The Lost Birds of Middlemarch, Britain and the World

WHERE HAVE ALL OUR BIRDS GONE?WHEN THE RSPB reports that 600 million birds have been lost across Britain and Europe there are questions in Parliament, letters to The Times, and Tweets of outrage. But what does it mean? For most people, a day in the countryside is much as it ever was: a hill to climb, a stream in which to paddle, a grassy spot for a picnic. There are birds - some birds - and certainly no signs of a massacre. But birds don't disappear by the million, they fade away, one by one, as a tree is felled and a meadow is drained. To see it takes a long view. Two Turtle Doves lost from Three-Corner Spinney. Five pairs of Nightingales lost from Salthouse Heath. One hundred and fifty Tree Sparrows lost from Bullfurlong Lane. Three pairs of Linnets lost from Corstorphine Hill. Two Cuckoos lost from Cross Roads Farm. Four pairs of Willow Tits lost from Foster's Pond. Sixty Reed Buntings lost from Sketchley Brook. This book - with 69 illustrations - offers the unique insight of over half a century of close recording. To understand is to take one small step towards helping to make birds count. IAN MOORE IS AN AWARD-WINING WRITER and a member of the Society of Authors. A lifelong naturalist, he has watched birds in more than 60 countries, identifying over 1,000 species. His passion, however, has been the systematic observation of his 'local patch', beginning in the English Midlands in 1970 - a project that is presently settled in Edinburgh. As a teenager he was Field Officer of Hinckley & District Natural History Society. He studied Zoology at St Andrews University on the Fife coast, and worked as Assistant Warden at Holme Bird Observatory in Norfolk. He is the author of I-SPY Scottish Nature (Michelin 2011) and presently conducts guided walks and lectures in his voluntary capacity as Wildlife Liaison Officer for Friends of Corstorphine Hill, a 200-acre nature reserve located in the Scottish capital's western suburbs.