I have been immersed in nature since I was able to walk, my love for nature initially inspired by a chance encounter as a toddler with a buzzard amid South Devon’s leafy lanes. Upon fledging into adult plumage, I eventually became an award-winning wildlife and travel writer. After returning to Britain after several years leading wildlife tours in South America and Antarctica, I had an irrepressible desire to renew my relationship with British nature. My books 52 Wildlife Weekends, A Summer of British Wildlife (winner, Travel Guidebook of the Year, 2016) and Much Ado About Mothing (a travel narrative longlisted for the 2022 James Cropper Wainwright Prize) are the result.
I wrote...
52 Wildlife Weekends: A Year of British Wildlife-Watching Breaks
Bradt’s popular guidebook 52 Wildlife Weekends suggests inspiring itineraries for 52 unforgettable British wildlife-watching breaks – each perfectly timed for one week of the year – stretching across 40 counties from Cornwall to northern Scotland. Perfect for staycations, this is the only guide to package Britain’s nature-watching highlights into deftly timed, user-friendly holiday suggestions. Find out how, where, and when to track down such thrilling creatures as beavers and basking sharks, eagles and otters, dolphins and dragonflies, glow worms, and grey seals! Written by an award-winning author and experienced naturalist James Lowen, the second edition (published August 2023) has been thoroughly updated to reflect Britain’s ever-changing natural history, integrating the latest information on our most exciting wildlife experiences, suggesting new target species, and showcasing fabulous new locations.
Despite being a little long in the tooth, this remains the best overview of birdwatching sites in Britain.
It sets out clearly what species of birds you might to expect to say where – and when. As such, it has proved its worth scores of times when I’ve been planning weekends away, photography trips, or holidays with the family.
This guide covers the very best birding sites in Britain. In a format familiar to readers of this popular series, each site is considered in terms of 'Habitat', Access' and 'Birds', allowing birders of all levels to plan successful birding trips anywhere in Britain, and to maximise the chances of getting the best out of each site and each region. The book includes detailed maps of the larger sites, plus general maps of the regions covered, and it is illustrated with attractive line drawings. This book has been extensively revised, with several new sites added for this edition, together with…
Although this book is also rather dated, it remains a fine source of information – and particularly of inspiration.
It truly opened my eyes to the mammal-watching possibilities available in Britain and Ireland, and informed plenty of the travel involved in researching two of my own books. Get hold of a second-hand copy if you can, and treasure it!
Britain's mammals are relatively few in number, but include some notoriously hard-to-see, yet wonderfully charismatic species. There can be few people with even a passing interest in wildlife who would not want to see otters, red squirrels, bottle-nosed dolphins or Scottish wildcats. Even commoner species like the badger, roe deer and brown hare can be difficult to see without some specialist knowledge. This new guide provides sites and useful information to enable the reader to find and observe every British and Irish mammal species, including all marine mammals. Taking a species-by-species approach, the accounts give some background detail on the…
Now on its second edition, this is a remarkable, unique book. It helped me greatly understand Britain’s landscapes and environments – how our country fits together.
Written accessibly by experienced ecologists, it also started me thinking about wildlife and plantlife assemblages – different animals and plants that might co-exist at a single site – which was critical when I was researching my book. An absolute must on your library shelf.
A comprehensive and lavishly illustrated photographic guide-now in a handy field-guide format
This lavishly illustrated photographic guide provides a comprehensive overview of the natural history of wildlife habitats in Britain and Ireland. Now completely redesigned in a handy field-guide format, and featuring revised and updated text throughout, this new edition of Britain's Habitats guides readers through all the main habitat types, presenting information on their characteristics, extent, geographical variation, key species, cultural importance, origins and conservation. It aims to help visitors to the countryside recognize the habitats around them, understand how they have evolved and what makes them special, and…
In my view, this is the finest field guide ever produced for a group of animals or plants.
It is not only the best guide available to identify this most spectacular of floral groups when in flower – but also helps you put names to them when mere leaves growing up or when in seed, and on the way out. Throw in excellent, up-to-date maps, and you have a wonderful field guide that inspires you to explore Britain like never before.
An accessible, comprehensive and beautifully illustrated guide-the only one to cover all the orchids found in Britain and Ireland
Covering all fifty-one native species and twelve of uncertain origin, as well as hybrids and variants, Britain's Orchids is an engaging, intuitive and in-depth identification guide to all the orchids of Britain and Ireland at all stages of development, from first emergence to setting seed. Drawing on the authors' extensive field experience and the latest scientific research, the book uses multiple techniques to help both beginner and more advanced orchid enthusiasts to identify even the most difficult plants. It is beautifully…
Moths are the underdogs of the animal kingdom – unfairly castigated as pests and associated with evil darkness.
I wrote my book to set the story straight. Decades earlier, publisher P.B.M. Allan had done these insects a considerable service, showcasing Britain’s remarkable moths and relating, in a jocular fashion, his escapades across Britain to see many of them.
Reading his book, I came to appreciate quite what diversity of moths Britain harbours – and was inspired by his enthusiasm to go out and see them for myself. The moth hunter’s gossip is long out of print, but can often be tracked down at second-hand retailers.
Gabrielle found her grandfather’s diaries after her mother’s death, only to discover that he had been a Nazi. Born in Berlin in 1942, she and her mother fled the city in 1945, but Api, the one surviving male member of her family, stayed behind to work as a doctor in a city 90% destroyed.
Gabrielle retraces Api’s steps in the Berlin of the 21st century, torn between her love for the man who gave her the happiest years of her childhood and trying to come to terms with his Nazi membership, German guilt, and political responsibility.
Api's Berlin Diaries: My Quest to Understand My Grandfather's Nazi Past
"This is not a book I will forget any time soon."
Story Circle Book Reviews
Moving and provocative, Api's Berlin Diaries offers a personal perspective on the fall of Berlin 1945 and the far-reaching aftershocks of the Third Reich.
After her mother's death, Robinson was thrilled to find her beloved grandfather's war diaries-only to discover that he had been a Nazi.
The award-winning memoir shows Api, a doctor in Berlin, desperately trying to help the wounded in cellars without water or light. He himself was reduced to anxiety and despair, the daily diary his main refuge. As Robinson retraces Api's…
10,000+ authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them.
Browse their picks for the best books about
Ireland,
moths,
and
birdwatching.
