Birds Britannica

Mark Cocker, Richard Mabey, Helen Macdonald

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Hardback

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About the book

Birds are inextricably entwined with British life

British customs, more than 1,000 years of English literature and even the landscape itself, have all been enhanced by the presence of birds. This superb book pays tribute to the remarkable relationship forged between a nation and its most treasured national heritage. Birds Britannica concentrates on our social history and on the cultural links between humans and birds.

What makes Birds Britannica special is the inclusion of observations and experiences from more than 1,000 naturalists and bird lovers. These contributions from the public touch on avian ecology; the lore and language of birds; their myths, the art and literature they have inspired; birds as food; and the crucial role they play in our sense of place and the changing seasons.

No other book has dealt so completely with the rich connections between birds and humans; Birds Britannica captures the very essence of that relationship and explores why birds matter and why we care.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY HELEN MACDONALD, SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF H IS FOR HAWK

About the Author

Mark Cocker

Mark Cocker is an author and naturalist whose thirteen books include works of biography, history, literary criticism and memoir. His book Crow Country was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2008 and won the New Angle Prize for Literature in 2009. With the photographer David Tipling he published Birds and People in 2013, a massive survey described by the Times Literary Supplement as 'a major literary event as well as an ornithological one.' Our Place: Can We Save Britain's Wildlife Before It Is Too Late? was described by the Sunday Times as 'impassioned, expert and always beautifully written ... a sobering and magnificent work.' His most recent book, A Claxton Diary, won the East Anglian Book of the Year Award in 2019.