Author: Katherine

NHBS recently attended the BTO annual conference in Swanick, Derbyshire, UK.

Bestsellers at the NHBS stand included The Migration Ecology of Birds by Ian Newton and How and Why Species Multiply by Peter Grant. Peter was a featured speaker at the conference, discussing the evolution of Darwin’s finches.

NHBS is pleased to be the official distributor for all BTO guides, including the two newest titles: Bird Ringing and Gardening for Birdwatchers.

British Moths and Butterflies – an instant bestseller! Packed with the stunning photography of Chris Manley, this new photographic guide is the perfect guide to Britain’s moths and butterflies. Its coverage is broad, including all of the 800 or so macro-moths (within which the butterflies are placed), including all vagrants, and many of the micros, along with some 300 types of caterpillars.

The authoritative text provides important information on identification, size and larval food plant for each species, within introductory sections detailing habitats, life cycles, conservation,and trapping and photographic techniques. With many people now setting up their own backyard moth traps or interested to know which species are fluttering around their light bulbs, this book provides a superb introduction to this fascinating insect group.

In stock: order your copy now.

Browse our new and bestselling moth, butterfly, and insect titles published in 2008.

For our complete range of entomology titles, browse Butterflies & Moths (Lepidoptera)

Did you know we sell moth traps, butterfly nets, and collecting pots? Browse our new range of wildlife equipment.

Browse the NHBS Festive Selection, where you’ll find this season’s new and bestselling books and wildlife equipment.

Browse the Festive Selection:
Highlights | Birds | Zoology | British Wildlife | Global Wildlife | Botany | Ecology & Conservation | General Science | DVD/CD-ROM | Children’s Books and Activity Kits | Wildlife Equipment

New this week, The Art of Peter Scott is flying off the shelves. This book features a lifetime of drawings and paintings by the esteemed wildfowl artist Sir Peter Scott.

Don’t miss Do Polar Bears Get Lonely?, the latest compilation of readers’ answers to the questions presented in the popular “Last World” column in New Scientist magazine. You’ll find answers to burning questions such as: Do spiders get thirsty? How long would it take a cow to fill the Grand Canyon with milk? How do they get the stripes on toothpaste?

Collins British Wildlife is the ideal gift for the amateur wildlife enthusiast, covering all common animals, plants, insects, and more found in the British Isles, and includes over 3,500 stunning photographs. This book is on special offer until 31 January 2009; order your copy now!

The Birdwatcher’s Yearbook 2009 and the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Wall Calendar are also proving popular this festive season.

Browse the Festive Selection:
Highlights | Birds | Zoology | British Wildlife | Global Wildlife | Botany | Ecology & Conservation | General Science | DVD/CD-ROM | Children’s Books and Activity Kits | Wildlife Equipment

The 2008 Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibit has just opened at the Natural History Museum in London, and will run until April 2009.

If you can’t make it to London to see this prestigious exhibition, you can enjoy wildlife in your own home.

We carry the popular companion book Wildlife Photographer of the Year: Portfolio Eighteen, which features more than 120 stunning images from the competition, selected from 35,000 entries.

 

To see other winning portfolios, browse the Wildlife Photographer of the Year series

The 2009 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Calendar is also available, and is on special offer until 31/12/2008.

You can also browse our wide range of books on Wildlife Photography

The second edition of the definitive identification guide Owls of the World has just been published, and is now in stock at NHBS.

This book, part of the acclaimed Helm Identification Guides series, fully describes every known species and subspecies of owl, and presents the latest evidence on owl taxonomy, based on DNA work and vocalisations. Because voice is vital in owl identification, much emphasis is placed on it in the book and sonograms are provided for many species. A CD of owl vocalisations has been announced for next year.

We have a special offer on this book until 31/12/2008; order your copy now!

For more books on raptors, browse our Birds of Prey subject list.

The latest Checklist of CITES Species, providing the official list of CITES species and resources, is now available on CD-ROM. The 2008 edition has been extensively revised and made more user-friendly, and is trilingual in English, French, and Spanish. The Checklist is only available as a CD and is no longer available in a print edition. This is a key resource for CITES authorities, customs officials, and others involved in implementing and enforcing CITES.

Get your copy now!

You may also be interested in the CITES Handbook (2007)

What is CITES?
CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is a voluntary cooperative agreement by the world’s governments to monitor and control the international trade in wild animals and plants. This trade is significant, worth billions of dollars every year.

The CITES agreement aims to improve sustainability and avoid exploitation of resources, and to ensure continued survival in the wild. 28,000 plant species and 5,000 animal species, and the products made from those species, are protected by CITES with three levels of rankings based on the risk of exploitation or extinction.

Back in January, Nigel, when blogging the excellent Trace Fossils: Concepts, Problems, Prospects mentioned the then forthcoming publication of Trace Fossil Analysis by Crafoord Prize winner and perhaps the world’s most acknowledged expert in the field of trace fossils, Professor Adolf Seilacher. This is now published and in stock at NHBS.

The preface clearly outlines the key aim of this book, as distinct from that of any other on this subject: ‘to confer not knowledge, but skill’. Using this motto the author has designed the book in a way which fosters interpretative skills – using his own exceptionally detailed drawings (see below) as the key resource, which have been arranged in such a way that they make a story and wait for the addition of the reader’s own colourful scribblings.

This book is highly recommended for students, professors, researchers and those non-professionals interested in palaeontology, and especially ichnology.

Some sample plates:

From the depths of the densest forest, of the world’s fourth largest island arises one of the most spectacular limestone landscapes I have ever seen. ‘Like a lost city strecthed out to infinity’ as the author and one of the photographers, David Wolozan so elegantly puts it.

The ‘beauty and mystery’ of Madagascar’s Bemaraha National Park, aptly named the “stone forest” is truly captured by Tsingy – Stone Forest, Madagascar. From the deceiving “Tsingy” topography (from the Malagasy word “mitsingitsigina” or “to walk on tip toe”), where you’ll discover some of the most inhospitable terrain on earth, to the world of forest canyons, caves, karren and mangrove that lies beneath, to the interesting animals that inhabitat these environments, this book details it all with its series of breathtaking photographs and excellent commentary. ‘This book will lead you to their discovery…’

Suitable for all those interested generally in landscapes and landscape photography, to those who would simply like to see why this World Heritage site is fast becoming the most popular natural site in Madagascar, short of visiting it themselves. See the authors’ website (in French) for more details @ www.editionsaltus.com

It’s always a pleasure when a new book arrives in the NHBS office which stands out as being something a little bit special – and Turtles of the World is very much one of those books. There’s no doubt that this is a noticeable step up in terms of both quality and comprehensiveness from previous turtle publications.

The book details the distribution, description, natural history, and protection of all 300 extant species in clear, logical prose with informative photographic illustrations and distribution maps. Although that’s a lot of material for a single volume to tackle in adequate depth, this book certainly does not leave the reader feeling short-changed. In fact, on the contrary, this title will undoubtedly prove to be highly informative to even the most knowledgeable of turtle-lovers. I see no reason why Turtles of the World should not cement a place amongst biologists as the most important book on this subject to date. Surely a modern classic.