Below you will find my personal ‘pick of the year’; those books which inspire or captivate. Some, like my number one pick, break new ground. Others are not new ideas but are a vital part of a birder’s library. All of them are worth reading and adding to your most accessible bookshelf.
1 The Crossley ID Guide: Britain and Ireland – anyone who read my review will know I think this is a wonderful and groundbreaking book – expect it to sell year on year for the next decade!
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2 Bird Atlas 2007-11 – a monumental effort by literally thousands of people put together by the dedicated team at BTO. This is not just ‘interesting’ but VITAL work. Unless trends are monitored we will lose more and more wildlife to ‘progress’ – BUY IT and join the BTO!
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3 The Birdwatcher’s Yearbook 2014 – nothing groundbreaking here just an awful lot of hard work garnering all the info a UK birder needs to get around. BUY IT! If you don’t it will go the way of most birding magazines and believe me you will miss it if it goes!
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4 Birds: ID Insights: Identifying the more difficult birds of Britain and north-west Europe – another one you would guess would be in my year picks – a great reference when you are stumped.
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5 Britain’s Hoverflies – Not a birding book and not even a book that is easy to use. Its in my list because I took a new interest in the micro world of my tiny garden this year and discovered the wonders to behold in the hoverflies on my doorstep. An invaluable reference.
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6 Finding Birds in the Canaries I’ve always liked Dave Gosney’s style of birding and film making. Over the last few years he has a more relaxed delivery revealing his depth of knowledge – this is his BEST yet!
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7 Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World: Non-passerines – Expensive, not a book you can ‘read’ but for anyone interested in taxonomy it is essential – support the work buy buying it if you can
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8 Best Bird Watching Sites – Norfolk – All UK birders will want to visit Norfolk most years and even if you are twitching you will want to know where else is worth a few hours. Find it here. The series has set the standard for all such ‘where to find’ guides.
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9 The Boreal Owl Murder – this is a bit of fun from an author who has written several more ‘birder murder’ books. In my view she is the best writer in the genre – shame these don’t get televised! 10 A-Z of Birds – A birder’s tales from around the world – what is the point of running a site like fatbirder single-handed if I cannot shamelessly promote my own book? It made me laugh living it, I hope it makes you smile reading it! Buy a signed copy from me
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