Evans Mitchell Books, 2013; pbk, 96pp; many colour photographs ISBN 978-1-901268-62-1 Subbuteo code M24137 £9.99 This book showcases a stunning selection of the authors' photographs, depicting all but one of Europe's regularly occurring owls. (The missing species is Eurasian Scops Owl Otus scops and given the otherwise full coverage it does seem a shame that it is missing, even though the book sets out to deal with 'northern Europe'.) There is an understandable bias in the space allocated to each species, reflecting the location of the authors in eastern England and Finland, as well as their personal preferences. Barn Owl Tyto alba, Hawk Owl Surnia ulula, Great Grey Owl Strix nebulosa and Snowy Owl Bubo scandiacus have 56 photographs, whereas all the other species together have just 35. The accompanying text is secondary to the photographs but is lively and engaging. It complements the photographs well, especially when the authors are describing how some of the more challenging pictures were obtained. The book finishes with a 'fact file' section with 1-2 pages for each species. This is useful, though it mostly includes information that is readily available in good field guides. Ian Carter Buy this book from the British Birds bookshop which is run by Subbuteo Natural History Books This means that 5% of all sales generated by British Birds subscribers, whether it is books reviewed in the journal, featured on its book page or listed on the Subbuteo website, will be paid to British Birds - and will directly support the production of the journal.
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Issue 2
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