Product Description

A compact, informative and beautifully illustrated RSPB guide to 174 of the most common birds found in Britain. This new pocket handbook will easily be the best value and highest quality British bird guide available within this price range. The RSPB Pocket Guide to Birds will feature concise descriptions of each bird's main characteristics including plumage, calls and song, confusion species, habitat, distribution and status, and behaviours. The brand new text, from Simon Harrap, is being written to highlight the detailed artworks. This easy-to-use guide features a species per page, including a colour distribution map.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2083 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-24
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Review
'Virtually every species gets a page to itself The illustrations, by Dave Nurney, are truly excellent, lifelike and show all the key identification features. At under a fiver, this really is the best value bird book on the market.' Countryfile (Autumn 2007) 'Well planned, well executed, and commendable cheap, this little book deserves to be a very popular beginners' guide to 174 of Britain's commonest bird species.' IBIS (April 2008) "Easily the best guide for the complete beginner Brilliant" The Observer (June 2008)

The Observer(June 2008)
"Easily the best guide for the complete beginner"

About the Author
Simon Harrap is a well-known professional naturalist and birder. He has led birdwatching holidays for almost 20 years and is a regular contributor to birding magazines and journals. He is the author of Tits, Nuthatches and Treecreepers (Helm), and co-author of Where to Watch Birds in Britain (Helm) and Orchids of Britain and Ireland (A&C Black). He has recently set up a company with his wife to run nature breaks in Norfolk, his home county.

Customer Reviews

Excellent Pocket Bird Book

This book contains all the usual information that a good quality book on birds should carry within its pages. It covers 170 of the most commonly found birds in Britain and Ireland in a well laid out and easy to follow format. The illustrations by David Nurney are excellent and many bird enthusiasts prefer illustrations to photographs. For identification purposes they are first class.

This book features a bird per page and has all the usual features including descriptions of each bird's main characteristics including distribution of each species. The bird's plumage and behaviour patterns. RSPB books seem to go that extra mile with the information they provide the enthusiast.

really only for those new to bird watching
I bought this book, hoping that it would be a replacement for the out-of-print Mitchell Beazley guide which has been my trusty companion on bird-watching excursions for many years. I was very disappointed with this book. The title does not make clear that it only covers 170 of the most common birds, and as an experienced bird-watcher I found that I already knew how to identify all of the birds in it. The only up-side was that it was cheap. I am surprised that this is a RSPB publication, I would have expected better. Why did they not include all British birds - laziness?? cost??

Having said all that, the illustrations are clear, and for those new to birding it will be a good guide - unless a less common species is encountered and then the watcher will not have a clue what it is!

The distribution maps are somewhat inaccurate, as it shows birds to be absent in areas where they are known to be present.

RSPB Pocket Guide to British Birds
When I ordered this and RSPB Handbook of British Birds (Ornithology) I was looking for a modern version of my well-loved Hamlyn's and Collin's field guides for my (young adult) daughter.
This is NOT a direct replacement for those old guides but after considering both books, my daughter chose this one in preference to the other because of its more convenient size.
I can't be more specific on the quality of the book as she has it and is using it to identify and know more about the birds she sees when she is out and about.