Best Book
I was using Collins as a field book but found a book recently in a second hand shop which is brilliant: The Hamlyn Guide to Birds of Britain and Europe, Bertel Bruun, illustrated by Arthur Singer, Hamlyn Publishing Group 1978
The book is full of maps, comparative size drawings, call descriptions, different flight pattern images, silouette drawings, key ID factors, migration factors and seasonal distribution. It is a compact and solid but small paperback ideal for field work. :news:
Not only that, but because its second hand, I don't mind it getting mud splats, pencil scribblings and everything else we subject our bird books to in the middle of a 'birding moment'! :bounce:
The only problem is this edition is thirty years old and out of date re: population numbers I suspect, so I will invest in an updated version at some point.