Book reviews

Book reviews

Read reviews of the books we hold in the Chris Mead Library, written by our in-house experts. A selection of book reviews also features in our members’ magazine, BTO News.

Featured review

All the Birds of the World

Lynx have had a long-term project to produce an exhaustive guide to the birds of the world. It started out with the 17 volumes of the Handbook of the Birds of the World (1992-2013) which has family and species accounts for all birds. This was followed by the two volumes of the Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World (2014-16). They have now published the third and final stage of this avian odyssey with this current book.

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All the Birds of the World

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Gulls of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East: An Identification Guide

Author: Peter Adriaens, Mars Muusse, Philippe J. Dubois & Frédéric Jiguet

Publisher: Princeton University Press, Princeton & Oxford

Published: 2021

Although I do not condone it, I (somewhat) understand why non-birdy people often refer to all gulls as ‘seagulls’. Until you get your eye in, some species do look similar to one another. This ...

Tracks & Signs of the Birds of Britain and Europe

Author: Roy Brown, John Ferguson, Michael Lawrence & David Lees

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing, London

Published: 2021

I suspect that the vast majority of naturalists and birdwatchers have a few feathers, skulls and general bird detritus somewhere in their possession. These can serve as a souvenir from a trip, a ...

Female Heroes of Bird Conservation

Author: Rosemary Low

Publisher: Rosemary Low (self-published)

Published: 2021

It is an extremely depressing truth that women’s contributions to science are often overlooked. Historically, it was commonplace for women’s scientific work to either be ignored or stolen. Although ...

At the Very End of the Road

Author: Phillip J Edwards

Publisher: Whittles Publishing, Dunbeath

Published: 2021

This book takes you through a year on the author, Phillip Edward’s, home ‘patch’ – a complex area of farmland, saltmarsh, river and coastline. Each chapter covers a calendar month, describing in ...

Fergus The Silent

Author: Michael McCarthy

Publisher: YouCaxton Publications

Published: 2021

Michael McCarthy is perhaps best known for his environmental journalism and nature writing. His skills were recognised by BTO back in 2011, when he was awarded the annual Dilys Breese Medal for ...

An Indifference of Birds

Author: Richard Smyth

Publisher: Uniformbooks, Axminster

Published: 2020

In this brilliant book, Smyth shines a light on the relationship between birds and humans. In particular, on the roles we have played, and continue to play, in bird lives and histories. In doing so, ...

Is That a Bat? A Guide to Non-Bat Sounds Encountered during Bat Surveys

Author: Neil Middleton

Publisher: Pelagic Press, Exeter

Published: 2020

There has been some ground-breaking development in bat detector technology in recent years, such as the Audiomoth and Echometer Touch, reviewed in BTO News, Spring 2018, which have enabled a much ...

Moult and Ageing of European Passerines

Author: Lukas Jenni & Raffael Winkler

Publisher: Helm, London

Published: 2020

Moult is a pivotal stage in the annual cycle of all birds and understanding the effect of moult strategy on plumage is an essential tool for ageing birds in the field for birdwatchers and ringers ...

Atlas of the Mammals of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Author: Derek Crawley, Frazer Coomber, Laura Kubasiewicz, Colin Harrower, Peter Evans, James Waggitt, Bethany Smith & Fiona Matthews

Publisher: Pelagic Publishing, Exeter

Published: 2020

This is the first national Mammal Atlas to be published since 1993 (Atlas of Mammals in Britain by Henry Arnold) and documents changes in recorded distribution between 1960 and 2016. It is aimed as an ...
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