Scarce and Rare Birds in North Wales: Historic Records up to and Including 2016

I guess I am lucky in that I know Robin very well and it was a pleasure to see this book develop from the initial idea, to having a quick proof read between net rounds whilst on a ringing trip to Catelonia in Spain, to finally receiving my copy hand-delivered over the ringing table.

It was great to see two of the region’s heavyweights contributing to the book. Alan “The Biggest Twitch” Davies on the development of birding from personal grapevines to today’s instant news, and Ken Croft who by sheer graft and working a patch shows the number of excellent birds that can be found by putting in the time in the field.

The species accounts are excellent, showing the amount of detailed research Robin has undertaken, and the quality of the 200 colour photographs should be seen to be believed, and bring back many memories.

The list of rare and scarce birds for North Wales is impressive, but considering how few really active birders we have and the number of under watched sites, what do we miss?  It is good to see Robin’s challenge to go and find your own rare birds. If you are really into finding your own rare birds then this book is the place to start your research for planning where to go, and it should encourage all of us to get out more, go to new places and look a little bit harder.

Book reviewed by Kelvin Jones