We are delighted to release our latest set in the ID Insights Pocket Card series, covering bird species most likely to be seen in and around gardens.

Wellknown wildlife artists Dan and Rosie Powell, have provided beautiful illustrations and helpful ID tips for 65 bird species. These have been superbly printed on 11 heavyweight silk-laminated cards.

This set is perfect for children, ‘armchair’ birdwatchers and those new to birdwatching and is an exciting addition to our range.

£5.95 per pack
or
buy any combination of three or more of our ID Insights Pocket Card sets at just £5 per set.
(postage and packing included).

Wellknown wildlife artist Dan Powell, who already has a dragonfly fieldguide to his credit, was the natural choice to provide both the illustrations and the helpful ID tips for 51 species of dragonfly and damselfly regularly seen in the UK.

Dan illustrates the male and female for each species, and where appropriate, there are close-ups of particular body segments to aid identification. As well as the brilliant colour plates, the set of cards includes topographical drawings of both a dragonfly and a damselfly, plus charts showing main flight periods and typical habitats for each species.

The Dragonflies of Great Britain is a set of 13 plates superbly printed on heavyweight silk-laminated card and features all the UK breeding species, plus a selection of regularly occuring migrants. £5.95 per pack or three packs for £15 (postage and packing included).

Here’s a complete guide to 58 UK resident butterfly species and commonly occurring migrants, all brilliantly illustrated life size by noted wildlife artist Rosemary Powell. For each species, Rosemary provides both upper and lower wing illustrations for males and females, so you should never be stumped when you encounter a new species in the field.

In addition to the illustration plates, this set provides detailed charts showing flight periods, habitats and distribution advice.

The Butterflies of Great Britain is a set of 12 plates superbly printed on heavyweight silk-laminated card. £5.95 per pack or three packs for £15 (postage and packing included).

Illustrator Dave Nurney and writer Dominic Couzens, both wellknown to readers of Bird Watching magazine, combined their skills to produce the ground-breaking ID Insights British Birds set of cards. This pack concentrates on those commonly seen birds which regularly pose identification problems, so if you are the sort of birdwatcher who can never remember which godwit has the longer legs or you have problems with female duck plumages, this is the set for you.

In total, 113 species are covered, so in most situations you’ll have the ID advice you need simply by reaching into your jacket pocket. Each species is illustrated in superb detail and Dominic provides three or four key ID pointers to look out for when assessing divers and grebes in winter plumages, dabbling and diving ducks, seaducks, raptors in flight, waders, gulls and terns, warblers, finches and buntings.

To complete a fantastic package, there is a topographical illustration of a bird, with all the parts of the bird named. The set consists of ten heavyweight silk-laminated cards and costs £5.95 per pack (or three packs for £15 including p&p).

“This paperback covers the Scottish Highlands (ie north of Perth) and is an excellent guide to some of the best bird sites that are easily reachable from the road…. It is worth buying this book to plan birding trips to the Highlands as it can save a lot of time in the planning stage.” – A Condon (review on Amazon).

“This Buckingham Press volume is now the book of choice for any birder visiting the Highlands.” – Steve Gantlett, Editor, Birding World.

The format of this book differs from the rest of the series because the area covered is huge – from Perthshire right up to the Caithness flow country – and many of the best birding sites lie outside established nature reserves. As a car is the only practical vehicle for birders, author Gordon Hamlett has organised the information into a series of 20 mainland road trip itineraries, plus guides to the islands of Handa and Skye.

The tours are all circular, with individual maps for each stopping-off point (the book contains an amazing 164 maps in total). As an example, the Speyside itinerary features no fewer than 19 sites, ranging from extensive entries for Boat of Garten and the Loch Garten area down to simple one paragraph tips for finding Crested Tits in Moremoor car park.

The author’s extensive knowledge of the area (he’s married to a Scot) is apparent in all the reports and the book is full of useful advice. As part of his introduction, Gordon provides a detailed guide for drivers (including fuel supplies) which first-time visitors will find particularly helpful.

Other features of the book include:

• The birding year in the Highlands.
• Codes of conduct for viewing Black Grouse and Capercaillie.
• Scottish Bird List and how to submit records.
• Useful contacts.
• An internet guide to Scottish birding.

The Best Birdwatching Sites series are models of consistency and clarity. In conclusion the book is essential if you’re a regular to this part of the South Coast and it’s worth having if you are likely to be twitching down to the area or just planning to have a weekend birding somewhere a bit different.”  - John Hague, Leics & Rutland OS.

From Scotney Court in the east to Chichester Harbour in the west, the two counties of Sussex abound in great birding sites and authors Adrian Thomas of the RSPB and Peter Francis have detailed 57 of the best for this book, making it the most comprehensive birding guide for Sussex on the market.

The wellknown sites such as RSPB Pulborough Brooks, WWT Arundel, Pagham and Rye Harbour naturally receive detailed coverage, but the authors have followed the less-travelled roads as well to highlight the promise of sites such as Chapel Common with its Dartford Warblers, Wood Larks and Nightjars or Combe Haven near Hastings where Bearded Tits lurk in the massive reedbed and Water Pipits are regular winter visitors.

Though East and West Sussex don’t attract the rarities of the east coast or south-western counties, it is well located to experience wader and wildfowl passage on a large scale or to watch out for incoming spring migrants. As part of their Birding Year in Sussex article, the authors provide migrant arrival dates for March and April and supplement this with a detailed guide to spring seawatching that includes the top sites and a chart showing when key species reach their peak numbers between February and May.

Other key features include:

• Monthly bird highlights.
• Disabled access and public transport information.
• Sussex Bird List.

“ The whole package is so well thought out that it makes this guide easier to use than any other site guide I’ve come across. The end product is so clever that it makes you wonder why site guides haven’t always been done this way.” - Dave Gosney, Birdguides review.

Author Neil Glenn was so frustrated by the ‘waffle’ and ‘lack of clarity’ in exisiting site guides, that he worked closely with Hilary and David Cromack to establish the template for the Best Birdwatching Sites guides. Clearly, he was not alone in his frustration because the first edition of his Norfolk guide, launched in 2003, was a runaway success.

Neil, a tour leader and long-time member of Notts Birders, began work on a second edition almost immediately, revisiting and re-assessing all the sites. By the end of the process he decided to remove two sites that had diminished in value, but added 12 new locations to make the guide to Britain’s most popular birding county as comprehensive as possible.

Many of the reserves on the north Norfolk coast are well–established and welknown, so it was a priority to spotlight as many lesser known sites as possible. For instance, a dozen reserves within the Broads are detailed, with a further eight in or close to Thetford. In total, Neil details 83 sites and many residents of Norfolk have told us “We never realised there were so many places we’d never visited before…”

Other features include:

• The birding year in Norfolk
• Detailed guides, complete with maps and travel information for 83 sites.
• Wheelchair and public transport access information.
• Norfolk bird checklist.
• Glossary and useful contacts.