NHBS’s Top 10 bestsellers September 2021
We love looking back at our bestsellers from the month before and are very excited to share our Top 10 list for September.
This month, our bestsellers include exciting new works such as Europe’s Birds and Habitats of the World, as well as several ever-popular titles you may recognise from previous Top 10s, such as Secrets of a Devon Wood and Britain’s Insects.
Europe’s Birds: An Identification Guide | Andy Swash et al
Hardback | August 2021
In top place this month is WILDGuides latest book Europe’s Birds. Covering more than 900 species and illustrated with over 4,700 photographs, this is the most comprehensive, authoritative and ambitious single-volume photographic guide to Europe’s birds ever produced. Birdwatchers of any ability will benefit from the clear text; details on range, status and habitat; and an unrivalled selection of photographs.
Collins Birds of the World: All 10,711 Species Illustrated | Norman Arlott et al
Hardback | September 2021
Collins Birds of the World is the complete collection of the Collins Field Guide‘s incredibly detailed, accurate and beautiful bird paintings, brought together for the first time in one comprehensive volume. All 10,711 of the world’s bird species are covered – this is the ultimate reference book for birdwatchers and bird enthusiasts.
Read our interview with Norman Arlott.
Bat Calls of Britain and Europe: A Guide to Species Identification| Jon Ross et al
Hardback | August 2021
Bat Calls of Britain and Europe is a comprehensive guide to the calls of the 44 species of bat currently known to occur in Europe, drawing on the expertise of more than 40 specialist authors. Aimed at volunteers and professionals alike, topics include the basics of sound, echolocation in bats, an introduction to acoustic communication and call analysis. Detailed information is provided for each species on their distribution, emergence, flight and foraging behaviour, habitat, echolocation calls – including parameters of common measurements – and social calls.
Secrets of a Devon Wood: My Nature Journal | Jo Brown
Hardback | October 2020
Secrets of a Devon Wood is a hymn to the intricate beauty of the natural world. Artist and illustrator Jo Brown started keeping her nature diary in a bid to document the small wonders of the wood behind her home in Devon. This book is an exact replica of her original black Moleskin journal, a rich illustrated memory of Jo’s discoveries in the order in which she found them.
Jo very kindly agreed to answer some of our questions for a Q&A. Read the full interview here.
The Handbook of Acoustic Bat Detection | Volker Runkel
Paperback | September 2021
A recent release, The Handbook of Acoustic Bat Detection provides an in-depth understanding of acoustic detection principles, study planning, data handling, properties of bat calls, manual identification of species, automatic species recognition, analysis of results, quality assurance and the background physics of sound.
Read our interview with the authors.
British Craneflies | Alan Stubbs
Hardback | July 2021
British Craneflies is a guide to the identification and natural history of 250 species in six families of cranefly. It describes the distribution and habitat of each one, with 128 pages of identification keys illustrated with thumbnail drawings and colour plates showing the wing venation and markings of 180 species. This guide also contains photograph examples of some distinctive and common craneflies, illustrations of the male genitalia for all species of Tipulidae and for most genera of other families, and introductory chapters including a full account of the enemies of craneflies.
Britain’s insects: A Field guide to the insects of Great Britain and Ireland | Paul D. brock
Flexibound | May 2021
Britain’s Insects makes the Top 10 list again this month! This field guide is an innovative, up-to-date, carefully designed and beautifully-illustrated field guide to Britain and Ireland’s 25 insect orders, concentrating on popular groups and species that can be identified in the field.
Featuring superb photographs of live insects, Britain’s Insects covers the key aspects of identification and provides information on status, distribution, seasonality, habitat, food plants and behaviour.
Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse | Dave Goulson
Hardback | August 2021
Silent Earth is part love letter to the insect world, part elegy, and part rousing manifesto for a greener planet. Drawing on the latest ground-breaking research and a lifetime of study, Silent Earth reveals the shocking decline of insect populations that has taken place in recent decades, with potentially catastrophic consequences.
British Moths: A Gateway Guide | James Lowen
Spiralbound | September 2021
British Moths is a wonderful introduction to 350 species of the most common and eye-catching adult moths that you may encounter in the UK. Concise species accounts include information on key features, seasonality, and when and where to see them. Each account is also placed alongside photos that have been carefully chosen to aid identification with clearly marked top tips.
Habitats of the World: A Field Guide for Birders, Naturalists, and Ecologists | Iain D Campbell Et al
Flexibound | September 2021
Habitats of the World is the first field guide to the world’s major land habitats – 189 in all. Using the format of a natural history field guide, this comprehensive book features concise identification descriptions and is richly illustrated, including more than 650 colour photographs of habitats and their wildlife, 150 distribution maps, 200 diagrams and 150 silhouettes depicting each habitat alongside a human figure, providing an immediate grasp of its look and scale.
Geoffrey Kibby is one of Britain’s foremost experts on identifying mushrooms in the field, and his privately published books on how to identify British mushrooms pass on many of those skills. Kibby’s user-friendly books contain an enormous amount of information, are fully illustrated and are aimed at everyone, from the fungi enthusiast to the expert mycologist. The wealth of detail includes vital features to look for when identifying wild mushrooms and the important identification characteristics when using a microscope, often an essential tool in mycology.
I was 13 when I first became aware of fungi: an intensely violet toadstool, unlike anything I had ever seen (Laccaria amethystina) and from that moment, I was hooked. I bought my first little mushroom guide, then another and another and more through the years until my bookshelves started to groan under the weight of books about fungi. Now, more than 50 years later, I am writing my own books, trying to produce the sort of works that I would have wanted as an aspiring young mycologist. My books are based on my years in the field, hopefully capturing the essence of each species. I have also made a conscious point of illustrating species not readily available in other guides and trying to give the most up-to-date names in what is an ever-changing science. Mycology is an inexhaustible field of study at whatever level your interest lies. With over 4000 species of larger fungi in Britain, you will never run out of species to find or new facts to discover.
I originally trained as a mechanical engineer but ‘jumped ship’ in the 70s to take up my real love as a wildlife artist, with a focus on birds. I made this leap with much encouragement from my wife Marie and a great deal of help and inspiration from well-known bird artist Robert Gillmor, bird photographer Eric Hosking and the great East African ornithologist John Williams. I had no intention of working on book illustrations, but I got caught up in it, really liked it and I have enjoyed it ever since.
Princeton University Press was founded in 1905 as a nonprofit publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Originally publishing university documents and newspapers, such as the Princeton Alumni Weekly, Princeton University Press didn’t publish its first book until 1912. Since then, they have published over 21,000 works, including many award-winning titles. Princeton University Press publishes well-known series such as WILDguides, the high-quality, practical guides to many wildlife regions around the world, and Princeton Illustrated Checklists, which contain illustrations and concise text of all species in specific regions. They also publish and distribute Wild Nature Press, a natural history publisher that specialises in books on marine life.
Plant Galls of the Western United States
Lynx Edicions is a Barcelona-based publishing house, originally founded in 1989 to create the 
natural world and to human society. With an expert eye, Goulson skillfully guides the reader through different aspects of their importance, from the multi-million pound service that dung beetles provide the farming industry each year in the UK alone to the vital role that pollinators play in underpinning ecosystems across the planet, and the value that insects have in their own right as beautiful, vibrant denizens of our planet. The author’s passion is infectious; it is difficult to read this section without becoming invested in the wondrous ranks of the planet’s invertebrates, making the threat of their decline feel all the more personal. 
controversial among some parties. He consistently highlights the arguments of his critics, treating them with respect and validation. At some points he provides his rebuttal while at others he admits to the shortcomings of the relevant research, explaining why a different approach was impossible at the time. This is indicative of an attitude that permeates the book – the issues that he writes about are bigger than minor gripes with experimental methodologies, bigger than business margins or political leanings. He presents with a neutral eye the irrefutable reality that insects are vanishing at a terrifying rate, and unless action is taken the world is heading towards a very real disaster within generations. Though frequently distressing and at times heartbreaking, Goulson writes with a voice compelling and just witty enough to prevent the reader from becoming despondent. This book is not intended to drive us to despair, but to action. 
encouraging native plants in our towns and cities and overhauling the way in which we view farming. Finally, there is an extensive list of actions, large and small, that people can take, listed by occupation. This section is what the book has been building to, and it is worth reading for this alone. As usual, respect is paid to all viewpoints and all members of society. It doesn’t matter whether the reader is in a position where a free-range organic, locally sourced diet is financially viable or not – there will be other actions that they can take regardless of financial matters. Nor does it matter if they have beliefs, political or economic, that might conflict with the author’s. It is a call for society to overlook such matters which are, in the face of such a crisis, trivial. 
Could you tell us about how you first came to be interested in the natural world?
The reality is very anti-social working hours, high levels of frustration and a huge impact on home life! But I wouldn’t change it for the world as it is undoubtedly one of the most soul-nourishing jobs you could ever hope to do, in my opinion. It’s a tough, highly competitive industry, but this doesn’t mean you can’t get in through gentle persistence and dedication. Knowledge is everything: read, watch and learn everything you possibly can about your chosen wildlife subject before even attempting to film it.