Hoopoe – A blog by nhbs

There are only 2 days left to take advantage of the great savings – up to 60% off – on more than 2600 wildlife, natural history and science titles in our annual Backlist Bargains sale.

Don’t miss this opportunity for great savings – the Backlist Bargains sale must end 31 March 2009!

Browse the Backlist Bargains catalogue

Key to the Identification of British Centipedes is now in stock – the first all-new identification guide to the centipedes of the United Kingdom in the last 40 years. Ideal for both the amateur and professional entomologist. For more centipede information, the new Synopsis of the British Fauna Volume 58: Centipedes provides further in-depth notes on Chilopoda taxonomy.

Browse other new and upcoming insect titles from NHBS

Browse Backlist Bargains – Invertebrates (Our annual sale must end 31 March 2009.)

Browse the full catalogue of Arthropods and Insects

Browse our full range of Wildlife Equipment including moth traps, nets, beating trays, insect pots and all the other field essentials.

Some key new books on estuaries and coastal wetlands have just arrived at NHBS, including Estuaries: Dynamics, Mixing, Sedimentation and Morphology – an in-depth summary of estuarine processes.

Other highlights include Ecology of Aquatic Systems with its broad survey of freshwater and marine systems and The Rivers of Europe, a comprehensive new primary source of information on the major European rivers – an indispensable resource for ecologists and conservation managers.

Check out our full range of Wildlife Equipment for sampling trays, nets, waterproof notebooks and all the other field essentials.

Browse more New Estuary and Coastal Ecosystem Titles

Browse Backlist Bargains – Habitats & Ecosystems (Our annual sale must end 31 March 2009.)

Browse Habitats, Ecosystems and Natural Spaces

Browse Oceanography

Some great new books about bee and ant societies have just swarmed into NHBS, including The Superorganism – Holldobler and Wilson’s in-depth analysis of insect societies, a follow-up to their acclaimed 1990 publication The Ants.

Don’t miss Six-Legged Soldiers, the compelling story of how insects have been used as weapons of war from prehistoric times right up to the Second World War and the near future.

Browse more new bee and ant colony titles

Check out our new range of homes for bugs and bees in your garden, including the Bee Hut, the Bumblebee Box and the Bug Mansion.

Browse Backlist Bargains – Invertebrates (Our annual sale ends 31 March 2009.)

Browse the full catalogue of Arthropods and Insects

In Built by Animals: The natural history of animal architecture Mike Hansell looks at the extraordinary structures that animals build – whether homes, traps, or courtship displays – and reveals the biology behind their behaviour. He shows how small-brained animals achieve complex feats in a small-brained way, by repeating many simple actions and using highly evolved self-secreted materials. On the other hand, the building feats or tool use of large-brained animals, such as humans or chimps, require significantly more complex and costly behaviour.

We look at wasp’s nests, leaf-cutting ants, caddisflies and amoebae, and even the extraordinary bower bird, who seduces his mate with a decorated pile of twigs, baubles, feathers and berries. Hansell explores how animal structures evolved over time, how insect societies emerge, how animals can alter their wider habitat, and even whether some animals have an aesthetic sense.

“Built by Animals is popular science at its best.” – Mark Cocker, The Guardian

“Hansell, an evolutionary biologist specialising in animal architecture, knows the answers and can tell a good story. Great stuff.” – Douglas Palmer, New Scientist

Built by Animals is now available in paperback – Order your copy today!

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Check out the great savings on more than 2500 wildlife, natural history and science titles – at up to 60% off – in our annual Backlist Bargains sale. (Sale ends 31 March 2009.)

We’re pleased to announce the arrival of Plant Taxonomy: The Systematic Evaluation of Comparative Data by Todd Stuessy – Professor and Chair of the Department of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany at the University of Vienna, Austria. He also serves as the Secretary-General of the International Association for Plant Taxonomy.

The field of plant taxonomy has transformed rapidly over the past fifteen years, especially with regard to improvements in cladistic analysis and the use of new molecular data. The second edition of this popular resource reflects these far-reaching and dramatic changes by adding more than 3,000 new references and figures. Synthesizing current research and trends, this book now provides the most up-to-date overview of plant taxonomy in relation to monographic, biodiversity, and evolutionary studies, and continues to be an essential resource for students and scholars.

Order your copy of Plant Taxonomy today!

Browse more new botanical and taxonomy titles

Browse Botany and Zoology

Check out the great savings on botanical titles – up to 60% off – in our annual Backlist Bargains sale. (Sale ends 31 March 2009.)

There is one month left to take advantage of the great bargains in our Backlist Bargains sale!

We have added hundreds of great new titles from New Holland, Elsevier and Academic Press. Don’t miss the opportunity to purchase over 2600 titles at up to 60% off – the sale ends 31 March 2009.

Browse Backlist Bargains 2009 Bestsellers:
Zoology, Botany, Ornithology, Ecology/Conservation/Biodiversity, and Natural History/Travel

Browse the full Backlist Bargains catalogue

A Best Practice Guide for Wild Bird Monitoring Schemes is essential reading for all those involved in bird counts, conducting surveys, analysing monitoring data and managing results. This key resource outlines the general principles of good survey design and best practices for sampling, field methods, and data analysis. Contributors include the RSPB, EBCC, CSO, BirdLife International, and Statistics Netherlands.

Another new bird monitoring title is Bird Ringing: The Concise Guide, published by the BTO. This book is an ideal training tool for ringers, explaining how and why we ring birds. It contains numerous examples of how ringing has contributed to conservation science and research, and how ringing helps us understand population changes by providing information on survival and recruitment.

For more new titles and related equipment, browse New Bird Conservation Titles and Equipment

We stock a wide range of fieldwork equipment including bird weighing scales, ringing pliers, GPS units, and nest boxes and camera kits. To see our full selection, browse Wildlife Equipment

Browse our full range of Bird Conservation, Care, and Monitoring titles

Don’t miss the great deals on ornithology titles in our annual Backlist Bargains sale (ends 31/03/2009).

Browse our full range of birding titles in Ornithology

The eagerly awaited Helm Field Guide for Birds of Pakistan has now arrived at NHBS!

Pakistan has a rich diversity of bird habitats, from the dry alpine and moist temperate forests of the western Himalayas to the deserts of Baluchistan and Sind. The Indus basin, where some of the earliest human civilisations were founded, is extensively irrigated and cultivated, providing a variety of man-made habitats. This diversity of habitats supports a wide variety of bird species, and some 669 have been recorded. More than 60 per cent of the country – land lying to the west of the Indus river and south from Peshawar to the Arabian Sea coasts – is Palearctic in character, with a steppic dry montane habitat, and is very different from the rest of the Indian subcontinent.

Birds of Pakistan is a successor to the much acclaimed Birds of the Indian Subcontinent by two of the same authors. 93 superb plates are accompanied by a succinct text highlighting identification, voice, habitat, altitudinal range, distribution and status. Covers 670 species including all breeding species, regular visitors and vagrants. The text is on facing pages to the plates, for easy reference and there are distribution maps for every species.

Order your copy of Birds of Pakistan today!

Browse Helm Field Guides

For more new birding titles, browse Birding Highlights

Browse our full range of birding titles in Ornithology