Best Days with Shetland’s Birds

£17.99       PAPERBACK EDITION

£26.99      HARDBACK EDITION

Spanning decades as well as the seasons, thirty well known figures of the local bird scene share what Shetland’s birds mean to them and recount their best days.

Edited by Andrew Harrop and Rebecca Nason

“I love the format of this book because it shares those moments of passion and excitement. This is no dry examination of facts or statistics. It helps us to understand the joy to be found in the natural world. These are the stories told and retold, while sheltering inside during westerly gales and horizontal rain. They’re much more interesting than bird name scrabble!

Fair Isle, and later the rest of Shetland, taught me that nature is an intrinsic part of landscape. To fall in love with a place, without an understanding of the wildlife inhabiting or visiting it, is a limited kind of affection. The accounts of very special birding days give us a real and wider sense of these beautiful islands.”   Ann Cleeves

134 pages        240 x 165m.      High Quality Colour Photographic illustrations & Artwork

We have been delighted with the response to our new book which was launched this Spring. There reviews & sales have been excellent & we are thrilled to have accomplished such a Shetland birding community orientated publication giving special, personal insights into birding experiences whilst living on the Isles over the years, from delighting in common birds to the rarer, there is something for everyone in this bird lovers collection…….

Thank you to co-editor Andrew Harrop for inviting me to work with him on this, and to The Shetland Times for publishing it. Thanks also to our friend Ann Cleeves for her foreword & both Howard Towll & Paul Bloomer for their art work contributions……just beautiful! We are delighted to see SHETLAND SEABIRD TOURS – THE NOSS BOAT mentioned in several accounts as well as being illustrated within, and a super account by co-owner, ornithologist & skipper Phil Harris. Both of us love being part of the Shetland birding community and this was a fun, unique way of engaging both with many contributing Shetland birding friends and promoting our birding tales and experiences to a wider audience outside of Shetland.

https://britishbirds.co.uk/content/best-days-shetland’s-birds

Here is an extract from the latest British Birds journal with a thorough review by Andy Stoddart:

“Working with a large number of contributors can be like herding cats but the editors have done a splendid job of regularising the English and producing an internally consistent set of texts. Editorial comments follow some of the accounts to add additional content and/or useful context. The editors seem to have successfully navigated the mires of birdwatching politics and produced something with a genuine community feel. Indeed, there is a very welcome effort to ensure a diversity of contributions and perspectives, such as those of the recently founded Shetland LadyBirders.

The layout is pleasing, with some fine photographs and artwork, mostly by the contributors themselves, and there are some truly iconic images, from a 1967 Dennis Coutts’ Fetlar Snowy Owl Bubo scandiacus to Rebecca Nason’s 2004 Fair Isle Rufous-tailed Robin Larvivora sibilans. The cover is a delightful and playful print by Howard Towll of auks hanging in the wind below Sumburgh lighthouse (and did I notice a Brünnich’s Guillemot Uria lomvia hiding in plain sight?).

We are a storytelling species, and birdwatchers are no different. This book is a wonderful celebration of place and a contribution to our collective folklore. It is a highly recommended companion for a dark winter’s evening:

Andy Stoddart

We have a super little review in the July Issue of BIRDWATCH magazine too…..

 

Thanks also to Shetland-based blogger Laurie & Blackpool birder Stephen for their personal reviews on their blogs………

https://www.shetlandwithlaurie.com/the-blog/book-reviews-best-days-with-shetlands-birds-and-shetland-puffin#/

 

https://natural-selection.uk/2022/06/13/review-best-days-with-shetlands-birds/

 

You can purchase our book from the Shetland Times who published it & were a pleasure to work with.  Hardback and paperback available here via the link:

https://shop.shetlandtimes.co.uk/products/best-days-with-shetlands-birds-1