Collins Bird Guide The Most Complete Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe

It was way back in 1999 that birders all over the UK were anxiously anticipating the arrival of the first edition of this revolutionary book, which was first published in Swedish before being translated. A sign of its continuing success is that 23 years later the same excitement has surrounded the arrival of the third edition! Back in 1999, it cost £25 and at 400 pages it contained around 3,500 paintings and 700 distribution maps. My guess is that most people reading this review will have the first and/or second editions of this book and many will have it as a smartphone app too. So will you spot many differences in the third edition?

Firstly the good news – the price has only moved up to £30. The second edition had 448 pages and now we are up to 476. Collins have done well on that price – they need to persuade us to buy a second (or third copy). But is much else new? The answer is yes. The new edition uses those extra pages well, allowing several groups more space. More than 50 plates are either new or have been repainted completely or partly. Hans Larsson has painted some of the vagrants and introduced species. I found changes to illustrations and/or text for the grouse, divers, several groups of raptors, terns, owls, swifts, woodpeckers, swallows, redstarts, flycatchers, tits, finches and buntings. Apart from this, a few new vignettes have been added. The section with vagrants has been expanded to accommodate more images and longer texts for several species. The entire text and all maps have also been revised. For example, very helpfully the details for Marsh Tit now mention the white spot to look for on the base of the upper mandible – a game-changer for anyone trying to rule out Willow Tit. There are plenty of useful tips like that.

Like any book, it's not without typos – and the one worth noting is that the species introductions on waders and gulls are on pages 136-137 and 182-183 and not as stated in the text. The latest BOU taxonomy places falcons just after woodpeckers but I am pleased to say that in this field guide falcons are still placed just before rails – which is where you would naturally expect to find them. The reproduction of the plates is good and in each edition these have been improved.

The previous editions eventually appeared in addition as softbacks, so we can expect that to arrive in a few years, and I am told that the app will be updated sometime in the first half of 2023.

If you’ve never bought the Collins Bird Guide before then you really should. It includes a lot of birds that you’ll never see in the UK but the illustrations and text are the best available anywhere. If you’ve already got one or both of the earlier editions, then like me, the cover is probably falling off or has gone already! You won’t be disappointed with this new one.