Hill Birds In North East Highlands

The author documents hatch-dates of ptarmigan and red grouse in relation to blaeberry growth and climate. He collates field observations on golden plover, involving proportions of dark-plumaged summering birds, breeding success, population density within and amongst areas, and declines since the late 1970s. Another chapter reviews evidence on dotterel abundance. The last chapter presents counts of the spring numbers of birds on many moorland and alpine study areas.

Timings of antler-shedding by red deer were noted, as well as deer-beds and winter deaths of red deer. The author recounts some old published statements about sheep, deer and vegetation in the Highlands, and uses old sources to estimate the numbers of red deer in Scotland at low ebb in the 1780s. Next he collates field observations by several colleagues and himself on vertebrate animals in the Cairngorms. He documents the abundance of mountain hares amongst different areas, and changes in their numbers within study areas and across years. This leads to a chapter on recent reductions of mountain hares by heavy killing on grouse-moor estates.

Timing of blaeberry growth, tree regeneration, land use, plant orientation The author noted when blaeberry buds on Scottish alpine land began growth in spring and compared this with climatic data. He mapped natural tree regeneration on Deeside and Donside. The author criticises invalid claims about land use in Scotland and Norway, and about the alleged effects of sporting estates in reducing land fertility. Signs of orientation by plants and animals are described.

In this book the authors present many unpublished place names from Upper Deeside and from counties in the Highlands beyond. These were heard from indigenous folk back to 1941. Names are given with phonetic spellings, so that readers can pronounce them accurately, and in most cases with translations from Gaelic, Norse, Scots or Pictish into English. The book is richly illustrated with photographs of places and informants. Of interest to residents and visitors, it should help preserve for the future an important aspect of local identity and language.

The author noticed severe damage to ground from big timber machines during the 1990s. Later he found that this destroyed the original pinewood soil and vegetation, and led to water-logging and wind-throw of standing trees beside machine ruts. In 2011–15 he surveyed this in many woods on Deeside and Donside, owned by the Forestry Commission and private owners. In every case, mistreatment of woodland by timber machines breached the conditions of The UK Forestry Standard 2011, as authorised by the FC. Machine use severely damages scenery and the public's ability to walk or ski safely. It has damaged and polluted watercourses. The public pay for this vandalism, because the UK timber industry depends on taxpayer's subsidies. The monster machines should be banned, the hypocritical and wasteful FC chopped.

Field observations mainly in the 1940s and comparison with recent records. Adam Watson as a schoolboy made field observations on birds in north-east Scotland during the 1940s and early 1950s. These are of special interest because hardly any local ornithologists lived there, and his main set of observations is published here for the first time. As well as accounts for all species seen, there is detailed information on several species whose status has changed greatly since: declines of breeding greenshanks and ring ouzels, and rapid increases in the proportions of feral doves and carrion crows. These and other observations form a useful baseline for comparison with what is now being seen and recorded by hundreds of ornithologists living in and visiting the area. Ian Francis came to north-east Scotland in the early 1990s and has taken part in many aspects of local ornithology. He was first editor of a major book: The Breeding Birds of North-East Scotland, published in 2011, which documents the current breeding distributions of birds and assesses changes over 40 years, allowing a modern perspective on Adam Watson's observations from the mid-1900s. The current book by Adam Watson and Ian Francis, Birds in north-east Scotland then and now, also includes a previously unpublished account of long-term research by Adam Watson, Rik Smith and Mick Marquiss on summering snow buntings, one of the UK's rarest regularly breeding birds.

This book is devoted to the 162 species of thrush, one of the most widespread and well-known families of birds in the world. This is the first book for almost a century solely devoted to thrushes, one of the most widespread and well-known bird families. It is a comprehensive treatment of the world's 162 species of true thrush and includes many of the most familiar garden species, as well as some of the rarest, most elusive and least known of all birds. This family also includes, as may be expected, some of the bird world's most accomplished songsters. Thrushes contains detailed information on identification and distribution, with a full description of each species, including reference to all recognised races, with emphasis given to vocalisations, which are often of key importance in determining speciation. Other sections deal with habitat and range, movements (many species are long-distance migrants), and breeding behaviour. For the first time, all species in the family Turdidae are illustrated in full colour, with a series of supplementary line drawings depicting particular aspects of shape or plumage. The 60 colour plates comprise approximately 540 images, illustrating adults, immatures, and most of the distinctive races. The plates are accompanied by colour maps showing the breeding and wintering range for each species. Thrushes is a wonderful addition to the award-winning Helm Identification Guide series, and will surely become the standard reference work to these birds.

Universally recognised as by far the most authoritative work ever published on the subject, The Birds of Africa is a superb multi-contributor reference work, with encyclopaedic species texts, stunning paintings of all species and numerous subspecies, hundreds of informative line drawings, detailed range maps, and extensive bibliographies. Each volume contains an Introduction that brings the reader up to date with the latest developments in African ornithology, including the evolution and biogeography of African birds. Diagnoses of the families and genera, often with superspecies maps, are followed by the comprehensive species accounts themselves. These include descriptions of range and status, field characters, voice, general habits, food, and breeding habits. Full bibliographies, acoustic references, and indexes complete this scholarly work of reference. This sixth volume in the series deals comprehensively with picathartes, babblers, long-tailed tits, tits, penduline tits, nuthatches, creepers, sunbirds, white-eyes, sugarbirds, true shrikes, bush-shrikes, bulbuls, helmet-shrikes, orioles, drongos, crows, starlings and oxpeckers. The editors and artists have worked closely with other authors - all acknowledged experts in their field - to produce a superb reference in which comprehensive texts on every species are complemented by accurate and detailed paintings and drawings of the birds themselves.