Helm Field Guides: Birds of the United Arab Emirates

The birds of the Middle East hold a particular attraction to many UK birders, with familiar species cheek-by-jowl with others that occur only as vagrants to our shores. One of the easiest countries to get to is the UAE, with holiday destinations in Abu Dhabi and, particularly, Dubai making the Emirates relatively cheap and easy destinations. The definitive guide to the ‘Birds of the Middle East’ is, of course, the book by the same title by Porter and Aspinall, but this covers a vast area and includes many species not encountered in the UAE. This new Helm guide is based on that larger volume, with illustrations from the original but with the text re-written to reflect the status in UAE. It is the first and only complete field guide specific to the UAE and is an essential book for anyone travelling to this fantastic country.

Book reviewed by Carole Showell