We asked NHBS Ambassador Nick Baker to choose his top 5 books for naturalists and wildife enthusiasts – he went one better and gave us a book of the year as well:

The Butterfly Isles by Patrick Barkham

Nick says: “The only thing that beats seeing butterflies is reading about them. So, for me, long winter nights are best spent reminiscing about the summer seasons gone and anticipating the one that lies ahead. This is the time for the armchair Aurelian. The book of the year for me is definitely The Butterfly Isles by Patrick Barkham. I was given my copy by a butterfly enthusiast who has rapidly become a good friend of mine, Dr Dan Danahar. He sent me a copy as a thank you for taking part in what became a butterfly race around Brighton (25 species in a day). Several of the characters that took part in this wonderful inspiring day full of Chalkhill Blues and White-letter Hairstreaks are in the book, many of the others – the Martin Warrens, Mathew Oates and Jeremy Thomases of the world – are all portrayed as passionately and as accurately as the insects that drive their lives.
The author seeks to see all 58 species of British breeding butterfly in a single year and at the same time rekindle a father-son bond over the butterflies they desired. The outcome is a very well-written romp, true to the traditional eccentricities that is almost compulsory to those in the pursuit of these winged things. It’s a book about people as much as it is about the insects, and all in all it tackles our deep seated relationship with nature and the British countryside and leaves you feeling proud to be living on this collection of islands we call home.”

Nick’s Top 5 Books for Naturalists

1. The Butterflies of Britain and Ireland by Jeremy Thomas and Richard Lewington

…”The Butterflies of Britain and Ireland by Jeremy Thomas and Richard Lewington is a perfect butterfly reference book. It oozes quality and is the quintessential book for anybody interested in these winged wonders. Way back in 1991 butterfly ecologist and thoroughly energetic champion of these insects, Jeremy Thomas, teamed with the talented paintbrush pushing skills of Richard Lewington and together they created a special thing. This second edition is totally up-to-date with the current status changes, and the intricate details, subtleties and ecological relationships of our British species. The winter is a great time to slip between its pages the first thing that strikes you is the illustrations, which like the first edition of this book are stunning… then allow yourself to dip into the text and everything springs to life; Jeremy Thomas has a way of writing about his life’s charges with the sort of passion a child may have for the fairground but at the same time he has the scientific knowledge, gravitas and experience of someone who has dedicated his life to understanding the world according to these charismatic insects.”

2. Guide to Garden Wildlife by Richard Lewington

…”This little beauty is both penned and illustrated by Richard Lewington, and is a truly excellent guide to many of the most commonly encountered garden species; from bees, birds, voles and moles and many others to the more specialised such as harvestmen, thrips, and solitary bees and wasps, as well as slugs and snails! The wonderful detailed text and observations within are in many cases clearly born from the actual experiences of the author. Scattered throughout are sections that may inspire you to create an even better wildlife garden with advice on creating ponds, building and positioning nest boxes and bird feeders. I cannot recommend this book enough – if you have a garden and are interested in wildlife then you must have this on your shelf, and if you know of someone who has a garden make sure they’ve got this on their shelf.”

3. Mushrooms by John Wright

…”This isn’t a new book by any means; I’ve had my copy for several years now. I’m not even massively into fungi. I have a general interest and engage in a little bit of hedgerow foraging from time to time, so why this book? …it made me laugh! Yep, this is undoubtedly the funniest field guide I’ve ever read. It is so refreshing to find yourself with tears streaming down your face while trying to concentrate on the finer points of separating a Yellow Stainer from a Field Mushroom, or learning that it is illegal to pick magic mushrooms, but not if you can’t identify them! This book is rare: being informative, excellently written with personal passion, both entertaining and peppered with all manner of identification tips and recipes for when you are 100% happy with your identification skills.”

4. Survivors by Richard Fortey

…”Having been a fan of two of Fortey’s other books (Trilobite and Dry Store Room No.1) I’ve been waiting with great anticipation for this, his latest book, to be published. I can tell you it was well worth the wait, the writing style is in the same ball park as other great science popularisers of today (well written, not dumbed down and immensely readable) and the subject matter is those animals we often hear referred to as ‘living fossils’. Richard uses them as biological muses, looking into their lives for clues as to how the story of life on earth unfolded – using these animals as ‘telescopes’ into the past. I’ve always like evolutionary stories, hence my love of natures oddities and here we have a book full of beguiling beasts with some of the best back stories ever in the history of life on earth – with Tarsiers, Hellbenders, Velvet worms, lungfish and lampreys all covered within its pages.”

5. Mammals of the British Isles Volume 4 – edited by Stephen Harris and Derek W Yalden

…”This high quality, comprehensive and scientifically up-to-date publication by The Mammal Society is very much in line with the standard set by Lynx publications (Handbook of the Birds of the World, Handbook of the Mammals of the World and Threatened Amphibians of the World). On publication it immediately became a standard reference in its field. Expertly done, it covers every mammal species found in, on and around the British Isles, including marine mammals and naturalised species (and a few that only have a historic presence on our islands). For anyone that has an interest in our mammal fauna then this the essential book. It is a large tome which despite the ambitious intent is easy to navigate with loads of glossy photographs and easy summary charts that help to ease your way through its pages.”

Read the full article on Nick Baker’s blog

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New Naturalist 118: Marches by Andrew Allott

Reviewer: S. W. Mott from the United Kingdom

“Outstanding”

“In the early 1980s, I lived and worked in Gloucester and undertook numerous outings to the Welsh Marches to walk and watch wildlife. So Andrew Allott’s book “Marches” has been eagerly awaited. It is a superb, masterly addition to the New Naturalists series.

Here we have a comprehensive account of the region, which is meticulously researched and thoughtfully detailed. The text includes examples to illustrate the wider context and the themes of the chapters. Mr Allott makes very good use of local sources and resources for much of these, such as the charming reference to the work done by a local primary school (p.75) and other local people, communities and wildlife groups. This is absolutely the right approach as it embeds the book in the region it describes.

The book is well structured; the first chapter invites us to take a “tour” of the region’s main, distinctive topographical areas which serve as a scaffold for the following chapters, whose themes take in the unique and chararcteristic features of the Border landscape arising within the topographical areas. Mr Allott writes in an interesting and flowing style. It is well structured. His attention to detail is woven seamlessly into the overview, the carefully chosen examples serve as fascinating insights into the natural history of the region. The chapters cover the expected themes but include up-to-date analysis and review of nature conservation, farming, land-use changes and local development and management, and outline lessons learned and issues for the future. I found myself thinking that the lessons learned in the Marches region could well be applied elsewhere too!

My only niggles are in the editing of the book. Trying to fit some of the figures on to one page renders some of the detail too small to read (making it almost meaningless), or makes the use of colour-coding difficult to differentiate. There are inconsistencies too: why, for example, provide Figs 16 or 104 with a colour key, yet not Figs 81 and 82? For the latter, the reader has to wade through text which explains the colour. On p41 we have an ambiguous paragraph which, on first reading, makes it seem that a new set of semi-natural squatters have returned to the Clee Hills. I suspect that the word “vegetation” has been omitted after the word “semi-natural”! Perhaps trying to publish three New Naturalist titles a year is having a negative effect on the editing.

These small niggles do not detract very much from this magnificent account of the varied, rich and very distinctive natural history of the Marches. To try to shoe-horn this into any descriptive framework is a challenge and one in which Mr Allott has succeeded – and succeeded triumphantly.”

What do you think of the New Naturalist series? What are your favourite volumes? Feel free to share your feedback by leaving a comment – or to create your own review, click the following link:

Share your views with NHBS customers around the world – click here to create a product review

Customer reviews can be read in the ‘Reviews’ tab on each product page and a selection of reviews appears here on the Hoopoe

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Geoffrey Kibby, senior editor of Field Mycology, and author of two recent best-selling photographic keys to fungi – British Boletes and The Genus Agaricus in Britain - talks about how childhood discovery in a woodland wonderland led to a life spent mushrooming…

What first attracted you to the curious world of fungi, and what are your mycological credentials?

I have been mushrooming for over 45 years; as a boy of 13 I was convalescing from some surgery and was staying in a cottage very close to the Queen’s estates at Sandringham in Norfolk. Opposite the cottage was a large area of fenced-in woodland with “Private, property of HM the Queen” on a gate. Like any self-respecting schoolboy I completely ignored the sign and climbed over the fence and into what I can only describe as a wonderland. A damp, mossy conifer wood, dripping with lichens and ferns and with fungi everywhere. I still remember the first fungus I was ever consciously aware of, a beautiful, small and intensely violet toadstool (Laccaria amethystea) and I thought I had never seen anything so amazing, so magical. I soon purchased my first book, the Observer’s Book of Mushrooms, and quickly realised that I needed a bigger book! I have been collecting and writing about them ever since.

For most of that 45 years I have been a member of the British Mycological Society and for the last 12 years have been the Senior Editor of the journal Field Mycology which deals with all aspects of mycology (the study of fungi). For about six years I lived in the USA and was at one time the President of the New Jersey Mycological Association. I have published numerous books on fungi including general field guides as well as more specialist monographs.

Your recent publications on British Boletes and The Genus Agaricus in Britian have become instant bestsellers. Who are they aimed at and what can the reader expect from them?

My specialist books are aimed at the enthusiastic amateur all the way up to the specialist – usually people who realise that the popular field guides are not sufficient to tackle some of the larger or more difficult groups of fungi. I have tried to make them more user-friendly than the traditional identification keys, often using a synoptic system whereby the reader only has to decide on 6 or 7 principal characters before attempting to key out the particular species. My keys include lots of illustrations to aid the reader in making these decisions. In some cases a microscope is required but the techniques needed are not that difficult and of course a microscope opens up a whole new world of wonderment in all areas of natural history, not just in mycology!

Generally, what part do fungi play in the world’s ecosystems?

Without fungi to digest and break down the decaying organic matter in our woods and fields the world would soon be swamped in enormous depths of fallen twigs, leaves and other debris. Most trees are dependent on fungi and form specialised symbiotic relationships with them, they cannot grow well without them and vice versa. Other fungi of course are parasitic and attack other organisms (including ourselves…) and many others have strange life cycles which we scarcely understand at all and this all adds to our fascination with them.

We’re in fungi season now – to what extent are there annual changes in the fungi ‘populations’ throughought the UK, and is there any way in which fungi acts as an indicator of wider environmental changes?

In recent years there have been enormous ‘invasions’ of new fungi and as the climate has changed we have seen corresponding changes in the way fungi behave and fruit. Our penchant for covering the world in woodchip mulch has paved the way for numerous exotic species to come into the country. Some species have spread to every British county, using this newly invented habitat, within 5 years of their first discovery, an amazing colonisation by any standard.

Increased annual temperatures are affecting the way in which fungi fruit; species which formerly fruited only in the autumn are now often fruiting twice a year in both spring and autumn. Others which were specialists in fruiting only in the spring, such as the common and deliciously edible morel have been appearing as late as November or even January!

Do you have a favourite mushroom?

Almost an impossible question to answer, but I certainly have favourite groups. The boletes have been a favourite since my childhood as they are for many other mycologists. Their large size and often bright, exotic colours are very appealing and they are relatively easy to identify also, hence my recent book on the subject. I also have a long time passion for the genus Russula, a sometimes very difficult group with around 170 species in Britain, often of very bright colours once again and very common everywhere. I am putting the finishing touches to my ‘magnum opus’ on that group as I write this.

Can you describe a particularly interesting species, or feature of a species of a mushroom found in the UK?

Many fungi form associations with other fungi, some of which we are still in the process of discovering. Many boletes for example, particularly in the genus Suillus form associations with a group of fungi called Gomphidius. Each species of bolete seems to latch onto a particular species of Gomphidius, very specific, and we don’t really know what is going on, although the best guess is that one partner is sort of hitching a ride on the other, tapping into its associate’s ability to obtain nutrient from the particular conifer with which it grows, without having to do the work itself.

There is some great photography in the keys – I guess a mushroom is a perfect still subject for the nature photographer – is photography a hobby of yours that has grown from your work?

I have been photographing for as long as I can remember and using fungi as subjects was a natural extension of this. I now teach digital photography and the use of Photoshop to enhance and edit photographs as part of adult education courses at local colleges. Fungi are ideal subjects since they don’t run away or even sway in the breeze as wild flowers do, and of course their strange shapes and colours are wonderful subjects to try and capture.

I went mushroom hunting recently and always ended up way off a positive identification. Given the dangers of mistaken-identity, what advice would you give the amateur fungi hunter? 

Start small: learn to recognise the basic groups where possible, that is half the battle. Go on as many guided mushroom walks as possible and learn from experts in the field – there is no substitute for that. Field guides can only take you so far and cannot show you all the many variations that fungi are capable of. My favourite saying is that “mushrooms don’t read the books!” Meaning that they don’t always conform in size and appearance to the illustrations in the book, they vary enormously as they age. Get as many books as you can afford, each will offer some extra information and pictures that another might lack. Finally, never, ever eat a fungus you are not confident of. All mushrooms can be eaten once but sometimes not twice……the history of mushrooming is filled with people who have eaten and become very sick or even died from making an error in identification.

On which cautionary note…

Geoffrey Kibby’s keys are available now from NHBS:

British Boletes: With Keys to Species

The Genus Agaricus in Britain

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Popularity: 10% [?]

The Handbook of the Birds of the World series, the first volume of which was published in 1992, has been a phenomenal undertaking, being the first project to illustrate, and provide essential information regarding, all the bird species of the world. This year sees the publication of the final volume.

Not that this is the end. Publisher Lynx Edicions have three new products planned to keep this project alive, the first of which will be a special volume about new species with a global index for the series. Keep an eye on the NHBS website for more information. Customers with standing orders for the series will receive an explanation of their options regarding these future HBW projects in their notification emails/letters for Volume 16.

HBW Vol. 16: Tanagers to New World Blackbirds is available from NHBS at a special offer price of £148 (reduced from £185) until 15th October 2011.

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Popularity: 6% [?]

Due for publication in October (delayed from September – but it’ll be worth the wait!), here is a sample chapter from the Royal Entomological Society Book of British Insects, kindly supplied by publishers Wiley-Blackwell. 

Chapter 8 –  Order Odonata: the dragonflies and damselflies.

Pre-order The RES Book of British Insects today for £34.99 (reduced from £39.95). 

Offer ends 31/12/2011.

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Popularity: 9% [?]

With wildlife conservation high on everyone’s agenda, here are some recommendations to introduce you to the natural diversity of your garden, and help you to create a haven for wildlife on your doorstep:

Guide to Garden Wildlife, by Richard Lewington, is a field guide to all the wildlife you might expect to encounter in the garden – from mammals, birds and insects to invertebrates and pond life. The species descriptions are full of useful detail, and Lewington provides the intricate illustrations that make this a real treasure of a handbook. There are informative sections on garden ecology, nest-boxes and bird feeders, and creating a garden pond.

Gardening for Butterflies, Bees and Other Beneficial Insects, by Jan Miller-Klein, homes in on practical techniques for encouraging insect diversity in your garden. A large-format tour through the seasons, with additional sections on tailored habitats, and species-appropriate planting, this beautifully photographed guide is perfect for every bug-friendly gardener looking to provide a good home for the full range of insect life.

RSPB Gardening for Wildlife: A Complete Guide to Nature-friendly Gardening, by Adrian Thomas, is a fantastic encyclopaedic introduction to how best to provide for the potential visitors to your garden, while maintaining its function for the family. A species-by-species guide to the ‘home needs’ of mammals, birds, insects and reptiles is followed by a substantial selection of practical projects, and helpful hints and appendices, to get your garden flourishing – whatever its size.

Dr Jennifer Owen’s Wildlife of a Garden: A Thirty-year Study, is a rare and illuminating book, in which is recorded – in scrupulous detail – the evidence of dramatic changes in populations in a single suburban garden in Leicester over a thirty-year period. An abundance of beautifully presented data, discussed in the context of wider biodiversity fluctuations, is balanced with numerous colour photographs, illustrations, and descriptive natural history of the residents of the garden. Modest in one sense, but unbelievably grand in timescale – and in its completeness – the rigorous effort and expertise that have been applied to the task of collecting and interpreting these data make this study a real one-off in the field of natural history writing.

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Popularity: 9% [?]

What is a mangrove, what sort of habitat does it provide, and what might you find living there?

The World Atlas of Mangroves, published by Earthscan, is a huge undertaking with you at the helm as lead author. What are your credentials? Who were your colleagues?

I think it’s taken about 5 years. Leadership of the whole project was run by the wonderful International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems, a small but very active NGO based in Japan, with funds from the International Tropical Timber Organization. Mami Kainuma, one of the co-authors, works with ISME. Also, at its heart, it’s a book rich with maps – and that work fell to two other organisations: FAO in Rome and UNEP-WCMC in Cambridge – and many fantastic colleagues in both organisations.

I wrote an earlier mangrove atlas with ISME which came out in 1997. In fact the two works are almost incomparable. The 1997 work was the best we could do with limited resources. It’s not bad, but this work is so much more than just a new edition – we’ve got globally consistent, detailed maps; we reviewed 1400 references for the text; we have the first ever range maps for all species…

With mangroves disappearing three to four times faster than land-based forests, what is being done to address the situation?

What are the main problem or priority areas for mangrove conservation?

Communication. I think the case for mangrove conservation is rock-solid. More so than for some other habitats where direct dollar values for goods and services can sound a little tortured or unconvincing. But many still don’t know it, so mangroves are still suffering from a poor press as unproductive wastelands, and from poor accounting, as short-term profits are being used to persuade losses with often dire long-term consequences.

But it’s not all bad news? What are some of the success stories?

Matang forest in Malaysia, and the Sundarbans in Bangladesh and India, are among the longest-running tropical forestry operations in the world. They are plantations of a sort, though much reafforestation is just natural growback. But in both places for well over a century thousands or even tens of thousands of people have benefitted from timber products and fisheries, while the wildlife remains abundant, showing that we can work  alongside nature.

Mangroves are also robust survivors. Given half a chance they’ll recover. They don’t appear to be stressed by warming temperatures, and if they can migrate inland then sea level rise might not stress them too much either.  Get things right and they are going to help us to adapt to climate change AND keep local communities going with other goods and services.

The World Atlas of Mangroves is a global overview, and this is a focus we see increasingly in conservation and ecology with developments such as remote sensing. What are the benefits and the limitations of this kind of approach?

In an increasingly global world they help us to get things in perspective. For those working at national or local levels they offer a context for that work. They enable arguments to be made, and I’d like to think they also enable connections – that people working South America might realize the bonanza to be made from ecotourism, or sustainable harvesting. They also help those who deal with issues at the international level – in the case of mangroves to make the case for their importance – in climate change adaptation, carbon sequestration, rural livelihoods, offshore fisheries. Of course its not a book to be used for navigation! The maps are good, but not that good, and it’s always important for people like me to remember that books like this are really written by the thousands of experts who live and work “on the ground”.

You have commented on the “extraordinary synergies between people and forests”. How would humanity be affected by a substantial decrease in the world’s remaining mangroves?

Of course, many in the west wouldn’t notice, and the world’s economies might not notice, but mangroves are right there in the front line for many of the world’s poorest. There would be declines in livelihood, and in food and fuel supplies in many of the world’s poorest tropical coastal areas. A more subtle impact would be that of increased vulnerability. These same people, and others, even in coastal towns and cities, would become more exposed to risk from storms, flooding and the more subtle encroachment of sea level rise. Mangroves won’t stop these things, and its hard to pin exact numbers on the services, but the evidence that they help significantly is now very solid.

I assume you have visited many mangroves in your travels – what is it like to experience being in, on or around a mangrove? Any interesting stories from a field marine ecologist?

What part do you see the Atlas playing in highlighting the cause of mangrove conservation?

There’s a lot of information out there about the importance and value of mangroves, but perhaps it’s suffered from being piecemeal. The case might have been made that each story was a one-off. This time we’ve read 1400 sources and had review comments from over 100 people. It’s no longer possible to ignore the patterns and I hope that it might be used, by academics, teachers, policy experts and NGOs, to really make the case. Mangroves are critical resources.

What would you suggest as the most important next action the world’s conservation organisations and political leaders should take if we are to see our mangroves flourish and to secure a happy future for their inhabitants and dependents?

I think for some, conservation organizations embracing habitat restoration and active plantation might be something of a new direction. For others working  to educate local communities on the values of mangroves, or to help them defend their mangrove from clearance or conversion might be new ground. For sure we could always do with more protected areas, but actually in this case the holistic vision might take us beyond that and into thinking about protection in other ways, such that we halt losses completely and start to increase habitat areas.

Another new direction will be seriously planning for climate change. That will mean thinking about what lies behind the mangroves and planning for movements and migrations as sediments move, and new land is inundated.

The World Atlas of Mangroves is available now from NHBS

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The choice of new books in stock at NHBS this week is inspiring in its variety. Our favourite has to be the World Atlas of Mangroves. The detail in this inventory of biodiversity, habitat area, habitat loss and economic value for mangroves in 124 countries is extraordinary and we salute this beautifully produced feat of data collation. Highly recommended.

Browse the July NHBS Newsletter to see all the latest highlights.

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2010 is the first year in NHBS’ 25 year history when there hasn’t been a large number of new field guides and avifaunas to pick from over the summer months. Just when we started worrying there wouldn’t be anything to get excited about  all summer, along come two stunning books for birders:

Nightjars of the World: Frogmouths, Potoos, Oilbird and Owlet-nightjars by Nigel Cleere.

This long awaited photographic guide covers the world’s 136 species of nightjar, pootoos, frogmouths, oilbirds and owlet-nightjars and features many never-before-published images, the latest taxonomy and distribution information. £44.99 | Hbk

A Birdwatching Guide to South-East Brazil by Juha Honkala and Seppo Niiranen

The site descriptions include information on some 50 excellent birdwatching sites throughout South-East Brazil with accurate directions on how-to-get-there, details of what to see and expect, plus important information on conditions. In addition, the book includes illustrations of 558 species.

The species accounts include all the detail necessary for field identification of the 471 species recorded in the Agulhas Negras area, in the heart of South-East Brazil, plus scientific and common names in English and Portuguese, size, voice descriptions, subspecies, habitat, distribution and status in the area. Each species is illustrated with a high quality, full colour photograph. Range maps show the birds’ distribution in Brazil. A comprehensive species list of South-East Brazil, bibliography and a list of useful addresses and websites completes the volume. Paperback | £28.99

The best of the titles due in July and August:

Bird Observatories of the British Isles

The Golden Eagle (Poyser Monograph)

Field Guide to the Birds of the Middle East

Atlas of Rare Birds

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First up, our Editor’s Choice of the Top 10 Best Wildlife and Natural History Books of the year, followed by Customer Favourites – the most popular books of 2009.

Editor’s Top 10 Books of 2009

1. Vegetative Key to the British Flora
Nothing short of a revolution in plant identification

2. Field Guide to the Birds of Brazil
The first serious field guide to Brazil’s avifauna

3. Bats of Britain, Europe and Northwest Africa
Comprehensive and beautifully illustrated

4. Colour Identification Edition of Moths of the British Isles
Welcome new edition of Skinner’s classic

5. Handbook of the Mammals of the World, Volume 1: Carnivores
The first volume in a stunning series… can’t wait for the next instalment

6. On the Origin of Species: The Illustrated Edition
The best of too many Darwin books published for the double anniversary

7. Lichens of Great Britain and Ireland
A colossal undertaking – keys to 1873 species

8. Atlas of Wader Populations in Africa and Western Eurasia
Essential conservation info (for Ramsar/CMS) in a format accessible to serious birders

9. Sustainable Energy without the Hot Air
Clearly written and clearly costed solutions to our energy/climate conundrum

10. Biology of Coral Reefs
Brilliant academic overview of this threatened habitat

Customer Favourites
These are the most popular books of 2009 at NHBS by subject, as chosen by our customers: Birding, Bird Conservation, Botany, Mammals, Natural History and Zoology (including Entomology bestsellers). You’ll find an eclectic mix of geographic and taxonomic interest, with books from publishers all over the world. We’ve also included the Top 10 wildlife equipment from our rapidly expanding range of field kit.

Enjoy browsing, and please feel free to add your own recommendations for Top Titles in the comments section at the end of this post.

Birding
1. Wildfowl – New Naturalist Volume 110
2. Handbook of the Birds of the World, Volume 14
3. Field Guide to the Birds of Brazil
4. Field Guide to the Birds of East Asia
5. Shorebirds of the Northern Hemisphere
6. Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo
7. Field Guide to the Birds of the Horn of Africa
8. Field Guide to the Birds of South America: Passerines
9. Birdwatching Guide to Oman
10. History of Ornithology

Bird Conservation
1. Atlas of Wader Populations in Africa and Western Eurasia
2. Bird Ringing
3. Best Practice Guide for Wild Bird Monitoring Schemes
4. Ultimate Site Guide to Scarcer British Birds
5. Raptors: A Field Guide for Surveys and Monitoring
6. Status of Birds in Britain and Ireland
7. Bird Conservation and Agriculture
8. Rare Birds Where and When, Volume 1: Sandgrouse to New World Orioles
9. Important Bird Areas in the Caribbean
10. Avian Invasions

Mammals
1. Handbook of the Mammals of the World, Volume 1: Carnivores
2. Bats of Britain, Europe and Northwest Africa
3. Mammals of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East
4. Field Guide to the Mammals of South-East Asia
5. Guide to British Bats
6. British Mammals (Audio CD)
7. Lesser Horseshoe Bat
8. Field Guide to Indian Mammals
9. Mammals of the British Isles
10. Living with Dormice

Zoology
1. Field Guide to the Larvae and Exuviae of British Dragonflies, Volume 2 (Volume 1 also available)
2. Key to the Identification of British Centipedes
3. Collins Butterfly Guide
4. Britain’s Reptiles and Amphibians
5. RES Handbook Volume 4 Part 2: The Carabidae
6. New Holland European Reptile and Amphibian Guide
7. Insects of Britain and Western Europe
8. SBF Volume 58: Centipedes
9. Dangerous Marine Animals
10. Diversity of Fishes

Botany
1. Vegetative Key to the British Flora
2. Grasses of the British Isles
3. Collins Flower Guide
4. Lichens of Great Britain and Ireland
5. Sedges of the British Isles
6. Montane Heathland Lichen Guide
7. Water-Starworts Callitriche of Europe
8. Funga Nordica
9. Orchids of Britain and Ireland
10. Mountain Flowers and Trees of Caucasia

Natural History
1. Dartmoor: New Naturalist Volume 111
2. Art of Peter Scott
3. Art of the New Naturalists
4. Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Portfolio 19
5. Living Britain DVD
6. On the Origin of Species: The Illustrated Edition
7. Wild France
8. Nature’s Great Events – DVD
9. Wild Life
10. Life – DVD (David Attenborough)

Top 10 Equipment
1. Opticron Hand lens, 18mm, 20x magnification
2. Crushable Pocket Butterfly Net
3. Magenta Bat 5
4. WeatherWriter A4 Portrait
5. Bug Box Magnifying Pot
6. Batbox Baton
7. Collecting Pot (Bundle of 5)
8. Pooter
9. 5-Hole Small Bird Ringing (Banding) Pliers
10. One-Man Wildlife Photography Hide

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Popularity: 13% [?]