Familiar to many as the illustrator of the ground-breaking Birds of Africa series, Martin Woodcock is based in Norfolk, but is drawn to Africa and it’s birds, and has made many return trips since his first in 1961. Many of these were as fieldwork for the mammoth task of illustrating Birds of Africa, and during that time Martin gathered a huge collection of sketches and paintings he made in the field. The cream of these is presented in this book, and reveals a much free style than we are perhaps familiar with.

This wonderful series is nearing its end (only two to go after this one) and it is admirably keeping to its schedule of one per year. Volume 14 does not disappoint and the groups covered will be of particular interest to those interested in African and Australasian birds and in those which are particularly colourful (though there are some ‘plainer’ ones as well).

I can think of no-one more dedicated or committed to the birds of a single county than Martin Blick of Cleveland. During my time birding around Teesmouth, finding anything not already seen by Martin was a severe challenge! Despite the author’s natural modesty, this book is a sound celebration of that knowledge. In a work of this nature it is always difficult to decide on what to include and what to leave out, and the inclusion here of useful monthly summaries, and tasters of places to go birding, draw the reader in to birding in Cleveland.

We generally do not publish full reviews of second and subsequent editions of books. This book, however, is one of the very few that warrants an exception to this ‘rule’. Since its publication in 1999, the book rapidly became THE standard field guide for anyone birding in the UK and Europe. As taxonomic changes continue to be announced on an almost weekly basis, and as the knowledge of identifying some complex species and plumages increases, it was inevitable that the guide would need to be up-dated at some point.

Certainly a reference book but you might just find yourself browsing this fascinating dictionary. Have you ever wondered where some of the scientific names of birds are derived from? Why are Treecreepers specifically called familiaris (which means tame/household), for instance? Well, apparently, there was a Finnish custom of using tame Treecreepers in the house as a form of mobile insect destroyer. You might purchase this as the scholarly book that it is, but also buy it as a fascinating compendium, to dip into at your leisure.

A new field guide to this extensive area, containing all the species recorded, illustrated with colour paintings, with many age and sex plumages are shown. Good descriptions and distribution maps are also provided. In addition, the beginning of the book has several ‘diorama’ style 2-page spreads illustrating all the most likely species in each of several different habitats, and a guide to birding various sites. The illustrations are prolific, but lacking some of the details and aesthetics that we have become accustomed to recently.

A fourth edition of this essential guide for anyone birding in Ireland, giving updated details of the most popular and rewarding sites, and giving ideas of where else to look where time is available in the under-watched areas.

Richard Mabey is possibly one of the UK’s best-loved nature writers. Currently based in Suffolk, Richard focuses on the Nightingale, the species that greeted him, many years ago when he first moved to the county. A bird of myth and folk-lore, poetry and art, Richard weaves his own experiences of Nightingales in Suffolk and further a-field, with the writings of others. A beautiful and thoughtful little book.

The Where to Watch books have, over the years, become the first port of call for most birdwatchers when they are planning a trip somewhere. Firstly, parts of the UK were covered, and then the main birding areas of Europe, but slowly the range of books has increased, and further a-field and more exotic locations have been added. Costa Rica is one of the foremost destinations for eco-travellers and with more than 820 species of bird in a relatively small country that is easy to explore, its no wonder that the country should be so high on the wish list of many.

One of the most evocative sights and sounds of the North Norfolk Coast in winter is the vast flocks of Pink-footed Geese. James McCallum has presented a beautiful book of paintings of these birds. His easy painting style brilliantly captures the geese, as they go about their daily lives in all weathers, day and night. Combined with written observations, this is a delightful book for anyone who has been captivated by the Pink-feet. You can almost hear their calls, and imagine their feet ‘puddling’ on the muddy beet fields.