Smartlibris : Les nouveautés : Whittles Publishing http://www.smartlibris.com <![CDATA[The Life of Buzzards]]> http://www.smartlibris.com/book/88904935 Editeur : Whittles Publishing

This is a much-needed and authoritative account of Common Buzzards gained from extensive studies by the author over 60 years and also from enthusiasts in this country and across northern Europe.

The accounts describe the life history and ecology of Buzzards mainly inhabiting the British uplands where historically they have always been most numerous. For the first time, population activities are followed through successive seasonal stages of their life cycle. These include the vital and inter-related aspects of Buzzard territories and social behaviour, diets and hunting methods, food requirements, prey abundance and breeding success, survival and life spans and how Buzzard numbers and distribution have changed, particularly in relation to the influence of Man. The book also demonstrates how well Buzzards have adapted to living in our modern and rapidly-changing landscapes, constantly adapting their habits in response to prey resources and environmental conditions.

In the book’s first section, The Year of the Buzzard, the sequential changes in the composition and behaviour of a Buzzard community, their seasonal patterns of food habits and hunting methods, their breeding season from courtship until fledging of broods and their subsequent dispersal are outlined. The second section, Special Topics, provides greater detail of six key aspects of their ecology which are explored within the following chapter topics: Territory; Energy and Food Needs; Predation; Food Supply and Breeding Success; Demography and Population Dynamics; and Changes in Buzzard Abundance.

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2020-11-17T16:40:31.227
<![CDATA[Life with Birds : A Story of Mutual Exploitation]]> http://www.smartlibris.com/book/88904933 Editeur : Whittles Publishing

Life with Birds uncovers the fascinating story of our interdependence with birds. The author weaves an amazing web of inter-relationships, from the Parsi funeral in Mumbai where birds of prey eat the dead; to collecting eider down from nests in Iceland and standing on the once body-strewn battlefield of Agincourt where birds won the day for the English army.

From the earliest days of human existence we have exploited birds; for food, for their feathers, to satisfy our blood lust, to entertain us with their beauty, to inspire our art, our advertising, classical music, popular songs and much more. Cage birds are kept for their beauty and song but this book also investigates the repugnant illegal rare bird trade, and the organised crime it has spawned involving around 1.5 million birds a year. Criminals will go to unbelievable lengths when smuggling rare birds for sale and the 1.5m birds in this annual trade threaten the survival of several exotic species.

Since time immemorial birds have exploited us too. Birds can use our homes to make theirs and can ruin farmers’ crops in minutes. Some of the most impressive birds have set up home on high-rise buildings, exploiting the city slicker pigeons that live off discarded fast food and much else.

Life with Birds contains intriguing examples of the huge range of interactions between birds and people. How undercover law enforcement in the US is tackling a cruel and bloodthirsty ‘sport’; how birds are being used to smuggle drugs into a prison and across borders; controversial practices such as bird sacrifice in religious ceremonies; and how some Kenyan tribesmen are guided by a bird to find a food they both value. Many myths, magic and religious practices involving birds are exposed such as whether they can predict deadly mining disasters; whether they have killed anyone; and whether the eerie night-time calls in the precipitous mountains of Madeira are the souls of shepherds who have fallen to their deaths.

If you have ever wondered what a nest made solely of bird saliva, considered a delicacy in some countries, tastes like or whether you knew Chairman Mao’s ‘kill a sparrow’ campaign in the 1950s resulted in many millions of Chinese dying of starvation, Life with Birds will provide enlightenment as well as a hugely enjoyable read.

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2020-11-17T16:40:30.613
<![CDATA[Kestrels for Company]]> http://www.smartlibris.com/book/88904932 Editeur : Whittles Publishing

An appealing book that rightfully raises the profile of the kestrel. It provides an extensive picture of this delightful falcon, including its lifestyle and the factors that affect its breeding success and survival. This is based upon almost 40 years’ monitoring of the kestrel in south-west Scotland and further afield by the author and colleagues, giving a flavour of the integrated approach to monitoring and conservation.

As well as the wealth of factual data, there are entertaining anecdotes and stories both from the author’s experiences and from the wider media coverage of this raptor over the years. The reader is taken to exotic locations such as the Seychelles, Mauritius and the Cape Verde Islands to see the endemic island kestrels which have always held a great fascination for the author.

Latest figures show an alarming decline of 36% in the kestrel population in the UK, with even more dramatic falls such as 64% in Scotland. The fieldwork techniques which play such an important role are detailed in a composite breeding season. The kestrel is not portrayed in isolation and the bird’s current circumstance is tied into the bigger picture of raptor conservation and the struggle against sustained persecution.

The author reflects upon the political, economic and conservation issues that have dominated this field in the past few decades and through this personal and well-informed account the reader gains access to the world of the kestrel.

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2020-11-17T16:40:30.260
<![CDATA[Canals Across Scotland]]> http://www.smartlibris.com/book/88904931 Editeur : Whittles Publishing

This entertaining and informative book will be of practical benefit to all who discover the historic Union Canal and the Forth & Clyde Canal, whether walking, cycling, boating or visiting the Falkirk Wheel or the Kelpies. The canals are for fun, whether on the water, on the towpath, walking or cycling or just visiting.

The canals can be enjoyed at any season. In winter, with the trees leafless, the views are more extensive and there is less traffic on towpath or waterway. In high summer the green world of trees is almost overwhelming, the banks crowded with sweet reed grass, meadow sweet, willowherbs, vetches and many spreads of yellow waterlily, a real Wind in the Willows world. In autumn there are brambles to be eaten, in spring the returning wildlife spree, with swans nesting and swallows swooping. The canals are a scenic treat and will repay many visits or a dedicated holiday challenge.

Canals Across Scotland provides detailed towpath information, suggests what to see and do along the way and in the towns passed. The book is full of fascinating historical background, knowledgeable descriptions, practical information, good stories and is beautifully illustrated. Side trips to the Antonine Wall, which stretches from the Firth of Forth to the Firth of Clyde, country parks or to towns like Linlithgow, Falkirk, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch, often by circular walks, are also described.

The canals are for leisurely, timeless exploring and this updated guide will be an essential companion.

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2020-11-17T16:40:30
<![CDATA[Big Cats : Facing Britain's Wild Predators]]> http://www.smartlibris.com/book/88904930 Editeur : Whittles Publishing

Right across Britain, people are making remarkable claims - they are reporting large feral cats resembling panthers, pumas and lynx. Month after month the sightings continue with citizens from all walks of life having surprise encounters with big cats. They may be driving, walking their dog, or riding a horse, but most reports are consistent and many are emotionally charged - people have encountered a big predator, in safe, suburban Britain. Tell-tale signs of the cats include freshly-eaten deer, the odd hair sample and droppings which reveal their diet. As wildlife filmmakers testify, photographing these stealthy creatures is not easy, even in their official countries.

How have these cats established themselves? What are their territories, how are they breeding and are numbers viable? This gripping book reviews the evidence and considers the implications of Britain’s large cats, for people and for wildlife.

The book has many surprises - about the cats themselves and the human reactions. Most people tolerate the big cats they see, and many are wary yet excited. Men and women, young and old, urban and rural, the response is similar - people have experienced something truly wild and their senses have been awoken.

They may be awkward to admit to, but these cats are part of our land – evolving in Britain, shaping the ecosystem as a new apex predator. Many people would rather keep it quiet. But it is time to tell the secret, in a measured way. This book explores the dilemmas we face as we come to terms with our emerging big cats.

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2020-11-17T16:40:29.727
<![CDATA[Between Earth and Paradise]]> http://www.smartlibris.com/book/88904929 Editeur : Whittles Publishing

After giving up a hectic life as a journalist in Europe and Hollywood in the late 1960s to return to his boyhood love of nature, Mike Tomkies found Eilean Shona, a remote island 'between earth and paradise' off the west coast of Scotland. There he rebuilt a rotting wooden crofthouse which sheep had used for shelter from the bitter Atlantic winds and began a new way of life, observing nature, that was to last to the present day.

He tracked wildlife, stags, foxes, made friends with the seals, and taught a young injured sparrowhawk to hunt for itself. It was the indomitable spirit of this tiny hawk that taught Tomkies what it takes for any of us to be truly free. Whether he was fishing, growing his own food or battling through stormy seas in a small boat, he learned that he could survive in the harsh environment.

This book, the beginning of a remarkable Scottish odyssey, has long been out of print until now - but one which has long been demanded by Tomkies' loyal readers. Between Earth and Paradise tells of an astonishing story - of daring to take the first step away from urban routines, which many of us only dream about - which led in turn to an even more remote location and his unrivalled series of books on the golden eagle, the wildcats he reared, and his faithful dog, Moobli.

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2020-11-17T16:40:29.497
<![CDATA[Back from the Brink : Saving some of the world's rarest animals]]> http://www.smartlibris.com/book/88904927 Editeur : Whittles Publishing

Back from the Brink is an antidote to a world that seems full of stories of wildlife doom and gloom. Amongst all the loss of habitat and the animals and plants that are in spiralling decline, it’s easy to forget that there are a huge number of positive stories too; animals threatened with extinction, such as the gigantic European Bison – extinct in the wild – having their fortunes reversed and their futures secured.

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2020-11-17T16:40:29.210
<![CDATA[Alone in the Wilderness]]> http://www.smartlibris.com/book/88904925 Editeur : Whittles Publishing

Mike Tomkies gives a remarkable picture of the whole cycle of nature around him, in a harsh and testing environment of unrivalled beauty. Vivid colours and sounds fill these pages – exotic wild orchids, the roar of rutting stags, a pair of dragonflies mating, the flight of the redwing, the territorial movements of foxes, otters and badgers, an oak tree being torn apart by hurricane-force gales. Nothing seems to escape his penetrating eye, to which the selection of his photographs in this book – some revealing little-known aspects of animal behaviour – immediately testifies.
 
Yet Mike’s extraordinary insights into the wildlife that shared his otherwise empty territory of 300 square miles are not gained without perseverance in the face of perilous hazards. Every pound of supplies (including heavy gas canisters) has to be manhandled in and out of his boat, which once sank beneath him in a storm. Thousands of miles of rock faces and hillside must be trekked each year in summer and winter, the tussock grass concealing sodden peat holes that will break an ankle. Hours on end, day and night, are spent in cramped hides on windy, precipitous ledges.
 
A Last Wild Place is much more than the chronicle of a man who left city life in order to study the wilderness.  It is a celebration of nature at its most rugged and spectacular in all Britain. Like the enormous ageing salmon he threw back because he felt he had no right to claim its life, Mike Tomkies reveals through his quest our urgent need to become retuned to natural rhythms if mankind is to regain a measure of health and sanity in a world bent on self-destruction.

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2020-11-17T16:40:29.053
<![CDATA[A Quiet Life]]> http://www.smartlibris.com/book/88904924 Editeur : Whittles Publishing

From their inception and through the early years of this century, long before automation, lighthouses were manned by keepers, often with their families in residence. In the case of the Petrie family, in 1922, their number included a new arrival, Martha. Over the years Martha, or Mattie as she was nicknamed, went with her parents to several lighthouse postings around the British Isles. Growing up in the unusual environment that constitutes a lighthouse station, where going out to play can be a major hazard, Mattie witnessed much of which most children could only dream.

This book is her story - an account of the unique life of the lighthouse where the mundane activities of a mainland existence become exciting, certainly different and often downright near impossible. Growing up in the 20s and 30s, describing the war years and life in the Wrens, Martha Robertson brings to her story a delightful warmth and more than a touch of humour. This is a truly unusual account of an existence that has disappeared forever as automation puts the seal on lightkeeping as a thing of the past.

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2020-11-17T16:40:28.977
<![CDATA[A Private Sort of Life]]> http://www.smartlibris.com/book/88904923 Editeur : Whittles Publishing

Bridget MacCaskill has been observing otters for many years and studies undertaken with her late husband, Don, resulted in books and a film about otters and their environment. Otters are fascinating and delightful creatures but to watch them in their natural habitat requires immense patience over a long period of time, and an appreciation of their way of life. For those of us who wish to know more, this book presents an intimate account of an extended otter family.

It is written in the form of a story by an unseen observer and tells of the lives of two otter cubs, from birth until adulthood, their relationship with their parents and the other otter family on the loch, and their interaction with some of the other creatures there. Enter Coll and Coire, Kyle and Kelpie. All the events in this book are based on actual observation, either from watching the animals themselves, or by interpreting signs of their presence.

The result is a vastly enjoyable read that is true to nature, and not in the least sentimental. But it conveys a serious message - we must be aware of the need to minimise pollution, disruption of habitat and other harmful intrusions if we are to benefit from the presence of these wonderful creatures.

The book will appeal to everyone with an interest in otters, and all lovers of wildlife and the natural landscape.

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2020-11-17T16:40:28.813
<![CDATA[A Life of Ospreys]]> http://www.smartlibris.com/book/88904922 Editeur : Whittles Publishing

Ospreys are one of our best known and best loved birds and the name Roy Dennis is not only synonymous with the successful return of the osprey to Scotland, but is also renowned for his international work with a variety of species. From the time he saw his first osprey, back in 1960, Roy has worked to help this magnificent raptor establish itself once more in a country where it had been hounded and persecuted to near-extinction over hundreds of years.

This book tells the story not only of the osprey, but of the osprey watcher, following the bird's fortunes in Scotland, seeing its numbers rise from that single pair in the 1950s to close to 200 pairs today. From a look at its history in Scotland and the rest of the UK including the bad old days of egg thieves and the shooting of birds as specimens, it moves to the present day, with satellite radios allowing us to follow the every move of the osprey on its migration to Africa and back.

Roy has pioneered the building of artificial nests for ospreys, which had been instrumental in increasing their numbers and range, as well as starting the first European trans-location taking chicks from their nests in the Highlands and releasing them at Rutland Water Nature Reserve in the Midlands. The book also covers the ecology of the osprey with many personal anecdotes and insights.

Diary entries give a more immediate feel to the chapters, and the worldwide distribution of ospreys is enlivened by that sense of immediacy. Roy's writings, at a time when no one knew whether or not his lifetime's work would succeed, add a sense of history to this personal tale.

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2020-11-17T16:40:28.440
<![CDATA[A Last Wild Place]]> http://www.smartlibris.com/book/88904921 Editeur : Whittles Publishing

Mike Tomkies gives a remarkable picture of the whole cycle of nature around him, in a harsh and testing environment of unrivalled beauty. Vivid colours and sounds fill these pages – exotic wild orchids, the roar of rutting stags, a pair of dragonflies mating, the flight of the redwing, the territorial movements of foxes, otters and badgers, an oak tree being torn apart by hurricane-force gales. Nothing seems to escape his penetrating eye, to which the selection of his photographs in this book – some revealing little-known aspects of animal behaviour – immediately testifies.

Yet Mike’s extraordinary insights into the wildlife that shared his otherwise empty territory of 300 square miles are not gained without perseverance in the face of perilous hazards. Every pound of supplies (including heavy gas canisters) has to be manhandled in and out of his boat, which once sank beneath him in a storm. Thousands of miles of rock faces and hillside must be trekked each year in summer and winter, the tussock grass concealing sodden peat holes that will break an ankle. Hours on end, day and night, are spent in cramped hides on windy, precipitous ledges.

A Last Wild Place is much more than the chronicle of a man who left city life in order to study the wilderness. It is a celebration of nature at its most rugged and spectacular in all Britain. Like the enormous ageing salmon he threw back because he felt he had no right to claim its life, Mike Tomkies reveals through his quest our urgent need to become retuned to natural rhythms if mankind is to regain a measure of health and sanity in a world bent on self-destruction.

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2020-11-17T16:40:28.067
<![CDATA[The Joy of Climbing : Terry Gifford's Classic Climbs]]> http://www.smartlibris.com/book/88904920 Editeur : Whittles Publishing

The Joy of Climbing is the result of a search through Britain, Europe and America for the esoteric gems at the easier end of climbing. This special selection demonstrates the sheer fun and enjoyment of climbing. The articles have been especially chosen to provide a stimulating but achievable challenge, whether on a climb itself or appreciating the moves from the comfort of an armchair. In his writing, Terry Gifford adopts a variety of styles, resulting in a blend that enhances the dramatic nature of the subject and provides the reader with both the lyrical and the unexpected.

Sections with selected content:

Introduction

Ireland - The Book of the Burren

Scotland - Ardverikie Wall, Twisting Gully, Wisdom Buttress

Lake District - Overhanging Bastion, Great Eastern Route, The Lady and the Raven: Corvus

Northern England - Windgather, Spinnaker, The Brain

Wales - Obsession, Angel Pavement, Meeting John Taylor, Pencoed Pillar, Under Adam Rib

South-West England - Diamond Solitaire Lundy, Right Angle, Kinkyboots, Durdle Door

Euro Rock - Les Calanques, Anne Sauvy, The Healing Mirror: Miroir Slab, Two Calpe Classics, Carrion Crete

US Rock - Allen Steck: The Silver Fox of Yosemite, Ten Letters to John Muir, North Carolina Climbing

Glossary and References

As well as climbers, mountaineers and hill-walkers, this book will appeal to those who appreciate and have an interest in the environment and natural world.

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2020-11-17T16:40:27.880