52 European Wildlife Weekends

This innovative new title from Bradt is the first of its type to focus specifically on the vast array of wildlife-watching opportunities found in Europe. Written by expert James Lowen, author of the best-selling 52 Wildlife Weekends: A Year of British Wildlife-Watching Breaks and award-winning A Summer of British Wildlife: 100 Great Days Out Watching Wildlife, this unique guide is packaged into 52 weekend-sized breaks highlighting the best of European wildlife including mammals, reptiles, amphibians, flora, butterflies, dragonflies and birds. We may think of snow-covered Antarctica, South American jungles or African savannahs as holding the world's most plenteous and special wildlife, yet Europe heaves with wildlife wonders year-round, many of which can be seen in a simple weekend break. This book suggests one wildlife-watching break, somewhere in Europe, for every weekend of the year. Want to see brown bears? Make for Finland or Slovenia. Fancy a crack at wolves? Hop on a flight to northern Spain or Italy's Abruzzo. If whales float your boat, a long weekend in Iceland, Ireland or the Bay of Biscay would suit. Orchid lovers can head to Corsica, Crete or the Costa del Sol in spring. Birdwatchers can flock to see migrating raptors in Gibraltar, great gatherings of cranes in central Spain, or vast flocks of seaduck in Arctic Norway. Then there's the wacky olm in Slovenia, cave salamanders in Sardinia and owl-flies in the Picos de Europa. Hungary's mayfly emergence is truly spectacular, as are Norway's musk oxen and Poland's bison. Stretching from the Arctic to its boundaries with Africa and Asia, Europe has enough exciting living creatures amid jaw-dropping landscapes to fill an entire lifetime of wildlife-watching. Ideal for both the experienced wildlife tourist and the novice and packed with stunning colour photos, Bradt's 52 European Wildlife Weekends shows when, where and how to see the most exciting wildlife, complete with inspiring itineraries, engaging descriptions, detailed directions and tips on how to find, identify and enjoy animals and plants. Each entry gives details on species of interest and the landscapes they inhabit, plus suggestions for extending your quick break into a longer visit. Winner of the British Guild of Travel Writers Adele Evans Award for Best Guidebook 2018.

"Bradt’s popular guidebook 52 Wildlife Weekends suggests inspiring itineraries for 52 unforgettable British wildlife-watching breaks, stretching from the Isles of Scilly to northern Scotland – each perfectly timed for every week of the year. Thoroughly updated to reflect Britain’s ever-changing natural history, this second edition integrates the latest information on the country’s most thrilling wildlife experiences, suggests new target species and showcases fabulous new locations. Written by award-winning author and experienced naturalist James Lowen, 52 Wildlife Weekends remains the only guide to package Britain’s nature-watching highlights into deftly timed, user-friendly holiday suggestions. Say it’s February and you want to watching otters. Or May: time for spring flowers and bewitching butterflies. Or July, and you fancy marvelling at dragonflies. Or October: the height of bird migration. Whenever in the year you get a chance to escape, this book suggests 48 hours’ worth of brilliant wildlife-watching – perfect for staycations, whether as a weekend or part of a longer holiday. 52 Wildlife Weekends suggests a year’s worth of short breaks celebrating the full range of Britain's most exciting wildlife, from tiny silver-spotted skipper butterflies to gargantuan basking sharks, and from seabird skyscrapers to ostentatious orchids. Covering more than 40 counties or regions, this unique guide offers engaging descriptions, detailed directions (including grid references and postcodes), accommodation suggestions, and assessments of accessibility and (new for this edition) child-friendliness, plus 180 mouth-watering colour photographs. Find out how, where and when to track down such thrilling creatures as beavers and basking sharks, eagles and otters, dolphins and dragonflies, glow worms and grey seals. Why not open the New Year on a real-life wild goose chase in the Inner Hebrides? Or make a spring pilgrimage to Yorkshire to see truly wild daffodils? Or experience underwater life by peering into rivers for rare fish in Powys, snorkelling in Dorset, or rock-pooling in Devon? Or gawp at starling murmurations, shape-shifting through the autumnal sky, in Suffolk or Somerset. Combining the very best of travel and wildlife guides, and covering both well-known spectacles and less familiar species, Bradt’s 52 Wildlife Weekends has something for everyone – wildlife experts and novice ecotourists alike. "

Bradt’s popular guidebook 52 Wildlife Weekends suggests inspiring itineraries for 52 unforgettable British wildlife-watching breaks, stretching from the Isles of Scilly to northern Scotland – each perfectly timed for every week of the year. Thoroughly updated to reflect Britain’s ever-changing natural history, this second edition integrates the latest information on the country’s most thrilling wildlife experiences, suggests new target species and showcases fabulous new locations. Written by award-winning author and experienced naturalist James Lowen, 52 Wildlife Weekends remains the only guide to package Britain’s nature-watching highlights into deftly timed, user-friendly holiday suggestions. Say it’s February and you want to watching otters. Or May: time for spring flowers and bewitching butterflies. Or July, and you fancy marvelling at dragonflies. Or October: the height of bird migration. Whenever in the year you get a chance to escape, this book suggests 48 hours’ worth of brilliant wildlife-watching – perfect for staycations, whether as a weekend or part of a longer holiday. 52 Wildlife Weekends suggests a year’s worth of short breaks celebrating the full range of Britain's most exciting wildlife, from tiny silver-spotted skipper butterflies to gargantuan basking sharks, and from seabird skyscrapers to ostentatious orchids. Covering more than 40 counties or regions, this unique guide offers engaging descriptions, detailed directions (including grid references and postcodes), accommodation suggestions, and assessments of accessibility and (new for this edition) child-friendliness, plus 180 mouth-watering colour photographs. Find out how, where and when to track down such thrilling creatures as beavers and basking sharks, eagles and otters, dolphins and dragonflies, glow worms and grey seals. Why not open the New Year on a real-life wild goose chase in the Inner Hebrides? Or make a spring pilgrimage to Yorkshire to see truly wild daffodils? Or experience underwater life by peering into rivers for rare fish in Powys, snorkelling in Dorset, or rock-pooling in Devon? Or gawp at starling murmurations, shape-shifting through the autumnal sky, in Suffolk or Somerset. Combining the very best of travel and wildlife guides, and covering both well-known spectacles and less familiar species, Bradt’s 52 Wildlife Weekends has something for everyone – wildlife experts and novice ecotourists alike.

Winner of the Travel Media Awards 'Travel Guide Book of the Year' award 2016. This original and colourful guide to British summer wildlife experiences is packaged into daily suggestions for what, when, where and how to see the best of British summer wildlife. For both the experienced wildlife tourist and the novice, the suggestions criss-cross England, Scotland and Wales, complete with inspiring itineraries, engaging descriptions, detailed directions and tips on how to find, identify and enjoy British animals, butterflies, birds and plants. Each entry gives an informative and inspiring suggestion focusing on up to four species, with full-colour photography and a helpful box covering practicalities such as grid references, useful websites, access arrangements to specific sites, flexibility details such as flight periods for butterflies or flowering weeks for orchids, and alternative sites to make viewing possible if you don't live near the suggested site but want to view the suggested species. From delicate orchids to gargantuan basking sharks, from seabird skyscrapers to ostentatious otters, this is the only guide of its type to offer full details of how to get the most out of British summer wildlife-watching.

This new guide is the ideal companion for trekkers or sightseers, providing concise coverage of the plants and animals they are most likely to encounter. A colorful and very readable guide, catering to the ardent wildlife enthusiast and the curious armchair traveler alike.

An authoritative pocket guide on the birds of France. With 85 million tourists in 2015, France is the largest tourist destination in the world. This new photographic guide for general wildlife-watchers by naturalist James Lowen and French photographer Aurélien Audevard covers the 300 birds most likely to be seen on any visit to the country. Full-colour photographs and concise text, covering essential information on identification, songs and calls, behaviour, distribution and habitat, guides accurate bird identification. Pocket-sized and portable, Birds of France is the perfect companion for any wildlife-watching tourist or traveller keen to recognise the birds that they see.

Moths are sometimes overlooked compared to the day-flying butterflies, however, many moths are even more colourful, accessible and fascinating. Britain and Ireland are home to an incredible array of moths, with more than 2,500 species known, and increasing numbers of people have discovered the joy in watching, catching and photographing this diverse group. But, where should you start in being able to identify them? British Moths: A Gateway Guide is a wonderful introduction to 350 species of the most common and eye-catching adult moths that you may encounter in the UK. Rather than being grouped in taxonomic order, species are organised by season, and similar-looking moths are placed alongside one another for ease of identification. Concise species accounts include information on key features, making it easy to distinguish between confusion species, seasonality, and when and where to see them; each account is also placed alongside photos that have been carefully chosen to aid identification with clearly-marked top tips. From hawk-moths to tigers and ermines to emeralds, this guide is the perfect companion for anyone wanting to learn more about these beautiful and remarkable insects.