Every year, British Birds and the British Trust for Ornithology get together to review the best bird books to appear during the previous 12 months. All books reviewed in British Birds or in the BTO publications BTO News and Bird Study are eligible for the award.
There are no formal judging criteria – instead, the judges are simply looking for books of special merit that will be appreciated widely by British Birds readers and BTO members. Details of the most recent winner can be found below.
The BB/BTO Best Bird Book of the Year 2009
Although, with a long-running award such as this one, each year is unique, there are certain themes that recur from time to time, in the way a particular crop of books turn out on the judging table. This year was marked by a long initial shortlist, of no fewer than 29 books, and by a particularly long list of books (14) that received some points from our judges in the final round of votes. All of that could be taken to imply that there was an especially keenly fought competition in 2009. That conclusion would be only partly true, however, since the top two places were very clear (and this year’s winner was just as emphatically in first place as last year’s). Each of the six judges awarded six points for their first-placed book and five for their second; this year the winner amassed an impressive 35 points, and the runner-up achieved 28 – so we were almost unanimous on our ‘top two’. Aside from these two titles, it was indeed a close affair; there was a wide range of extremely fine books that garnered some points from the vote – and there were plenty of worthy contenders which, although they managed no points, may well have fared better with a different judging panel. As ever, as a panel we tried to represent a wide cross-section of tastes and interests, in the full knowledge that it is impossible to do that completely. So, caveats out of the way, here is our selection!
Winner: The Wisdom of Birds: an illustrated history of ornithology
By Tim Birkhead. Bloomsbury, 2008. Reviewed in BB by Paul Harvey (Brit. Birds 102: 148-149).
Tim Birkhead has produced an immensely erudite yet wholly readable book that is a superb example of the art of making serious science accessible. Surely, few BB readers would fail to find this a worthwhile read, covering as it does the key aspects of the history of ornithology, yet focusing chiefly on aspects of bird behaviour, biology and ecology, and how our knowledge and understanding of these has advanced since the time of John Ray, the principal figure in Birkhead’s story. It is also an aesthetically pleasing volume, and the fact that the illustrations are contemporary adds considerably to the book’s appeal. We concluded that it was a worthy addition to the series of winners of this award.
2nd: Grouse
By Adam Watson and Robert Moss. Collins, New Naturalist 107, 2008. Reviewed in BB by Keith Betton (Brit. Birds 102: 147).
As the introductory pages to this book testify, this is, surprisingly, the first New Naturalist to focus on a bird family or group of species since Eric Simms’s British Larks, Pipits and Wagtails way back in 1992; and in that 16-year intervening period no fewer than 28 additions to this flagship natural history series have been added. Many younger readers will quite probably have few, if any, ‘New Nats’ on their bookshelves, so it is a pleasure to be enthusiastic about this offering from two hugely experienced and respected grouse experts. Indeed, if we highlighted the ability of Tim Birkhead to write about serious ornithology in an accessible manner, we could say much the same about Adam Watson and Robert Moss. As well as the authoritative content, we also admired a pleasing design, with a sensitive mix of excellent photographs and well-presented graphics. Another volume that we recommend unreservedly.
3rd: An Atlas of Wader Populations in Africa and Western Eurasia
By Simon Delany, Derek Scott, Tim Dodman and David Stroud. Wetlands International and International Wader Study Group, 2009. Reviewed in BB by Richard Chandler (Brit. Birds 102: 639).
In many ways this will not be a book that a majority of readers will aspire to own – it is expensive and might be seen as rather specialised. Nonetheless, collectively we rated it highly, and the fact that it secured third place is due recognition of an extremely important work, not least for the conservation of the species involved. It really is a milestone publication, and it seemed appropriate to acknowledge this atlas, an impressive and innovative compilation of numbers, distribution and the movements of waders, at a BTO conference that celebrated a centenary of ringing yet also explored how future marking technologies will assist projects such as the one tackled here.
4th: Birds in Cheshire and Wirral: a breeding and wintering atlas
By David Norman, on behalf of Cheshire and Wirral Ornithological Society. Liverpool University Press, 2008. Reviewed in BBby Mike Pennington (Brit. Birds 102: 148).
There were some exceptionally good regional publications eligible this year, and it was again apparent just how much the quality of local and regional atlases and avifaunas has advanced in the past decade. We felt that Birds in Cheshire and Wirralstood out this year, for the quality and presentation of data on this area’s bird populations in both summer and winter, and in particular for the analysis of changes since the preceding work in 1984. The presentation was visually dramatic and most of us felt that it was effective, although there was some dismay that the needs of colour-blind readers were ignored with a mostly red/green colour coding!
5th: Birdscapes: birds in our imagination and experience
By Jeremy Mynott. Princeton University Press, 2009. Reviewed in BB by Jonathan Elphick (Brit. Birds 102: 414).
Jeremy Mynott’s book takes a quite unfamiliar approach to birds, investigating how we perceive them, and how birds have informed our history, folklore and everyday lives. Drawing on a quite astonishing range of sources, this intriguing volume deserves to be widely read.
6th=: Birds of Ethiopia and Eritrea
By John Ash and John Atkins. Christopher Helm, 2009. Reviewed in BB by Martin Woodcock (Brit. Birds 102: 639-640).
One of several key ‘overseas’ guides to emerge in the last 12 months, several of which featured in our final shortlist, this one rated the highest among our group of judges for the phenomenal amount of work involved in its publication and in gathering data in such a challenging environment for ornithologists. Its thoroughness is astonishing, and its clear mapping of the region is impressive. This book, together with the Horn of Africa field guide from the same stable (see below), represents a major step forward for ornithology in this difficult region of Africa.
6th=: Rare Birds Where and When: an analysis of status & distribution in Britain and Ireland
By Russell Slack. MPG Books Group, 2009. Reviewed in BB by Paul Harvey (Brit. Birds 102: 703-704).
We applauded Russell Slack for his first volume of Rare Birds Where and When, not least for his courageous decision to self-publish – not an easy option. He has succeeded in providing a readable and thorough update of an area of birding – rarities – that continues to attract a widespread following but which has until now been lacking such a complete modern synthesis. Like the BB reviewer, we wish him well for, and look forward to, volume 2.
The top six places (effectively seven, with two books tied on 6th=) are only part of the story, and the following seven books (in alphabetical order of senior author) all scored some points during the final analysis and also deserve a mention in this review: Shorebirds of the Northern Hemisphere (by Richard Chandler, published by Christopher Helm – see Brit. Birds102: 472-473); Lars Jonsson’s Birds: paintings from a near horizon (by Lars Jonsson, published by Christopher Helm – see Brit. Birds 102: 407-408); The Birds of Turkey (by Guy Kirwan, Kerem Boyla, Peter Castell, Barbaros Demirci, Metehan Özen, Hilary Welch and Tim Marlow, published by Christopher Helm – see Brit. Birds 102: 408-409); Say Goodbye to the Cuckoo (by Michael McCarthy, published by John Murray – see Brit. Birds 102: 411); Birds of the Horn of Africa (by Nigel Redman, Terry Stevenson and John Fanshawe, published by Christopher Helm – see Brit. Birds 102: 470); Birds in our Life (by David Snow, published by William Sessions – see Brit. Birds 102: 150); The History of British Birds (by Derek Yalden and Umberto Albarella, published by OUP – see Brit. Birds 102: 284-285). In each case, the BBreview (as listed) will provide a useful reference.
Last but not least, it has become a tradition to pay homage to another volume, no. 13 this time, of HBW (Handbook of Birds of the World; see Brit. Birds 102: 407), while the second Rare Birds Yearbook, again edited by Erik Hirschfeld and published in collaboration with BirdLife (see Brit. Birds 102: 41) also deserves a mention, and a place on all readers’ shelves. And, although it didn’t progress beyond our initial shortlist, we also draw attention to The Malta Breeding Birds Atlas 2008(by André Raine, Joe Sultana and Simon Gillings, published by BirdLife Malta), in the hope that doing so will show our support for the hard-working conservationists in that country.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to the BTO for making facilities available for judging at Swanwick, during the 100th anniversary of the ringing conference, and especially to Carole Showell for sourcing books from the Chris Mead Library at Thetford.
Roger Riddington, Dawn Balmer, Peter Hearn, John Marchant, Robin Prytherch and Peter Wilkinson
c/o Spindrift, Eastshore, Virkie, Shetland ZE3 9JS