The Birdwatcher's Logbook

Book excerpt: Many birdwatchers keep a species list of some sort and at any level, it is a useful aide memoire to what was seen, when and where. This book offers guidance on how to start listing birds, how to identify them, what sort of notes to take and essential equipment. The log part of the book is divided into the months of the year. For each month there is helpful advice on the main events, where to go and what to look for, plus seasonal suggestions which provide handy hints and tips on equipment, field craft, and songs and calls to listen out for. The rest of the section is left blank for your notes and sketches so it's up to you what you record. There is a tick list in which to log the birds seen month-by-month throughout the year, and an illustrated species checklist of virtually all of the 250 or so common species that occur in Britain.