WINTER’S WILDLIFE Guide flies high to win big prize
The Bafta red carpet will be rolled out tonight, with film stars aplenty expected to attend the glittering prize-giving ceremony.
But for birdwatchers, a much more prestigious award has been recently announced. Bird Book of the Year has become an honour that promises not only huge sales, but kudos among a community that is almost as obsessive about the texts they read as the birds they worship.
This year’s Birders’ Choice accolade – awarded by the readers of Birdwatch magazine – goes to a title that has been hailed as the greatest field guide ever published.
The latest edition of the Collins Bird Guide is being rightly triumphed as the book of the year, having gone through its third metamorphosis in four decades.
More than a million birders – a third British – already own a copy of the guide, which has been published in 23 languages since first appearing to widespread acclaim in 1999.
To meet the exacting standards of today’s birders, the authors and publishers have produced an exquisite revamp, revising the text and artwork.
The third edition sees the inclusion of 32 new pages – allowing for more space for groups of birds including grouse, divers, raptors, terns, owls, swifts, woodpeckers, swallows, redstarts, flycatchers and tits, as well as a number of finches and buntings.
Artists Killian Mullarney and Dan Zetterstrom have to be hailed as grand masters of their profession, crafting 50 exquisite colour plates that are either new or have been completely or partly repainted with the same finesse as in the original edition.
In total, the book’s 476 pages give full coverage to 729 species found across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East along with mention of 66 occasional visitors. A further 142 extremely rare vagrants are listed.
There is also space for 36 species that have escaped from captivity or have been introduced and now breed in a feral state.
This must-have field guide for experts and novices alike is as essential as a passport when birding around Europe and beyond.
Collins Bird Guide (William Collins, rrp £30) is available now
The third edition sees an exquisite revamp with revised text and artwork