'British Birds' Dec 08 (1 Viewer)

'BB' arrived this morning. I've not read it yet, but the contents page promises well with the first part of an article on 'Birds and Habitat Change' which should put some flesh on the bones of various debates found here. For the "raro-phile" there's an article on Bulwer's Petrel whilst the letters include one from DIMW and another about the history of Eagle Owl in the UK (another topic on BF). There are also various reviews (inc. one of Martin Garner's 'Frontiers' book) and bird notes which combine to make another bumper edition. Put simply 'BB' may be the grande dame of British birding, but it (with 'Birding World' & 'Birdwatch') remains required reading for any serious birder .... and a lot who ain't always so serious! Further details regarding 'BB' can be found at http://www.britishbirds.co.uk/

Thanks John

In the December issue of British Birds:

Birds and habitat change in Britain – part 1, a review of losses and gains in the twentieth century
Rob Fuller and Malcolm Ausden identify 18 trends in habitat quantity or quality that were important drivers of changes in bird populations in the twentieth century. Most of the trends had complex effects, good for some species, not so for others. Overall, habitat changes in both lowland and upland farmed landscapes have been bad for birds. Two striking changes affecting wetland birds have been the modernisation of sewage treatment systems and the increase in man-made waterbodies. Part 2 of this review, which explores what the future might hold, will appear in February 2009.

The rise and fall of Bulwer’s Petrel
Andrew Harrop examines two recent reviews of the records of Bulwer’s Petrel in Britain, by BOURC. Four records were assessed, including three specimen records from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and a modern-day sighting from Cumbria. None was found acceptable, and the reasons are discussed in the paper.

Conservation research news discusses the response of rare breeding birds in Britain to climate change, and the importance of parasites in estuarine ecosystems.

Letters and notes feature subjects and varied as the feeding habits of Merlins, the provenance of Eagle Owls in the UK, the timing of migration of Greenland Wheatears and evidence for the hybridisation of Goldcrests and Firecrests.

Book reviews, news & comment and recent reports complete the issue.

See the British Birds website at http://www.britishbirds.co.uk for full details of current and back issues, and to download a sample copy of BB.

Have to disagree about Boredwatch save for the Scouse fella

McMadd said:

Have to disagree about Boredwatch save for the Scouse fella

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Boredwatch :-O The only thing I like about it is the highlight story about finding a rarety they put at the beginning of the month summary.

I subscribed to it a few months back. Then I read an issue of British Birds and rued my decision. As soon as my subscription runs out I'm subscribing to British Birds.

I actually quite like Birdwatching, it might not be as 'serious' but with the recent changes it's a great light read.

Birdwatch is a better all round read than Birding World. I subscribed to Birding World for years, (actually have the very first "Twitching" editions). It started to live up to the "world" part of the name too much and just became too predictable and didn't cater for the average British birder. There was the monthly round-up with photos - obtainable now in Birdwatch, or Birdguides for that matter. The accounts of the rare finds - also in Birdwatch. Unless it's changed in the last couple of years, a lot of the content was then given over to birding in far-flung world sites that I, and I suspect many others could only dream of visiting post lottery win.

Within ten minutes of its arrival, I'd exhausted it as a read.

A return to the very early content is what's needed - how to twitch our long stayers; tips for visiting sites; much more on the events leading up to the discovery of British rarities. I think it needs a reality check.

Granted, there's a bit of dude material in Birdwatch but it's a better read - it too needs to keep it real though and not fall into the same trap.

Birdwatch

'Birdwatch' is my favourite bird mag. My main interest is in conservation and it always has interesting stuff on the subject. The mag is even a Species Champion for the Azores Bullfinch. Sound or what!

The SBC laminated card and article this month are pretty special.

I haven't had a good look at this months BB yet. Some of the articles are a bit hard going.

It is just a pity that at Birdfair you can't have a chat to the folk on the Birdwatch stand as they are too busy trying to bully you into buying a subscription!

DKR said:

I haven't had a good look at this months BB yet. Some of the articles are a bit hard going.

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Actually, the Birds and Habitat one isn't too difficult to tackle as you can read each habitat section at a time if you wish

DKR said:

It is just a pity that at Birdfair you can't have a chat to the folk on the Birdwatch stand as they are too busy trying to bully you into buying a subscription!

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One of the things that annoyed me about Birdwatch was the hard time I had getting subscribed. I tried to subscribe by post a couple of weeks before Birdfair. A few weeks later I emailed two different email addresses (subscriptions@ and editor@) querying my subscription status but got no response for a week. I phoned the subscription company and was told there was no record of my subscription and I should resubscribe. I do so and lo and behold a letter turns up confirming my original subscription so now I am doubly subscribed, and had to phone again to unsubscribe the original subscription.

When you get treated like this it makes you reluctant to hand over your hard-earned cash. It's the delay in response to my emails bit that annoyed me. I don't care how busy a company is, not responding to a customer query for a week, without even saying its going to take that long, is just plain contempt.

And on top of that, at times in the last few months Birdwatch has seemed more like a glorified birding holiday catalogue. At least that's the impression it has left me with post-read.

But given that there are people here who rate this magazine, I will try to read it with fresh eyes to determine if I will carry on my subscription when it expires.

I've now read 'BB' and was not disappointed - full of good stuff as always. Yes, 'BB' can sometimes be a demanding read for a non-scientist like me, but that's why I like it. 'Birdwatching' can be read and enjoyed but it never stretches you in the way 'BB' does nor is it a publication I feel I want to keep. I often tend to have a feeling of deja vu when reading the ID articles. I definitely get the impression that things are getting recycled every few years - and probably inevitably so. Hence this is often the magazine I get when on a long flight since it doesn't matter to me if I leave it behind. 'Birdwatch' I enjoy for much the same reasons that DKR highlights. 'Birding World' I enjoy for ID articles, European news and much else. My biggest gripe, though, is the inevitable replication of UK bird sightings in the last three magazines. Once I've read one digest of the month or rarity account then I don't want to read it again. Unfortunately it would be commercial suicide for any of them to drop it and print 'real articles' instead.

So for me my order of priority would be 1) 'BB' [but you probably guessed that], 2) 'Birding World', 3) 'Birdwatch' [although tomorrow in a different mood I might well reverse the position of the latter two], a long way behind at 4) Bird Watching and taking up the rear 5) the RSPB's 'Birds' - good magazine, but with very little meat in it for keen birders. When still a member of the ABA I would have put their house magazine 'Birding' in at 2) but only because it covers such a different scene,

Has anyone read the latest copy of Birding World. I'm interested in the book review section and just wanted to see if something had turned up in it yet...