spurnBy Andy Roadhouse; Spurn Bird Observatory, 2016 Hbk, 704pp; many colour photographs and illustrations ISBN 978-0-9565571-7-9 £47.50 Spurn, on the East Yorkshire coast, is one of the UK’s foremost birding sites and a magical place to visit, as any birder that’s been there can attest to. Spurn is also blessed with an active and enthusiastic birding community, centred around the bird observatory. In more than 700 vibrant pages, The Birds of Spurn describes the Spurn area, its history, and the 391 bird species observed within the recording area. The layout is clean and easy to follow, while the carefully chosen photographs (95% are taken in the Spurn area) and beautiful artwork really brighten up the pages. The mix of artwork styles – from Darren Woodhead’s no-lines watercolours to Jonnie Fisk’s bug-eyed caricatures – gives the book a charm that takes the work beyond being simply a reference work. Indeed, I spent some time flicking through simply admiring just the illustrations. Species entries cover occurrence from historical to modern day, with a breakdown by season for those species that require it. All individual records are listed for species recorded fewer than about 20 times. At-a-glance maximum counts are given for species across the seasons and earliest and latest dates are given for migrants; for those species with sufficient data, bar-graphs show changing fortunes of species from the 1950s onwards, while a ringing summary is given where relevant. The book is engaging and readable throughout, and the author has done a great job in ensuring this isn’t just a book of statistics. Field descriptions and finder’s accounts add personality and detail to many of the rarity records. In an effort to keep The Birds of Spurn up to date, regular updates will be issued to Friends of Spurn members (www.spurnbirdobservatory.co.uk/membership). Each book comes with a paper folder for updates to be printed off and kept in. I doubt that my paper folder will receive much action – the files will live in a folder on my laptop – but the plan for updates and corrections is an excellent idea, and surely one that will be widely copied. It goes without saying that anyone interested in Spurn and its birds should own this book, but the recommendation to buy it extends much further: to anyone interested in migration, in UK rarities, in coastal birding or local patching, in bird counts and historical recording, or simply anyone who understands the value of such a thoroughly researched book as this. The Birds of Spurn represents a landmark in Spurn’s birding history. Andy Roadhouse, who has undergone a personal battle with illness to see this work through to publication, deserves enormous congratulations and should be immensely proud of this book, as should all those – past, present and future – involved with making Spurn the place it is. Stephen Menzie
Volume: 
Issue 11

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