This is the first book to explore in detail every RSPB reserve in Britain, from the wild forests of Caledonia and teeming seabird cities of the northern coasts, to the rolling heathlands, pristine wetlands and urban oases of the south. Here you'll find everything you need to plan and enjoy days out at some of the best wildlife-watching places anywhere, with full details of access arrangements, visitor facilities, advice on when to visit and the wildlife you can expect to see throughout the year. For every reserve you'll find a map of how to get here and, where appropriate, the trails around the reserve and the habitats you'll find, so you can plan your visit according to what you'd like to see and how much time you have to visit. Illustrated throughout with colour photographs of these beautiful wild places and the animals and plants that live in them.

Whether you're just starting out or a seasoned wildlife watcher, this book will help you to broaden your enjoyment of your hobby and explore wildlife in a range of different habitats and environments. You'll learn a host of techniques including observing without disturbing, different ways of recording what you see, including note-taking, sketching and photography, filming and sound recording, as well as how to organise and report what you've seen. Finally, there's plenty of information on how you can give something back to the natural environment through safeguarding your local area's wildlife and involvement with conservation.

Whether you're after a stroll through the woods in springtime, a canoe safari on the Norfolk Broads, a day at the caber-tossing Highland Games or afternoon tea at a fancy hotel, this book will lead you to the best holiday destinations and experiences Great Britain and Ireland have to offer. Its easy-to-use season-by-season format and six themes - History and Heritage; Wildlife and Landscape; Cities, Towns and Villages; Outdoor Activities; Family Getaways; and Festivals and Events - make planning your time on these beautiful isles easier than ever.

A guide to bird behaviour in the British Isles throughout the year, including ID help, top things to see and do each month, facts and folklore, and practical ideas to help birds. Join Siân Duncan and Dominic Couzens on a journey through the seasons exploring what British birds are doing each month and why. Find out what's happening in parks, gardens and the wider countryside as they reveal how birds live, from courtship and parenting to migrating and the fight for survival. RSPB Birding Year is packed with information and photos and is ideal for anyone keen to learn more about the birds of the British Isles. Each month includes detailed profiles of five common birds and a more challenging species to try to see, as well as explorations of bird myths and folklore and practical advice from professionals on how to encourage birds into your garden. Meet the bird that can feed under ice, learn why birdsong is loudest in spring and discover the best birding spectacles to enjoy each season wherever you live, including starling murmurations over our towns , dramatic seabird cities around our coasts and millions of migrating birds that pass over or visit the British Isles each year.

A beautiful photographic e-guide to British flora and fauna through the year and around the British Isles, from remote beaches to wetland centres, fens to forests, valleys to islands. Do you know where to find an adder, or where to spot a seal? And do you know the best time of year to go in search of booming bitterns or boxing hares? This ebook reveals all. Britain's countryside, national parks, coastline, woods, fields, and forests are home to a huge variety of wildlife, both flora and fauna. With its simple month-by-month format, Where To Go Wild in Britain unveils the most spectacular wild places to visit all year round. Search by time of year, destination, wildlife attraction, or simply flick through the pages and be inspired. With over 125 great wildlife sights and wild places, there's something for everyone - from pine martens, nesting kingfishers, and woodland butterflies, to whale watching, fishing otters, and rutting red deer. These are brought to life with stunning photography, making this ebook a delight to browse through as well being a working travel guide. Every entry includes a locator map and practical information about each place: how to get there, what to see, access and facilities; and a comprehensive reference section at the back lists details of over 500 wild places to visit in all regions of the UK, from the Scottish islands to the Channel Islands; and East Anglia to Northern Ireland. Plus it tells you what to take, and gives tips on wildlife spotting and the country code.

Most bird books are designed to help you identify the birds that you've seen. This book is different. It is a species-by-species guide that shows you how to find and watch more than 250 species of birds that can be seen in Britain. Some are common; others are rare migrants or scarce breeding birds, but this book will tell you the best places to see and watch all of them. Sections include: - How to find including the best time of day, how to search the habitat and behavioural signs - Watching tips including ways to get close to the bird without disturbing it and how to attract it to your garden. - Super sites includes a short list of some of the best places to see the species. Readers will be able to see their most coveted species but also enjoy rewarding watching experiences that will enhance their understanding of the species, of bird behaviour and of key fieldcraft techniques.

Wildlife legislation has become so complex that prosecutions fail and even specialist enforcement professionals struggle to implement it effectively. Hundreds of birds of prey have been deliberately poisoned with substances such as carbofuran that have no legal use and the Government could easily make possession an offence. The lack of sentencing guidelines on wildlife offences means that some offenders are being neither punished nor deterred in the courts. The CPS is also failing to train its prosecutors to handle complex wildlife cases. Furthermore, the inflexible implementation in UK law of international agreements covering the trafficking of endangered species squanders limited resources. The Government has maintained funding for specialist wildlife crime investigation and enforcement, but this is provided on an ad hoc basis, reducing operational effectiveness. Funding provided to monitor wildlife crime on the internet was too short-term to attract a suitably qualified individual to fill the post. In 2004, the Committee called for a new database to record all wildlife crime but this has still not been introduced. Internationally, this report also examines how the rhino, tiger and elephant are being driven to extinction by growing demand for illegal wildlife products in south-east Asia and China. The Government needs to exert robust diplomatic pressure in favour of the development and enforcement of wildlife law at the next CITES meeting in March 2013. In particular, the Government should focus attention on the damaging effect of 'one-off' sales of impounded ivory, which has been found to actually fuel demand for ivory products, and seek an unequivocal international ban on all forms of ivory trade.

A species-by-species guide that shows you how to find and watch nearly 300 mammal, reptile, amphibian and invertebrate species in the UK. Most wildlife books are designed to help you identify the animals you have seen. This book is different. In this new, user-friendly guide one British species is highlighted per page, and each account explains in accessible text how to find it, where to find it and how to ensure you have the most rewarding wildlife-watching experiences. Within the 'How to Find' section, author Marianne Taylor explains the best time to look for each species, its preferred habitat, and offers tips to help make your search easier or more productive. In 'Watching Tips' she advises on how to get the most from your encounter, how to observe the species at length and with luck witness its most fascinating behaviour. A colour panel indicates each species' geographical distribution on a map, including 'Super Sites' where the species is particularly abundant or regular. A calendar shows when each species is present or active in the UK to help you plan your visits to nature reserves. Colour photos serve as a reminder of each species' key identification features. In total, RSPB British Naturefinder features nearly 300 species, and it includes all British mammals, reptiles and amphibians, along with a carefully chosen selection of other British animals of interest, such as butterflies, moths, dragonflies, spiders and fishes.

Puffins is packed with eye-catching, informative colour photos and features succinct, detailed text written by a knowledgeable expert. Enduringly popular, Puffins are perhaps our most iconic species of bird, and are the most immediately identifiable of seabirds with their decorative bills and clown-like gait. Yet when they take to the air they wheel and turn with great agility and underwater these stocky little birds use short specially adapted wings to propel themselves through the water in pursuit of small fish. Surprisingly little was known about Puffin ecology until recently thanks to their preferred breeding habitat being underground on remote islands or hard-to-reach coastlines. Now Euan Dunn discloses all we have learnt about them as a result of technological advances, and provides a revealing account of their life cycle, behaviour and breeding, what they eat, how they interact in their busy colonies, and where they migrate to in winter. Euan also exposes the mounting threats Puffins face and offers advice on the best places to see them. Each Spotlight title is carefully designed to introduce readers to the lives and behaviour of our favourite birds and mammals.

From the peat bogs and woodlands that help to secure our water supply, to the bees and soils that produce most of the food we eat, Britain is rich in 'natural capital'. Yet we take supplies of clean water and secure food for granted, rarely considering the free work nature does for Britain. In fact for years we have damaged the systems that sustain us under the illusion that we are keeping prices down, through intensive farming, drainage of bogs, clearing forests and turning rivers into canals. As Tony Juniper's new analysis shows, however, the ways in which we meet our needs often doesn't make economic sense. Through vivid first hand accounts and inspirational examples of how the damage is being repaired, Juniper takes readers on a journey to a different Britain from the one many assume we inhabit, not a country where nature is worthless or an impediment to progress, but the real Britain, the one where we are supported by nature, wildlife and natural systems at almost every turn.