This companion volume to The Atlas of Breeding Birds of Britain and Ireland is derived from surveys of birds present in Britain and Ireland during the three winters, 1981/82, 1982/83 and 1983/84. The surveys were organised by the British Trust for Ornithology and the Irish Wildbird Conservancy, as were the earlier breeding birds surveys. The Winter Atlas maps 200 species, 192 of which have full-page two-colour maps faced by a page of text. The texts (written by over 100 specialists) comment on the survey results, the species generally and the distribution and abundance as mapped. In addition there are introductory chapters on the maps, the weather in the three winters, bird patterns and movements; and appendices describing the planning, organisation, field methods, and processing of the survey data from record cards to computer output and maps. A team of 23 artists, led by Robert Gillmor, has provided the line drawings which head the species accounts.

Recommended for viewing on a colour tablet. The Bird Atlas 2007–2011 is the definitive statement on breeding and winter bird distributions in Britain and Ireland.

Birdwatching has become an increasingly popular pastime in Ireland as elsewhere. Nor is all of the birdwatching done by the Irish. Many professional ornithologists from Britain and Western Europe find good reason to study Ireland's birds, as do the numerous birdwatching visitors each year. Clive Hutchinson, a leading Irish ornithologist, has compiled this comprehensive review of birds in the Republic and Northern Ireland to coincide with the 21st anniversary year of the Irish Wildbird Conservancy's foundation and he has had the IWC's active support throughout. Knowledge about the status and distribution of birds in Ireland has increased greatly since the 1960s and this is reflected in the detailed species accounts which form the major part of the book. Factors which led to this greater knowledge, recent changes in bird distribution and status, and reasons for the absence of some species are topics discussed in the book's introductory chapters. Other subjects covered are Ireland's topography, climate and habitats, a review of ornithology and ornithologists in Ireland over the last 100 years, and conservation programmes of more recent times. John Busby's superb illustrations (more than 100) are a feature of the book, helping to set the Irish scene as well as depict its birds.

This volume sets out for the first time the historical and current status of all the bird species found in Wales together with their present distribution. The rugged countryside of Wales has long been a destination for successive generations of naturalists, ornithologists, oologists and, latterly, birdwatchers. Since the pioneering days of Willoughby and Ray, Pennant and Edward Llwyd, a growing number of intrepid travellers have recorded the wildlife and other natural riches of the mountains and coastlines of Wales. Despite these beginnings and the more recent twentieth century vogue for birdwatching, no volume on the birds of Wales has been produced until now to serve the increasing need for scientifically valid information for conservation purposes. In the years that have passed since the first naturalists visited Wales, changes of unimaginable scale have taken place in the Welsh countryside which have had equally dramatic impacts on the native bird communities. A succession of bird species have either been eliminated deliberately by the hand of man - mainly birds of prey - or have been dispossessed by changes in land use, the spread of industrialisation, urbanisation and pollution, trends which continue today to the increasing detriment of even some of our most familiar countryside birds. Much fine habitat remains however, and new species have come in to colonise Wales and add to the magic of its countryside. The three authors, all staff of the RSPB in Wales, have between them an accumulated experience of some 80 years of first-hand knowledge of birds in the Principality. Their knowledge and love of the birds and Wales itself makes this authoritative volume a landmark both in Welsh and ornithological publishing.

'The most important work on the birds of Scotland ever published' - British Birds This comprehensive study and review of the birds in Scotland follows on from where the celebrated two volumes of The Birds of Scotland (1953), by Dr Baxter and Miss Rintoul, left off. It does more than that, however, since not only has there been a profound increase in ornithological coverage and data (as reflected in the species accounts), there have also been great changes in habitat and environment since the days of Baxter & Rintoul. These aspects form the themes of the ten preliminary chapters reviewing the Scottish scene today in terms of habitat, conservation, birdwatching and the changes in species status and distribution. The species accounts, the backbone of the book, review the period 1950-83 but include, where practicable, records of rarities and details of counts up to the spring of 1985; there are also brief summaries of earlier data based on the researches of Baxter & Rintoul. In all, 497 species are dealt with. The texts of major species accounts are complemented by 173 distribution maps and many tables of relevant data, and there are 129 species drawings by a team of artists under the editorship of Donald Watson, who also contributes chapter head pieces and other drawings. A section of photographs illustrates the varied habitats typical of Scotland today. There are, further, appendices and an extensive bibliography. The book will be of great interest to all birdwatchers in Scotland but of special value, too, to the many thousands of birdwatching visitors from elsewhere in these islands and from countries abroad. The Scottish Ornithologists' Club, for whom the book is published, and all whose records and researches made the author's work possible, have reason to be proud of Valerie Thom's achievement.

Contains detailed information on seasonal and geographical distribution of all seabird species within the North Sea, with the report concentrating primarily on the Irish sea and waters off the western coast of Scotland.