RSPB Pocket Guide to British Birds
A compact, lightweight and informative guide to 310 of the most common birds found in the UK.
RSPB Pocket Guide to British Birds is a compact, lightweight and informative field guide, featuring 310 bird species regularly seen in the UK. Species are illustrated in all distinct plumage forms likely to be observed in the wild by renowned bird artist Stephen Message, and a detailed distribution map for the British Isles is also provided.
Concise text covers appearance, behaviour and voice – focusing on key identification points – and also outlines where you will find the species, describes its seasonal movements and includes the latest UK population data. Finally, confusion species are cross-referenced, with their most important and easily noted differences from the subject species described. A comprehensive introduction provides a guide on how and where to find birds, and how to make the most useful and rewarding observations for newcomers to birdwatching.
Uniquely, this guide also provides images and descriptions for not only a selection of rarer visitors, but also for a range of domestic species and certain commonly observed aberrant forms of more familiar birds, all of which are omitted from most field guides but can cause great confusion for beginners when encountered in the wild.
Stephen Message is one of the UK’s foremost bird artists as well as an experienced birdwatcher. He studied Graphic Design, then specialised in natural history illustration at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and has worked as a freelance artist ever since. Stephen has twice been runner up for the Bird Illustrator of the Year, and he was also the runner up for the Birdwatch Artist of the Year in 2017. Stephen has illustrated many books in his career, including Waders of Europe, Asia and North America, Bill Oddie’s Birds of Britain and Ireland and the Field Guide to the Birds of South-East Asia.
Marianne Taylor is a freelance writer, illustrator, photographer and editor. Since taking the plunge as a freelancer in 2007, Marianne has written more than 25 books for adults and children on a range of natural history subjects, including RSPB Garden Birds, RSPB British Birds of Prey, RSPB Seabirds and The Way of the Hare. A passion for all wildlife, but especially birds, has always been a driving force in Marianne’s life.