A Natural History of Sea Serpents, re-examines the cold-case enigma of sea serpents and monsters described by impeccable witnesses over three centuries. These reports have sometimes intrigued and puzzled the most eminent scien... more...

Author, photographer and explorer Peter Clutterbuck’s love of adventure developed as a child growing up within the British Army. Subsequently, Peter’s thirst for adventure, and his work as an engineer in the energy sector, have taken him to... more...

A revealing picture of a time when Britain was losing its empire. It draws on letters written at the period by an airman, his vivid memories and experiences from the Canal Zone, Kenya during Mau Mau times, Cyprus and Jerusalem. His time encompassed con... more...

The Outer Hebrides is an island archipelago on the remotest north-western periphery of a bigger island archipelago, itself part of Europe’s Atlantic coastline. And what is Atlantic Europe if not the north-western tip of the vast land mass of Eura... more...

When Lake Mburo National Park in Uganda was created in 1983, thousands lost their land and livelihoods. Three years later people reclaimed the land and set out to destroy the park and its wildlife. Reduced in size and settled throughout, the park seeme... more...

This is an in-depth appraisal of the 30-year post Second World War period that covered significant changes in the history of British Petroleum Shipping. These major changes were vital to the development of the company’s fleet from modest 12,000 s... more...

The American military presence in Scotland during the Cold War was greater than in either of the World Wars, bringing with it the largest peace-time number of foreign military personnel in Scotland’s history. This military power was delivered by ... more...

This book provides a comprehensive, detailed, evidence-based review of the seven animals officially described as 'dangerous' by the professional association of Field Guides in South Africa. To this number the authors have added crocodiles. The ... more...

Royal Fleet Auxiliaries are distinctive in the maritime world civilian-crewed Merchant Navy ships owned by the Crown working under naval orders. This Dictionary showcases both the famous and the often overlooked ships that have supported the Royal Navy... more...

The 50-mile wide lagoon of Truk Atoll, far out in the remote expanses of the Pacific, is quite simply the greatest wreck diving location in the world. Scores of virtually intact Japanese WWII wrecks of transport ships, still filled with cargoes of tank... more...

The term rewilding has become part of the common vernacular and with it has come a lot of misunderstanding and even misuse. This has led to a great many misconceptions about what the word actually means. Great Misconceptions brings together different w... more...

This introductory book explains bee biology and diversity complemented with beautiful drawings and photographs. It forms an essential companion to a field guide, an accessible and affordable alternative to a technical handbook.  

Th... more...

Most birders keep lists of the species birds they have seen, but do any keep a list of pub birds, that is birds on pub signs and in pub names? This book is about these pub birds, their natural histories, folk-histories and those of the pubs that bear t... more...

On 15 August 2021, the world watched in horror as Kabul fell to the Taliban, almost exactly 20 years after western-backed Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban government in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. During those 20 years the United States, the ... more...

Kayaking the Sea Roads is a personal journey by sea kayak into the heart of the sea roads that make up our Scottish Highlands and islands. Blending the intensity of the journey with a careful observation of the natural world a... more...

The Scottish Highlands have a strong appeal to the public imagination. Indeed, as a result of the writings of Sir Walter Scott, they are now symbolic of Scotland as a whole: a land of mountains, glens and lochs, of golden eagles and red deer; a land wi... more...

After 20 years working as a professional biologist, the author decided to ‘retire’ to the Highlands, moving with his wife to a croft at the edge of a small and somewhat inaccessible village on the west coast. This was no romantic and ideali... more...

Across Europe to Azerbaijan, Afghanistan and onward to Siberia, Japan and Australia, this is a work that is rich in many dimensions. In essence it’s a travel story about an eight-month, long and gruelling motorbike ride, but it contains so much m... more...

Trees and birds go together, and they have done for millions of years, evolving long before we did. Over their long and shared history, they have formed numerous relationships, some of which are basic and obvious to us, like a bird using a tree to perc... more...

Ship masters and officers may not seem like pioneers of trade unionism. However, this history of their unique union, Nautilus International, shows how they have been pitched into the forefront of a long struggle for decent jobs, fair pay and conditions... more...

Roaming Wild details the unconventional and pioneering lives of Anna and Peter Roberts, a British couple who were instrumental in making the animal welfare movement a respectable, highly-impactful and worldwide organisation. T... more...

Volume 4 of the acclaimed Leith-built Ships series follows Ship Nos 495 to 535 built from 1965 until the eventual closure of the shipyard in 1984 by a government that was hell-bent on destroying British industry and breaking the powerful unions.

Rock Lighthouses of Britain & Ireland is a new edition of the classic work on the subject but with some of the most famous Irish rock lighthouses included. The text has been updated to include the modern technology being u... more...

Written originally in 1936–38 by Admiral Cumberlege as a record of his life, Salt Horse was never published. The original manuscript has been expertly edited and made readable in terms of language to a modern audience.  It now comprises chap... more...

The Dover Straits is the resting place for many wrecks and this book reveals the stories behind a selection of these unfortunate vessels. This highly pictorial account shows the wrecks and the numerous artefacts found. The gallery of photographs for ea... more...

The Baltic Cauldron commemorates several centuries of Anglo-Swedish relations, which, after events in Eastern Europe in 2022, have acquired a new resonance as a record of the struggle for survival and independence of nations b... more...

From all around the coast, from the remote wildness of Cullykhan in Aberdeenshire to the bustling working harbour at St Ives in Cornwall, from the vast empty sands of North Norfolk to Anthony Gormley’s iron men at Crosby beach on Merseyside, the ... more...

Italian history is not widely read but the period under Mussolini’s shadow is both interesting and relevant to understanding the wheeling and dealings of the 1930s and into WWII. Through sheer nepotism Galeazzo Ciano married Mussolini’s dau... more...

Unlike most of Gunn’s novels, The Lost Chart is set in a city – the city of Glasgow and its sea approaches. The untypical choice of background for the story is not the only departure from Gunn’s usual approach to his novels. The book ... more...

The book is a collection of inter-linked essays, each dealing with a significant figure in the emergence of Britain as an industrial powerhouse in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. It is illustrated with drawings, patents, early historic images ... more...

Neil M Gunn, one of Scotland’s most distinguished 20th century authors, wrote over a period of 30 years, starting in 1926 and ending in 1956 with his so-called spiritual autobiography The Atom of Delight. Two years before this he wrote his last n... more...

This book opens up a wonderland of natural history for all ages to enjoy, and will spark interest in the intricate web of Africa’s natural history, one that is bursting with exuberance, a great variety of life. It covers a vast range of topics th... more...

This is a personal, reflective account of Galloway’s wildlife based on life in a uniquely varied and diverse glen, tucked away between high, heather-clad hills and the shore of the Solway.  It includes the author’s reflections on the i... more...

This is a book about reconnecting to nature wherever we find ourselves living and the personal benefits that can ensue. It explores how we can appreciate the natural world on our doorstep in line with the latest research from a range of disciplines, in... more...