Britain's Habitats: a Field Guide to the Wildlife Habitats of Great Britain and Ireland

To understand the distribution of our birds it very much helps if we know the preferred habitats of each species. For example, Knot winter on mudflats, Dartford Warblers live on lowland heaths and Dotterel nest on mountain tops. But habitats are messy things. We all have an idea of what we mean by a woodland, but how many types of woodland are there, and how do they differ? This book will help you get at the details, and details can prove to be important.

This authoritative guide lists 66 distinct habitats of Britain (and Ireland, contrary to the book’s name) and divides them into 10 broad groups: Woodlands, Scrub, Heathlands, Grasslands, Mountains, Rocky Habitats, Wetlands, Freshwaters, Coastal Habitats and ‘Other’ Habitats. The meat of the book is taken up with detailed descriptions of particular habitats. Each has a map showing: its extent in Britain and Ireland; a discussion of its origins and development; relationships to other habitats; particular conservation issues; and key species to look out for. There are notes on how to recognise each habitat type, and each account is lavishly illustrated with many excellent photos of both examples of the habitat and a few relevant species.

The accounts are preceded by a good introduction setting out factors influencing habitats. For the more technical user, there is a particularly useful table at the end of the book comparing different habitat classification systems currently in use. It is worth noting that this is the second edition of this guide, but it has been extensively revamped in terms of format and content. It is now an even more useful and attractive book than in its previous incarnation. Highly recommended.

Book reviewed by Andy Musgrove