[kizibu]

Hi

I'm very new to birding and BF so apologies if this is going over old ground.

Can anyone suggest a good field guide to UK birds for the beginner please?

I guess it needs to be:

- small enough to take out in my pocket (ie usable in the field)

- very clear about the distinguishing marks that I should be looking for (ie a guide)

At the moment I'm using my 40-year copy of A Field Guide to the Birds of Britain & Europe by Peterson Mountford and Hollom. Its good on the second of these but like me its chunkier than it should be and getting a bit fragile.

Kizibu

[epervier]

Hi
The general concensus I believe is the Collins Bird guide, Mullarney, Svensson, Zetterstrom, Grant. ISBN 0-00-711332-3 (that is my edition anyway, a few years old now). The writing is on the small side but is very comprehensive. welcome to Birdforum and happy birding!

[joannec]

Well, it probably won't fit in your pocket but the one I use is Collins Bird Guide, one of the best. There is a paperback version.

Joanne

[bitterntwisted]

Hi Kizibu,

I personally don't think there is a good field guide to UK birds for the beginner. Since the Collins guide came out, the idea of what a good field guide should be was changed. It raised the bar so much that existing guides all seem poor beside it. My Collins is better than the dozen or more guides I used previously put together. The main problem with it, though, is that it has too many species for the beginner and can seem daunting, as well as needing a big pocket. It covers the whole of Europe pretty comprehensively, so perhaps as many as two-thirds of species simply won't encountered by beginners in England. That said, I think it is still the one you should get and grow into. It's also amazing value... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Collins-Bird...3653531&sr=1-1

BTW, the book you have, although very old, is excellent, and a lot of birders still use it. Almost all of the subsequent guides failed to better it or come close to it before Collins.

Graham

[robinm]

I'd echo what has been said. The main problem with older guides is that changes can trip up the unwary e.g. many older guides show Little Egret and Cetti's Warbler as rare but (here in Kent and many other places) they are now both reasonably common.

[DavidP]

The general consensus will be the Collins guide and indeed it is a good guide but I don't think its very good for a beginner or even for a not so beginner.

For a start its not a UK only guide, in fact its not even a Europe only guide.

The Collins to quote covers "All bird species which breed or regularly occur in Europe, North Africa north of 30 N, and Israel, Palestine,Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan, that is in a large part of the Middle East. Also included are the Canary islands, Madeira and the Sinai peninsula."

All great if you travel a lot or are hoping to see lots of vagrants.

As an example if you're looking for your first Dartford warbler and look it up in Collins you find on the same page 5 species which look fairly similar. All except the one you're looking for are only found in north Africa or some islands in the Med. Why do we need the confusion. I wish they'd bring out the Collins with the excellent illustrations with a UK focus.

The large coverage brings up problems which I think could well have been avoided in a UK version.
1.) Often 4 or 5 species are listed per page with the inevitable small size, the font size of the type is really small.

2.) Its not very pocketable

3.) The paperback version doesn't open flat very easily.


I think a better option is the Knightley, Madge Pocket guide to birds of britain and NW Europe

This is much more pocketable and has an easier to open binding with a harder cover. It covers less species often only 1 or 2 to a page which means its much easier on the eye. The illustrations are not so good though. It gives population estimates for the Uk which I find useful sometimes although I realise they are probably out of date. Also gives measurements in metric and imperial which I find easier to understand the collins only has metric and I still don't have the same grasp of them as I do english units.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pocket-Brita...5362045&sr=8-1

The answer is probably to get both but I think for the guide that you will want as a beginner the Collins still has a way to go. I wish they'd follow the US example of the Sibley where theres the coffee table version and the slimmed down field guide versions.

Sometimes the collins can be found quite cheap, a while ago bol.com was selling them at 3 pounds each, so always worth looking around but really for what you want I'd recommend the Knightley Madge pocket guide.

[level seven]

Nobody's mentioned Bill Oddie's "Birds of Britain and Ireland" which is aimed at the beginner. I found it very useful when I was starting from scratch about five years ago. As its name suggests, it only has birds you're likely to see in this country as a beginner (although scarcer migrants etc are mentioned in an appendix). There are quite good drawings and a lot of very useful ID information aimed at those starting out, including how likely it is that you're seeing a particular bird in a certain habitat or at a time of the year (obvious to old hands, but not always to beginners).

I moved on to the Collins after a few months but Oddie's book gave me a good grounding and I can really recommend it from that point of view.

[geoffw1946]

A good pocket field guide to carry is 'The New Birdwatcher's Pocket Guide to Britain and Europe' by Peter Hayman and Rob Hume from Mitchell Beazley. Was £9.99 when I bought it a year ago.

[John Cantelo]

Yes, the Collins guide IS the ulimate field guide, BUT for a beginner I'd go for 'Pocket Guide to the Birds of Britain and N-W Europe' (Kightley, Madge & Nurney). It has far fewer 'unnecessary' species, good illustrations, detailed text notes, larger map showing more detail for the UK plus notes on population & distribution for the UK. OK the illustrations are not as detailed or accurate as the Collins guide but perfectly adequate for ID purposes. Hayman's guide I love but I think the lack of maps makes it less suitable for a beginner. Besides, why not wait until the new larger/improved edition of the Collins guide appears early next year?
John

[postcardcv]

Originally Posted by A.Geoff William

A good pocket field guide to carry is 'The New Birdwatcher's Pocket Guide to Britain and Europe' by Peter Hayman and Rob Hume from Mitchell Beazley. Was £9.99 when I bought it a year ago.

I'd agree that this is a good field guide for someone new to birding - it's got good information and illustrations in a small book that fits well in a pocket. I do think that Collins is a better book (for me it's the best there is, we have three copies around the house and in the car), however my wife who is only a casual birder does not like it as it has too much in it. If you can afford to get both buy the Mitchell Beazley to take out birding with you and the Collins to keep at home for reference.