WADERS OF EUROPE

Lars Gejl Bloomsbury, HB, £40, you pay £33.99 when you quote BW-REV

If waders are your thing (and they're certainly mine), then this is a must for your bookshelf. Covering 44 species of European waders plus 38 scarcer visitors from North America and Asia, it provides detailed information on taxonomy, breeding biology and migration habits, and is illustrated with more than 670 photos, covering juvenile and non-breeding plumages every bit as well as breeding. The silhouettes are a nice touch, too

– you can imagine them coming in handy viewing against strong light, and they get you thinking about each species' structure. It's not particularly portable, but any wader enthusiast will refer to it time and again.