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Buckingham Press: Best Birdwatching Sites guides

This page lists the Best Birdwatching Sites guides published by Buckingham Press. The most recent guides are at the top of the page.

Each book in the series details sites in alphabetical order, complete with high quality maps and directions to the site. All sites are assessed for wheelchair access and proximity to buses and train services.


Buckingham Press pages on the site:

Best Birdwatching Sites

Birdwatcher's Yearbook

ID Insights Pocket Cards

For more information see the Buckingham Press website.

 

Best Birdwatching Sites: Yorkshire

Neil Glenn

Buckingham Press

2017

"At 340 pages, it is the biggest volume in our series of acclaimed site guides and covers no fewer than 88 reserves and wildlife areas right across England’s largest county, which boasts a bird list in excess of 470 species. In keeping with the rest of the Best Birdwatching Sites series, lead author Neil Glenn, with support from John Miles, has investigated a variety of inland and coastal sites to ensure readers have the widest possible choice of destinations and habitats to explore. So, in addition to ‘hidden gems’ such as North Cave Wetlands near Beverley and Carlton Marsh on the outskirts of Barnsley, he provides in-depth coverage of long-established hotspots such as Filey Brigg, Tophill Low and Potteric Carr. Informative maps are a strong feature of Best Birdwatching Sites: Yorkshire with many locations requiring multiple maps to do them justice. For instance, the Spurn area which is still recovering from winter storm damage, features six individual location maps. It’s the same for Flamborough, while sites in the Wharncliffe area, north of Sheffield, are covered in five maps."

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Best Birdwatching Sites: North Wales

Alan Davies and Owen Roberts

Revised 1st edition

Buckingham Press

2015

"After its launch in 2007 the original edition of Best Birdwatching Sites: North Wales quickly established a reputation for delivering trustworthy information about key birding locales in a very reader-friendly format. Alan Davies was ably assisted by Owen Roberts, co-author of the Birds of Pembrokeshire and between them they covered 58 major sites, plus a cluster of smaller sites surrounding Wrexham. As stock of the original volume began to run down, author Alan Davies and his partner Ruth Miller took the opportunity to revisit all the sites to ensure the new version was as accurate and up-to-date as possible. All the 58 major sites covered in the 2007 book reappear in revised form, as do the 17 minor sites clustered around Wrexham. Where necessary site maps have been updated."

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Best Birdwatching Sites: Scottish Highlands

Gordon Hamlett

Buckingham Press

2nd edition

2014

"The book covers a huge area - from Perthshire right up to the Caithness Flow Country - and as many of the best birding sites lie outside established nature reserves, and public transport is virtually unknown, a car is the only practical option for birders. For that reason author Gordon Hamlett has organised the information into a series of 24 mainland road trip itineraries, plus in-depth guides to the islands of Mull, Handa and Skye. Almost all the tours are circular in nature, with individual maps for each stopping-off point (the book contains an amazing 218 maps in total - 54 more than the 1st edition). Other features of the book include: birding tips for hundreds of sites based on the author’s practical experience; all sites evaluated for wheelchair access; comprehensive seasonal bird and wildlife lists for each route; what birds to expect - month by month; clear instructions on locating all named sites; a checklist of Highlands birds; useful contacts and websites."

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Best Birdwatching Sites: Norfolk

Neil Glenn

Buckingham Press

3rd edition

2013

"With the ground-breaking first edition of his Norfolk guide in 2002, author Neil Glenn set the benchmark for providing essential information needed by birdwatchers to make every outing a success. When combined with Hilary Cromack's detailed maps and attractive lay-outs, it created a formula that has not been surpassed. For this exciting Third Edition, Neil has re-evaluated every site, so the information is bang up to date and he's even managed to find nine sites that have never been covered in print before. Features include: information on 85 locations; practical birding tips for each site; detailed maps and access information; bird information for each site; target birds; and a month by month guide to birds."

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Best Birdwatching Sites: North-East England

Brian Unwin

Buckingham Press

2012

"This latest addition to the Best Birdwatching Sites series is the largest yet produced, reflecting the wealth of birding riches uncovered by author Brian Unwin in all parts of Northumberland, Co Durham and Cleveland. Readers will find details of renowned sites such as the Farne Islands, Lindisfarne and the RSPB's exciting new Saltholme reserve, but Brian also enthuses about many exciting bird walks in inland Co Durham and Northumberland as well as coastal migrant hotspots and the former industrial sites now becoming havens for nature."

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Best Birdwatching Sites: Dorset

Neil Gartshore

Buckingham Press

2011

"Dorset is among the top six birding counties in Britain with 417 species on the bird list and a formidable reputation for rarities and large numbers of migrants each year. Armed with this book you'll be guided around established hotspots such as Portland, Arne and the Studland Peninsula, as well as many less well known areas away from the coast. Author Neil Gartshore is the perfect guide to a magical county which offers year-round birding excitement. He spent 15 years as an RSPB staff member on the Arne reserve and now works as a freelance bird surveyor, leads birding tours in Dorset and further afield and runs Calluna Books, who specialise in buying and selling out-of-print natural history books."

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Best Birdwatching Sites: The Solway

John Miller

Buckingham Press

2010

"John Miles, a former RSPB reserve warden at Geltsdale, knows the region intimately and provides detailed reports on coastal sites in both Cumbria and Dumfries & Galloway, but also roams inland to cover the key wildlife watching sites in both counties ... In all, 378 species are covered. Naturally, the well known sites such as Caerlaverock, South Walney and the Golden Eagle watchpoint at Haweswater are included, but John's in-depth knowledge of both sides of the Solway means that many lesser known locations are also featured. This is a book that will appeal to walkers and birdwatchers alike. The Cumbria chapters cover 76 sites of which 54 contain walk routes (22 circular). On the Scottish side, 84 sites are covered with 49 of them offering walk routes."

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Best Birdwatching Sites: Cornwall & Scilly

Sarah McMahon and Nigel Hudson

Illustrations: Alan Harris

Buckingham Press

2008

"Sara McMahon, a long-time officer of the county bird club, provides detailed assessments of 52 key birding areas, ranging from established nature reserves such as RSPB Marazion Marsh to the western valleys, such as Cot Valley and Nanquidno, which provide a welcome refuge for exhausted vagrants from America and Siberia each autumn. Inland areas are well covered with detailed reports on reservoirs such as Drift and Stithians and moorland sites such as Golitha and Tamar Lakes, but it is the coastal locations which receive the greatest attention and Sara provides a complete guide to seawatching with details of species and sites, plus her fieldcraft tips based on hard-won experience. Scilly is famous for its incredible track record in turning up rare and interesting birds and many birders make an annual pilgrimage to these attractive islands each autumn. Nigel Hudson, secretary of the British Birds Rarity Committee, provides a detailed guide to each of the significant islands in the archipeligo, plus details of ferries and inter-island boats to ensure your visit is a great success."

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Best Birdwatching Sites: North Wales

Alan Davies and Owen Roberts

Buckingham Press

2007

"This book features around 60 sites from South Stack on Anglesey to Gresford Flash near Wrexham, together with detailed maps and access information, disabled access, public transport information and even a guide on how to pronounce the Welsh names correctly."

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Best Birdwatching Sites: Norfolk

Neil Glenn

Buckingham Press

2nd edition

2006

"Neil Glenn was so frustrated by the ‘waffle' and ‘lack of clarity' in exisiting site guides, that he worked closely with Hilary and David Cromack to establish the template for the Best Birdwatching Sites guides. Clearly, he was not alone in his frustration because the first edition of his Norfolk guide, launched in 2003, was a runaway success. Neil, a tour leader and long-time member of Notts Birders, began work on a second edition almost immediately, revisiting and re-assessing all the sites. By the end of the process he decided to remove two sites that had diminished in value, but added 12 new locations to make the guide to Britain's most popular birding county as comprehensive as possible. Many of the reserves on the north Norfolk coast are well–established and welknown, so it was a priority to spotlight as many lesser known sites as possible. For instance, a dozen reserves within the Broads are detailed, with a further eight in or close to Thetford. In total, Neil details 83 sites."

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Best Birdwatching Sites: Scottish Highlands

Gordon Hamlett

Buckingham Press

2005

" The format of this book differs from the rest of the series because the area covered is huge – from Perthshire right up to the Caithness flow country – and many of the best birding sites lie outside established nature reserves. As a car is the only practical vehicle for birders, author Gordon Hamlett has organised the information into a series of 20 mainland road trip itineraries, plus guides to the islands of Handa and Skye. The tours are all circular, with individual maps for each stopping-off point (the book contains an amazing 164 maps in total). As an example, the Speyside itinerary features no fewer than 19 sites, ranging from extensive entries for Boat of Garten and the Loch Garten area down to simple one paragraph tips for finding Crested Tits in Moremoor car park."

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Best Birdwatching Sites: Sussex

Adrian Thomas and Peter Francis

Buckingham Press

2003

"From Scotney Court in the east to Chichester Harbour in the west, the two counties of Sussex abound in great birding sites and authors Adrian Thomas of the RSPB and Peter Francis have detailed 57 of the best for this book, making it the most comprehensive birding guide for Sussex on the market. The wellknown sites such as RSPB Pulborough Brooks, WWT Arundel, Pagham and Rye Harbour naturally receive detailed coverage, but the authors have followed the less-travelled roads as well to highlight the promise of sites such as Chapel Common with its Dartford Warblers, Wood Larks and Nightjars or Combe Haven near Hastings where Bearded Tits lurk in the massive reedbed and Water Pipits are regular winter visitors. Though East and West Sussex don't attract the rarities of the east coast or south-western counties, it is well located to experience wader and wildfowl passage on a large scale or to watch out for incoming spring migrants. As part of their Birding Year in Sussex article, the authors provide migrant arrival dates for March and April and supplement this with a detailed guide to spring seawatching that includes the top sites and a chart showing when key species reach their peak numbers between February and May."

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Best Birdwatching Sites: Norfolk

Neil Glenn

Buckingham Press

2002

224 page guide to 73 sites in Norfolk.

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Last updated August 2013