Books

Reviews of the latest books including The Everyday Guide to British Birds

Charlie Elder, Bloomsbury, £12.99

If you're starting out in birdwatching, field guides can be daunting, just because of the sheer volume of species covered. This book, then, keeps it simple, dealing with 80 of the commonest and most widespread species in Britain. The advantage of this is that it can cover each one in depth – Charlie Elder sets out key ID features, confusion species, and likely habitat in which you'd find each species. But the best parts of each species account are the 'What makes it special?' and 'Added interest' sections. The former does a great job of putting each bird in a historical and ecological context, and makes you realise how easy it is to underappreciate some of our more familiar species. The latter, on the other hand, offers bite-size nuggets of information that will come in handy in bird club quizzes, as well as helping you gain a little more insight into each bird, It's all written in an accessible but authoritative style, making it a good starting place for anyone just starting to branch out from watching the birds in their garden and looking a little further afield. The downside, I suppose, is that sooner or later you'll come across something not covered here, and have to go running to a more comprehensive guide. But as a way of getting yourself familiar with core species, this does an excellent job, and should help you spot that surprise when it does pop up.