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Islands hold a unique allure for British birders. Their names evoke exciting days in the field, firsts for Britain, birding history: Fair Isle, North Ronaldsay, Lewis, Tresco, Lundy, Bardsey. 

The Holy Island of Lindisfarne off the Northumberland coast is not so high profile as that illustrious roll call – and that’s just the way its devoted patch-workers like it! 

Ian Kerr has been a Holy Island habitué for five decades and few know the island and its birds better than him: this book is the sixth iteration of his guides to Holy Island and its birds and is by far the most sumptuous to date. It’s produced by the NatureGuides team and features 14 atmospheric colour plates by Chris Rose of the birds and the seasons on the island. 

Holy Island is a tidal island, just 400 ha in size, which is cut off twice a day from the mainland. It sits within the much larger Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve (3,540 ha), which was designated in 1964 to protect the internationally important populations of wildfowl and waders that winter here and use it as a staging post on their spring and autumn migrations. 

And it is the greater Lindisfarne area that is covered by this book with Holy Island at its core. 

Following a foreword by former BTO Chief Executive Andy Clements and the author’s introduction, the book is divided into four main sections: the history of the island, including its naturalists, stretching back to St Cuthbert in the seventh Century; the island scene (its geography and habitats); the seasons and the birds they bring; the classified list of birds recorded within the greater Lindisfarne area.  

The list of birds recorded is bang up to date: the 353 species accounts include the headliners of May 2024 – Green Warbler Phylloscopus nitidus and the jaw-dropping Indian Golden Oriole Oriolus kundoo (both of which are subject to acceptance by the relevant record committees). 

These birds demonstrated the joy – and frustration – of Holy Island birding: ultra-rare birds only seen by a handful of birders before the island was cut off by the rising tide, never to be seen again. 

But, happily, many of Lindisfarne’s best birds in recent years have lingered longer: Asian Desert Warbler Curruca nana in June 2020; Two-barred Greenish Warbler P. plumbeitarsus in Sep/Oct 2020; not one but two Siberian Accentors Prunella montanella in October 2016. 

Whilst Holy Island does not feature in the recent annals of Firsts for Britain, it has a good claim for the first Brown Flycatcher Muscicapa dauurica on 9th September 1956, one of many gems in this engrossing book. 

Holy Island and the greater Lindisfarne NNR are hugely significant in British natural history for the unique flora of their dune systems and the tens of thousands of wintering wildfowl and waders that feed on the intertidal mudflats and saltmarsh: Pale-bellied Brent Geese Branta bernicla hrota being the key taxon here.  

The history of the island, from Neolithic times through the golden age of Northumbrian Christianity up to the tourist honeypot of today, is intertwined with its natural history. First landfall for the Vikings and first landfall for millions of migrant birds down the ages.  

If you have never visited Holy Island, this book will inspire you to do so. 

And if you are already a Holy Island convert, you will want this well designed, lavishly illustrated book too. Those detailed maps will ensure that if the dedicated hard core of Holy Island birders find another mega at ‘The Excavations’ or ‘The Quarry’ you’ll know exactly where to head… 

Adrian Pitches