Rocky Shores (British Wildlife Collection 7)

Britain and Ireland are fortunate in having a wide variety of coastlines. The rocky shores are, for birders, the haunt of Rock Pipits and Purple Sandpipers, but this book reveals a far wider range of complex and exciting biodiversity reliant on the ever-changing conditions of this environment. The authors do an excellent job of making the subject accessible without glossing over the detail, with some of the less apparent fauna – such as copepods, sea-squirts and diatoms - dealt with as thoroughly as the better-known crabs and starfish. There are also good descriptions of more cross-cutting themes such as intertidal zonation and its interplay with competition between species. Most of us will have only (literally) dipped our toes into this world, but this well-written and well-illustrated book will make you want to look again.

Book reviewed by Andy Musgrove