Hoopoe – A blog by nhbs

There’s no doubt about it, Robert Gillmor is a lucky man. For half a century, he’s been able to indulge his two main passions in life – Birds and Art – and he’s been handsomly rewarded for his troubles. Having seen his art appear in over 100 books, exhibited worldwide and his limited edition prints consistently sold for hundreds of pounds, he has come to be recognised as one of our generation’s finest bird artists. Accordingly, 20 years ago he was invited to create the cover-work for the prestigious New Naturalist Book Series – an ongoing relationship which has brought his fine work to the attention of the world’s nature lovers and increased the collectability of the literary series immeasurably. If only life could be this kind to all of us.

As a less than gifted artist myself, the chances of me living such a life are – I admit – rather poor (to say the least). However, no lack of personal talent could stop me from thoroughly enjoying Cutting Away, which provides the reader with a wonderful collection of beautifully understated images, uniquely created using linocut printing. Here, Gillmor’s art is complimented by anecdotes and insights on his work and life as a highly involved naturalist.

This outstanding book is unmissable for collectors of the New Naturalist Series, followers of Gillmor’s work, and anyone who holds an appreciation for the art of nature. Just try to keep your jealousy at bay. For examples of Gillmor’s work, see the covers of some recent New Naturalist titles: ‘Bumblebees‘, ‘Woodlands‘ or ‘Moths‘

A quick look at the BBC News website this lunchtime reveals two interesting articles about our fellow Homo sapiens.

Firstly, the population of the USA reached 300 million as of 11:46GMT today. Just one big number among many big numbers which emerge when discussing how population sizes are growing rapidly in many parts of the world. When do we collectively accept a shared responsibility to consider a global population size based on replacement? Jared Diamond builds towards this point in Collapse (now in paperback). How do we manage our resources and the (inevitable) impact we have on the planet? A number of noteworthy new titles investigate e.g. An Introduction to Sustainable Development, and, focusing on the direct consequence of growing populations and (welcome) development the Earthscan Reader in Sustainable Consumption. In the midst of our consumption, and even in spite of our efforts, what lengths must we take to protect biodiversity? Gaining Ground: In Pursuit of Ecological Sustainability makes a powerful case for the protection of wildlife. How do we balance the high standard of living some of us are lucky enough to enjoy, and that we hope will soon extend to all, with the responsibilty to manage the planet. How are our societies to make these choices, and how are the issues being presented to the public? Environmental Sociology investigates our response to the facts.

Secondly, Oliver Curry of the London School of Economics predicts that the human species will split in two over the next 100,000 years. Curry bases this on likely mating preferences between socio-economic classes – read Mating Systems and Strategies to find out more about the implications of mate choice, or The Complete World of Human Evolution for a broad introduction to humankind.

Robert Bateman’s love of the natural world is clearly evident in this 25th Anniversary edition of his first book. While being scientifically accurate his paintings are essentially a celebration of wild things and wild places. He avoids sentimentality, while evoking the beauty and splendour of the world around him. Whether it’s a pair of loons gliding serenenly across a lake, or a more frenetic scene of a peregrine diving after a swift, Bateman creates an honest and enduring image.

The Art of Robert Bateman is an inspirational book, born from one man’s passion and dedication to wildlife; a great artist and a great naturalist, Bateman is a master of the wildlife-art genre. If you have a fervour and zeal for the beauty of the natural world, indulge your passion with this book. Available at NHBS from early November.

The world-wide success of this year’s BBC documentary ‘Planet Earth’ showed that there is great deal of public interest in the state of our planet and it’s many inhabitants. This may be because, as they say, the best stories are true ones, but I hope that the millions of people who tuned in to watch every week also appreciated that the ongoing story of Planet Earth not only affects us, but that we will be writing the next chapter – for better or worse.

The latest book to be borne of the multi-million pound production, Planet Earth: The Future, seeks to educate, entertain and ultimately guide us to ensure that we try to write a happy ending. Unlike the majority of books on the topic of sustainability, it is written for everybody and seeing as environmental issues are everybody’s issues, this can only be considered a good thing. With contributions from David Attenborough, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Richard Mabey (to name but a few), I can’t recommend this important, inexpensive book highly enough.

Other books based on the BBC series Planet Earth: Planet Earth: The Making of An Epic Series and Planet Earth

One of the greatest things about birding is that you can do it absolutely anywhere. Be it Kenya or Kent, East Asia or East Anglia, it’s still essentially the same game. However, there’s very little which can match the thrill of going away to a foreign country where you can be surrounded by entirely novel and fascinating species.

This is, of course, unless you’re a birdwatcher’s spouse and, in all truth, you’d rather be looking for a cocktail than a cockatiel. So, on browsing through the excellent field guide, Birds of the Dominican Republic & Haiti, it occurred to me that maybe the island of Hispaniola is one of those special places which has it all.

With a diverse range of habitats including wetforests, savannahs and grasslands, mountainous pine forests, lakes, lagoons and a varied coastlines, all contained on an island small enough to really explore in one trip, Hispaniola is as good a place as anywhere on earth to go birding – the illustrations and accounts in this guide alone are testament to that. And for all those pro-cocktail individuals amongst you, I hear you can get a very good Mojito in the Dominican capital, Santo Domingo. And with bright green Hispaniolan Parakeets overhead, I’d be surprised if you hear any complaints from the birding fraternity.

Things aren’t looking good. Whilst we’re well aware of the environmental problems facing us, it’s often easy to feel that issues like climate change, deforestation and reduced fish stocks are so large and complex that individuals can’t really have any meaningful influence. But consider this: there are presently 10 million species living on our planet and approximately 10 thousand of these are lost annually. With the evolution of new species negligible, this means that at current rates planet earth will be entirely barren within the next thousand years. It’s clearly time for a change.

Change, and the immediacy of its implementation is the topic of Gaining Ground, a new title which reviews the state of global biodiversity and takes a pragmatic look at the future of conservation efforts. No punches are pulled and the issues are treated with the depth and consideration that a topic of such largesse commands. Whilst acknowledging that the planet is staring down the metaphorical barrel of a gun, the authors still maintain an air of hope, but emphasise the necessities and specifics of action if this hope is to last. Gaining Ground certainly deserves to find its way onto the bookshelves of conservation workers, for whom it was primarily written. But it also carries an accessible message for all those who aren’t simply content to sit back and watch as the planet goes to waste.

Mention the Galapagos Islands to people and you’re guaranteed a response of acknowledgement. The fame of this Pacific archipelago is so great, especially amongst naturalists, that it has become the world’s primary ecotourism destination. However, mention Socotra – the Indian Ocean’s equivalent of the Galapagos – to the same individuals, and chances are they’ll return you with a blank stare. This inbalance in celebrity is understandable when you consider that whilst one island chain was the catalyst for Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of Species’ and thereafter our entire understanding of evolutionary science, the other is historically renowned as little more than a producer of frankincense and cinnabar and only saw it’s first tarmac airstrip open in 1999.

Such a disparity is also reflected in the respective quantities of literature written about these two archipelagos. However, with the recent publication of Socotra, conservationists, ecologists and evolutionary biologists now have at their fingertips a definitive natural history of these remote Yemeni islands. Detailing the hundreds of endemic species which have evolved in isolation for 6 million years, the marine life, conservation initiatives and human culture in a highly-readable format, this book should help raise awareness of Socotra’s importance to global biodiversity conservation. For anybody lucky enough to visit Socotra, this book is all you need. Except maybe a camera.

Known to the indigenous human populations as Nanuq, you are the world’s largest terrestrial carnivore, a formidable predator on land and at sea who has successfully adapted to life in the most inhospitable of environments. And yet, people just think you’re ‘cute’.

If only this oversight was the most of the Polar Bear’s worries.

Unfortunately, these beautiful creatures are currently facing much greater problems; As global warming reduces pack ice in the southern reaches of the bears’ range and thus greatly restricts their hunting ground, chemical pollutants and offshore drilling are simultaneously contaminating their food sources. Current forecasts suggest such factors may cause the species’ extinction within the next century. This primarily photographic volume, The World of the Polar Bear, offers a timeless glimpse at one of the world’s most beloved creatures. Both entertaining and informative, it should serve to raise awareness of the need to protect their habitat, whilst also bringing more than the occasional smile to the reader’s face.

A concise overview of the world’s 107 spider families is an impressive undertaking and this fine book by two devoted arachnologists does justice to such a project. This is certainly timely as it’s being over a century since the last overview and this will be a must-have title for anyone with a passion for spiders.

Each family is beautifully illustrated with a splendid black and white representation of the whole spider, accompanied by small details of distinguishing features. There are also 32 pages of colour plates at the back of the book depicting the spiders in their natural habitat. With such comprehensive visual reference all back up with text highlighting habits and characteristics this is an indispensable reference work.

I’m not too sure what to make of Antarctic Fishes. On the one hand, you’ve got a guide to the fish of the Southern Ocean which, whilst clearly well researched and entertainingly informative, depicts species which would be of interest primarily to Patagonian fishermen, hardy Antarctic ecologists and the occasional geographically-challenged scuba diver. On the other hand, however, is an enthralling book held together not by words but by the unique art of leading Japanese gyotaku exponent, Boshu Nagese.

The full-page gyotaku illustrations within Antarctic Fishes have been painstakingly created by moulding a moistened sheet of paper over the top of the subject and applying colour using a fine cotton bud. The resulting effect is (as pointed out by one individual in the NHBS Office) not unlike a high fidelity fish rubbing, in that the texture of the actual fish is present in the final image. It sounds weird, I know, but personally I’ve never seen anything like it before and it’s undeniably fantastic. Containing nearly 150 illustrations, this title will make a wonderful addition to the bookshelf or coffee table of anybody with even a passing fascination in marine creatures. In every sense of the word, this book is a unique portrait of some of the world’s least-observed marine species.