Wildlife/Natural History

A Biologist Abroad
by Rory Putman

A professional biologist with wide experience of working both in the UK and overseas, Rory Putman takes us with him on working trips to Iceland, East Africa, Nigeria and Indonesia, introducing us to the countries and their people, their natural history, and explaining some of the wildlife issues whi... more...

A Greenhorn Naturalist in Borneo
by Hans Breuer

A Greenhorn Naturalist in Borneo is about natural history, travel in the tropics, life sciences, and adventure, with the environment always in mind. It chronicles the nine years the author spent with his family on that equatorial island. The book’s humorous style never detracts from the focus ... more...

A Last Wild Place
by Mike  Tomkies

Mike Tomkies gives a remarkable picture of the whole cycle of nature around him, in a harsh and testing environment of unrivalled beauty. Vivid colours and sounds fill these pages – exotic wild orchids, the roar of rutting stags, a pair of dragonflies mating, the flight of the redwing, the ter... more...

A Natural History of Lighthouses
by John A. Love

This is the story of lightkeepers’ contributions to the natural history of lighthouses in conjunction with the history and maintenance of the manned navigation beacons – their primary function of course – ‘for the safety of all’. Since keepers were first engaged to main... more...

A Natural History of Sea Serpents
by Adrian Shine

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 scientists of their times, yet often became the butt of popular derision. Na... more...

A Passion for Snowdrops
A Personal Perspective
by George G. Brownlee

...This book is sure to engage the amateur enthusiast and the experienced galanthophile alike. We wish it all the success and appreciation it deserves. Extract from the Foreword by Professor Simon Hiscock and Dr. Chris Thorogood, Director and Deputy Director of Oxford Botanic Gardens. Snowdr... more...

A Private Sort of Life
by Bridget  MacCaskill

Bridget MacCaskill has been observing otters for many years and studies undertaken with her late husband, Don, resulted in books and a film about otters and their environment. Otters are fascinating and delightful creatures but to watch them in their natural habitat requires immense patience over a ... more...

A Vulture Landscape
Twelve Months in Extremadura
by Ian  Parsons

A Vulture Landscape is more than just a book about vultures, in the same way that these majestic flyers are more than just birds. Vultures are a crucial part of many of the world’s ecosystems, and without these specialist environmental cleansers the ecosystems wouldn’t work properly. A c... more...

A Year in a Ditch
by J C Jeremy Hobson

Rivers, canals and Britain’s glorious waterways are championed and admired at every opportunity. They are the subject of countless photos, television programmes and books – and are places to visit and enjoy whenever considering a walk in the countryside. Sadly, not so the humble ditch; y... more...

Across the Edge
Pushing the Limits across Oceans and Continents
by Peter Clutterbuck

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 105 countries on all seven continents, includin... more...

Art & Nature in the Outer Hebrides
by Bruce Kendrick

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 Eurasia? Here is an unrivalled sense of place, on th... more...

At the Very End of the Road
by Phillip Edwards

At the very end of the road is a seven-bar metal gate. It is chained and padlocked and marks the exact line where the tarmac stops. Beyond that is a track, twelve pasture and hay fields, and an area of saltmarsh, bounded on one side by a river and on the other by vast tidal mudflats. Deep in the wes... more...

Back from the Brink
by Malcolm Smith

Back from the Brink is an antidote to a world that seems full of stories of wildlife doom and gloom. Amongst all the loss of habitat and the animals and plants that are in spiralling decline, it’s easy to forget that there are a huge number of positive stories too; animals threatened with exti... more...

Beautiful Beasts, Beautiful Lands
The fall and rise of an African national park
by Mark Infield

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 seemed lost. This was the challenge faced by Mark Inf... more...

Behaviour and Management of European Ungulates
by Rory Putman, Marco Apollonio

Ungulates are an extraordinarily important group of animals worldwide, at many levels – in their remarkable biodiversity; in many cases, as keystone species with a disproportionate effect on the functioning of the wider ecological systems of which they form a part or as dominant species acting... more...

Between Earth and Paradise
by Mike  Tomkies

After giving up a hectic life as a journalist in Europe and Hollywood in the late 1960s to return to his boyhood love of nature, Mike Tomkies found Eilean Shona, a remote island 'between earth and paradise' off the west coast of Scotland. There he rebuilt a rotting wooden crofthouse which sh... more...

Big Cats
Facing Britain's Wild Predators
by Rick  Minter

Right across Britain, people are making remarkable claims - they are reporting large feral cats resembling panthers, pumas and lynx. Month after month the sightings continue with citizens from all walks of life having surprise encounters with big cats. They may be driving, walking their dog, or ridi... more...

Birding in an Age of Extinctions
by Martin Painter

This is a book about what it’s like being a birder in an age of natural decline. It is part autobiographical – tales of spell-binding birding encounters that left indelible memories – and it is part reflective. The travellers’ tales of birding adventures are about places and ... more...

Brother Nature
by Jim Crumley

Acclaimed nature writer Jim Crumley turns his poet's instinct, his naturalist's eye, and occasionally his camera on his core territory in Highland Perthshire to produce a book of rare intimacy. Brother Nature is based on thirty years of exploring and thinking about the country on his door... more...

Common and Spotted Sandpipers
by Phil Holland

This wonderful book describes the fascinating lives of the two most ubiquitous shorebirds in the world. Between them the Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) and Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularia) make use of a large part of the world’s terrestrial habitat and they exhibit many of the exci... more...

Dangerous Animals of Southern and Eastern Africa
by Jeff Williams, Patricia Goodwin

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 text embraces the anatomical, physiological and ... more...

Eating Diamonds
by Loren Cruden

The richness and necessity of living in harmony with a natural environment. Extract from the Foreword by Jim Crumley '...There is a certain gentle charm at work in these pages. The participatory relationship with nature is compassionate rather than confrontational. ...Its simplicity says more... more...

Eponym Dictionary of Fishes
by Bo Beolens, Michael Grayson, Michael Watkins

The Eponym Dictionary is a series of brief but concise biographies of all those people after whom fish have been named in both the vernacular and scientific names. It also covers names which seem to be eponyms but are not, such as toponyms, names of organisations, ethnic groups, etc. It also shows t... more...

Eponym Dictionary of Odonata
by Bo Beolens

The Eponym Dictionary of Odonata is a comprehensive listing of all people after whom damselflies and dragonflies have been named in scientific or common names. Each entry provides details of the species and a brief biography of the person. It is also cross-referenced so that the relationships betwee... more...

Ferny Wood
The Story of a Fallow Deer
by Patricia Sibley

Based upon detailed observation in the New Forest, this delightful book tells the story of Buckie, a fawn from a small herd of fallow does which the author was first privileged to observe just before sunset one magical June evening. Following this defining moment, the author, accompanied by her d... more...

Gone Wild
Stories from a Lifetime of Wildlife Travel
by Malcolm Smith

Often amusing, sometimes romantic or fraught with danger, these 30 short stories are about local people, spectacular places and the special wildlife the author sets out to find. The stories include seeking out Arabian Oryx on the searing plains of the Saudi desert; eiderdown collecting in Iceland, c... more...

Great Misconceptions
Rewilding Myths and Misunderstandings
by Ian  Parsons

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 writers, with different experiences, exploring so... more...

Hadrian's Wildlife
by John Miles

Built in the years AD122-30 by order of the Emperor Hadrian ‘to separate Romans from Barbarians’, Hadrian's Wall was 73 miles long, running from Wallsend-on-Tyne to Bowness on the Solway Firth. It was originally almost 5 metres high with 16 large forts along its length and is the lar... more...

Hairy-foot, long-tongue
Solitary bees, biodiversity & evolution in your backyard
by David J. Perkins

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.   The text is presented as themed double-page spreads cover... more...

Horse Welfare
A Window on the Equine World
by Christopher Hall

This book is a softback reprint of the popular hardback Horse Welfare: Use not Abuse and is dedicated to the protection of horses, ponies and donkeys and is based on first-hand international experience from a lifetime spent with horses – hunting, racing and welfare – whether with The Pon... more...

Just Before Dawn
The Creation of a Wildlife Sanctuary
by May Parker

The author describes the glorious but laborious work of converting what had been a general dumping-ground to a rich and productive wildlife haven. As work progressed, May took many photographs and kept observations of the varied wildlife she observed during the many evenings which were spent working... more...

Landscape Change in the Scottish Highlands
Imagination and Reality
by James Fenton

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 with a rich cultural history of clans and clanship... more...

Life in Lethinnis
A croft in the Highlands
by Rory Putman

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 idealistic aspiration for the Good Life, nor really an... more...

Listen to the Trees
by Don MacCaskill

In his introduction, Don MacCaskill wrote modestly, 'I think I became a naturalist'. He was, in fact, one of Scotland's foremost naturalists and a remarkable wildlife photographer as well. In a flashback to his early years in Kilmartin, a village in Argyllshire, we learn of his awakening... more...

Mangroves and Man-Eaters
and other wildlife encounters
by Dan Freeman

‘…In this entertaining book, which is as much about people and places as it is about wildlife, you’ll read of hair-raising encounters with giant crabs, lions and killer bees. But rest assured, with Dan Freeman you are travelling with the best of guides…’ Extract from... more...

Mongooses of the World
by Andrew Jennings, Géraldine  Veron

Mongooses are a remarkable and fascinating group of small carnivores, with 25 species occurring in Africa and nine in Asia. They live within a wide variety of habitats, from open savannah to dense rainforest, and display an amazing diversity in social behaviour, with both solitary and group-living s... more...

Monkey Puzzle Man
Archibald Menzies, Plant Hunter
by James McCarthy

'This richly detailed account of the life and travels of Archibald Menzies is a most welcome addition to the literature of botanical exploration. ...we now have a satisfyingly comprehensive account of the life of a Scot who travelled the world as a surgeon naturalist in the Royal Navy'. Ext... more...

Natural History of Tenerife
by Philip Ashmole, Myrtle Ashmole

Tenerife is a remarkable island, dominated by Mount Teide, an active volcano higher than any mountain in mainland Spain. The island has extraordinary volcanic landscapes, and thousands of species of plants and animals that are found only there. The authors’ love of Tenerife stems from its e... more...

Of the Trees and the Birds
by Ian  Parsons

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 perch in whilst searching for food. Others are more ... more...

On Foot in the African Bush
Adventures of Safari Guides
by Jeff Williams

Safari guide Jeff Williams has brought together a treasure-trove of stories of dramatic events that occurred whilst guides were leading parties through the bush on foot. Often these were recounted during evenings sitting around a campfire with friends and guide colleagues, swapping yarns and sharing... more...

Otters of the World
by Paul Yoxon, Grace M. Yoxon

Having worked for over 20 years on otter conservation of all 13 species, the authors wished to share their experiences of these beautiful animals. People may be familiar with the Asian small-clawed otters, often found in zoos, or the sea otter, well-known for lying on its back cracking open shells, ... more...

Patrick Neill
Doyen of Scottish Horticulture
by Forbes W. Robertson

Descended from a Haddington family of printers and booksellers, Patrick Neill became head of the most prestigious printing firm in Edinburgh. Leaving his manager to run the business, he devoted his life to writing, natural history, horticulture and civic duties. His early tour of Orkney and Shetland... more...

Ploughing a New Furrow
A Blueprint for Wildlife Friendly Farming
by Malcolm Smith

Farmland wildlife has been decimated by intensive crop growing using pesticides, grubbing up hedges, ploughing heathland and draining marshes, etc. With too many sheep grazing our moors, hills and mountains, a range of upland plants, invertebrates and birds has been diminished and the land converted... more...

Rare, Wild and Free
by Mike  Tomkies

Rare, Wild and Free is a testament to the work of one of the finest nature writers Britain has ever produced - Mike Tomkies, who spent 35 years in the wildest and most remote places in Scotland, Canada and Spain to study and photograph the rarest and most dramatic wild creatures. The eminent critic ... more...

Roaming Wild
The Founding of Compassion in World Farming
by Emma Silverthorn

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. This book explores the paths that led Anna and Peter to found and steward w... more...

Running South America
with my Husband and other animals
by Katharine Lowrie

It is the story of two everyday runners, Katharine and David, who decided to take on a continent and learn how to run again – barefoot, pushing their bodies and minds to levels they had never considered possible in a bid to become the first in the world to run the length of South America, to g... more...

Running Wild
by Mike  Tomkies

You thought he was retired, even dead? No, he is back! At the age of 86, Mike Tomkies is back doing what he does best – observing our rarest and most dramatic wildlife, unsuspected and from close quarters, and writing about it with the kind of intimate detail that has earned high acclaim from ... more...

Seasonality
A personal account of nature through the seasons
by Ian  Parsons

Seasonality is an uplifting look at British wildlife through the seasons of the year, but it is also about our relationship with that wildlife. The author, a keen and passionate naturalist, takes us on a journey through spring, summer, autumn and winter, and on this journey we look at how our wildli... more...

Seton Gordon's Cairngorms
An Anthology
by Hamish Brown

Seton Gordon really created himself as naturalist, photographer and writer, the first such in the country, his first book appearing when he was eighteen. In all he wrote 27 books, two specifically about the Cairngorms where he grew up and first explored and returned to many times throughout his long... more...

Seton Gordon's Scotland
An Anthology
by Hamish Brown

Seton Gordon was only a boy when he began exploring the Cairngorms, fascinated by its wildlife and seeking to photograph all he saw - he later became a pioneer naturalist, photographer and folklorist. He wrote about the land that is Scotland, her flora and fauna, her people, her spirits, her often v... more...

Shorebirds in Action
An Introduction to Waders and their Behaviour
by Richard Chandler

Shorebirds, or waders, are a large group of small to medium-sized birds that occur worldwide, in a wide range of predominantly coastal or wetland habitats. Some species are largely sedentary whilst others are amongst the world’s most migratory bird species, travelling thousands of kilometres i... more...

Something Out There
by Jim Crumley

'Like many a Highland glen, the Fathan Ghlinne should be wooded but isn't. But I have sat long and often and listened to the ancient river speech, to the windsong of three birches and a rowan, the rowan above a meeting of waterfalls which should be a portentous place. And the word on the win... more...

The Arctic
by Richard  Sale, Per Michelsen

This stunningly beautiful and informative book celebrates the Arctic, one of the last great wildernesses on the planet; a place where animals have survived for thousands of years protected only by fur and feathers. Humans also survive in the Arctic, but only those who have adjusted to the climate ov... more...

The Corncrake
An Ecology of an Enigma
by Frank Rennie

Changes in farmland management throughout the twentieth century, including agricultural intensification and increasing mechanisation, have resulted in the loss of habitat for many species. The Corncrake is one such species that has faced multiple challenges to its survival. Although it was once a co... more...

The Farnes & Holy Island
A comprehensive new dive guide
by Ron Young

Following the successful previous book, this new and expanded edition is the most informative and comprehensive book available, particularly for the diving fraternity, and will be essential for divers wishing to experience the rich underwater heritage around the 28 Farne Islands. However, it is not ... more...

The King of Lokoja
William Balfour Baikie the Forgotten Man of Africa
by Wendell  McConnaha

William Balfour Baikie was a surgeon, naturalist, linguist, writer, explorer, and government consul who played a key role in opening Africa to the Europeans. As an explorer he mapped and charted large sections of the Niger River system as well as the overland routes from Lagos and Lokoja to the majo... more...

The Storm Leopard
by Martyn Murray

'Books such as this must be published and reach a wide audience'. George Schaller, author and world-renowned conservation biologist 'A very-well written meditation on all aspects of travel in Africa'. Peter Matthiessen, American novelist and non-fiction writer, twice winner of the... more...

The UN's Lone Ranger - Combating international wildlife crime
by John M.  Sellar

Illegal trade in wildlife is now recognized as one of the most significant criminal activities in the world, bringing billions of dollars in illicit profits to organized crime groups and networks, which are acknowledged to control much of this trafficking. Until 2011, John M. Sellar was the most sen... more...

The Wind in my Face
by Bridget  MacCaskill

Extract from the Foreword by Julian Pettifer 'He was a professional forester and a brilliant self-taught naturalist and wildlife photographer. Above all, from our point of view, he could communicate his enthusiasm to others. ...a huge portfolio of nature photographs of the highest quality. Now ... more...

The Wonder of Africa’s Natural History
by Clive Spinage

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 that are often neglected, and reveals untold myste... more...

Understanding Animal Behaviour
by Rory Putman

This accessible introduction to animal behaviour provides an authoritative yet reader-friendly guide for the interested naturalist. It presents current knowledge about the way animals behave and will enable the reader to derive more pleasure from their observations of animals by gaining a deeper und... more...

Untangling the Knot, Belugas and Bears
My Natural World on Film
by Mike Potts

The beginning of the author’s adventure with a camera – filming wildlife across the world for the BBC Natural History Unit and other major TV companies – began in 1978 when he joined the RSPB’s film unit. Untangling the Knot gives an in-depth look into what is involved in ... more...

Waters of the Wild Swan
by Jim Crumley

The book begins dramatically - a level flight of eight mute swans, occupying the entire width of a busy street in the centre of Edinburgh, sweep through the canyon of tenement walls at the height of second-storey windows, bringing traffic to a standstill. The reader cannot help but share instantl... more...

Wild Galloway
From the hilltops to the Solway, a portrait of a glen
by Ian Carter

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 importance of wild places, based on a lifetime of... more...

Wild Places, Wild Encounters
Exploring Edinburgh’s Living Landscape
by Glen Cousquer

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, including ecology, outdoor and environmental educa... more...

Wildcat Haven
by Mike  Tomkies

Some seven years after abandoning the life of an international journalist for a life in the wilds, Mike Tomkies began a remarkable experiment, rearing the most ferocious animal to roam wild in Britain - the Scottish wildcat. The true wildcat is now an endangered species and only to be found in in... more...

Wildlife Crime
The Making of an Investigations Officer
by Dave Dick

Through the professional life of Dave Dick, the RSPB’s Senior Scottish Investigation Officer between 1984 and 2006, the often murky world of wildlife crime is revealed. This is the first book that faces up to the realities of the often unsuccessful efforts by the justice system in its attempt ... more...