Birders books - Christmas recommendations

With just a week to go till Christmas and those shopping days rapidly dwindling you may need some inspiration for those last minute presents for the birder in your life! Here are a selection of books we've particularly enjoyed which may just help. We've avoided actual field guides here and concentrated on readable tales and art books 

Kingbird Highway by Kenn Kaufman
A wonderfully inspiring read of the birding exploits of a young Kaufman in 1960s America. If you read just one book of birding tales make it this one!

UK500: Birding in the Fast Lane by James Hanlon

Twitching tales of British birder James as he heads towards that magic 500 British list.

Arctic Flight by James McCallum

Some of the wonderful artwork in James's unique style. I had the pleasure of spending time with James in Norway in May and his paintings in this book are so evocative of this awesome part of the world.

Cutting Away, The Linocuts of Robert Gilmor

A marvellous book packed with prints of Robert's superb linocuts. I've had the pleasure of watching the man at work in his studio in Cley and the process to build up these images is painstaking and very clever

The Big Year by Bob Obmascik
A very readable tale of a US yearlisting competition from 3 very different birder's perspectives.

The Biggest Twitch by Alan Davies and Ruth Miller

The whole story of this couple's attempt to beat the world record of species seen in a year. All the ups and downs of a remarkable year.