and written by Martin Bradley who works at the Exxon Mobil Fawley Refinery in Hampshire (where Peregrines nest). The illustrations are bold and just a little bit different – have a look and you will see what I mean (and see above). The book is aimed…