An essential photographic guide to antarctic wildlife

Antarctic Wildlife is the definitive identification guide to the birds and marine mammals of the Antarctic Peninsula, Drake Passage, and Beagle Channel. This easy-to-use photographic field guide enables visitors to this unique region of the world--newcomer and seasoned traveler alike--to identify with confidence the penguins, whales, seals, seabirds, and other stunning wildlife they encounter on their journey. Full-color photographs show typical views of each species of bird or marine mammal, together with the terrestrial plants likely to be seen. Detailed species accounts describe key identification features, give tips on where to look, and highlight interesting facts. This one-of-a-kind guide also includes introductory chapters that cover the wildlife of each Antarctic environment by season, as well as information on tourism and Antarctic cruising that will help visitors get the most from their trip.

Antarctic Wildlife is a must-have photographic guide for travelers taking the standard cruise from Ushuaia, Argentina, to the great white continent, and for anyone interested in the diverse wildlife found in this remote part of the world.

• Covers the wildlife of the Antarctic Peninsula, Drake Passage, and Beagle Channel
• Features full-color photographs throughout
• Describes key identification features and gives tips on where to look
• Includes an introduction to Antarctic environments and information on Antarctic cruising

This extensively updated second edition of Bradt's Pantanal Wildlife remains the most user-friendly guidebook for ecotourists visiting South America's great wetland - according to Time magazine, 'one of the world's greatest places'. Extending across Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay, the Pantanal is the continent's equivalent of Africa's Serengeti: a vast territory brimming with abundant, exciting and photogenic wildlife.

The planet's biggest wetland - 10 times larger than Florida's Everglades - offers superlative wildlife-watching to enthral novice and expert alike. In no other New World location can visitors see at point-blank range such a high number and variety of birds (670+ species recorded), mammals (110+ species) and reptiles (50+ species).

As well as breathtaking gatherings of wildlife - with fur, feather and scale crammed into desiccating water bodies during the dry season - record-breakers of the natural world can be easy to spot here. Visitors have excellent opportunities to watch the New World's mightiest cat (nowhere is better to see jaguar), the world's largest parrot (hyacinth macaw), largest rodent (the pig-sized capybara), the planet's greatest gathering of crocodilians (yacaré caiman) and South America's heaviest land mammal (lowland tapir).

Both a wildlife guide and a travel guidebook, Pantanal Wildlife is designed for visitors who want to recognise the animals they see, to understand more about them and to learn where to look for them - but are too conscious of their baggage allowance to bring a shelf-full of reference material. It comprises authoritative yet accessible text by a South American wildlife expert, bringing remarkable animals to life through highly readable snippets on behaviour and biology, derived from the latest science.

Bradt's Pantanal Wildlife remains the only portable, hard-copy guidebook to focus entirely on the best wildlife-watching experience in South America, the only book to feature all major faunal groups - and the only guide to cover the entire Pantanal, combining up-to-date visitor advice on where to stay, tips on exactly where to look for the most exciting wildlife and insights into getting around in each of the three countries it encompasses. Bradt's Pantanal Wildlife is the indispensable travel companion - truly a visitor's guide - to this exhilarating region.

The perfect photographic guide to the avifauna of France.

France is known for its remarkable scenery, from the Camargue region and the dramatic peaks of the Alps - home to Greater Flamingos and Spotted Nutcrackers respectively - to the vast, tranquil woodland where Black Woodpeckers can be found nesting. Situated at the crossroads of bird migration, its varied natural landscape provides an exciting destination to observe both resident and migrant birds.

This second edition has been expanded to showcase 301 regularly occurring species, each accompanied with stunning photography. Concise text for each species includes details on identification, songs and calls, behaviour, distribution and habitat, with each photo carefully selected to aid identification. A guide to the best birdwatching sites in France is also included.

Portable yet authoritative, this is a great addition to the backpack or suitcase of any wildlife enthusiast visiting France.

The perfect photographic guide to the avifauna of Spain

Spain is recognised as one of Europe's richest birdwatching destinations, one that offers a host of regional specialities. It includes famous birding hotspots such as the vast Coto Doñana wetlands, mountainous areas such as the Pyrenees and Picos de Europa, the Mediterranean oak forests of the south, the migration crossroads of the Strait of Gibraltar and the plains of Extremadura.

Completely revised and updated, this new version of Birds of Spain provides photographic coverage of more than 320 species that regularly occur in the region, from the Hoopoe to the Golden Eagle. Concise text for each species includes information on identification, songs and calls, behaviour, distribution and habitat, with each photo having been carefully selected to aid identification. A guide to the best birdwatching sites in Spain is also included.

Portable yet authoritative, this is the perfect companion for any wildlife-friendly visitor to this spectacular and bird-rich country.

This book narrates a year--long quest to see Britain's rarest and most remarkable moths.

This book coaxes moths out from the darkness and into the daylight; Much Ado About Moth-ing reveals that moths are so much more attractive, approachable and astonishing than butterflies--with richer tales to share, from migratory feats through mastery of camouflage to missives about the state of our planet. This book seeks to persuade the skeptical, the fearful and the unaware of the unexpected beauty of these misjudged insects.

The author, James Lowen, makes a case for moths by recounting a suitcase full of journeys across Britain over the course of a calendar year. Britain has a lot of moths--40 times more species than butterflies--so rather than try to see them all, James pursues quality over quantity, prioritizing our scarcest and most special species. His travels extend from the Isles of Scilly to northernmost Scotland. More than any other animals, moths demonstrate a very precise determination of place - one species, for example, rarely ventures more than 10 meters from the place it hatches as a caterpillar. Accordingly, this book drinks in the landscapes where moths reside. It's also a book about people--James meets moth--fans wherever he goes, be they expert entomologists, professional conservationists or amateur moth--ers. He asks why they love what many people choose to hate, and how moths impact their lives. Through the filter of moths, he explores the concept of obsession, both in other people and, as the year progresses, in himself. This will be a book not just about moths, or about moths and place--but about moths and place and people.

A counterweight to James's expeditionary travels is his suburban garden. James and his young daughter measure the seasons by the moths that come and go, for perhaps the greatest virtue of moths--paradoxically, for those who consider them invisible--is their accessibility. Moths are everywhere, but above all they are here, and what's more, they'll sit calmly on a fingertip, providing first--hand amazement to children and adults alike like no other animal.

Bradt's popular guidebook 52 Wildlife Weekends suggests inspiring itineraries for 52 unforgettable wildlife-watching breaks covering the whole of Britain, from southwest England to northern Scotland - each perfectly timed for every week of the year. Thoroughly updated to reflect Britain's ever-changing natural history, this second edition integrates the latest information on the country's most thrilling wildlife experiences, suggests new target species and showcases fabulous new locations.
Written by award-winning author and experienced naturalist James Lowen, 52 Wildlife Weekends is an ideal guide for exploring the wild side of Britain, perfect for anyone who loves the great outdoors and wants to integrate wildlife into a wider sightseeing holiday. Say it's February and you want to watching otters. Or May: time for spring flowers and bewitching butterflies. Or July, and you fancy marvelling at dragonflies. Or October: the height of bird migration.
52 Wildlife Weekends suggests a year's worth of short breaks that celebrate the full range of Britain's most exciting wildlife, from tiny silver-spotted skipper butterflies to gargantuan basking sharks, and from seabird skyscrapers to ostentatious orchids. Covering more than 40 counties or regions, this unique guide offers engaging descriptions, detailed directions (including grid references and postcodes), accommodation suggestions, and assessments of accessibility and (new for this edition) child-friendliness, plus 180 mouth-watering colour photographs. Wherever and whenever you travel to Britain, there's a wildlife-rich idea for you.
Find out how, where and when to track down such thrilling creatures as beavers and basking sharks, eagles and otters, dolphins and dragonflies, glow worms and grey seals. Why not open the New Year on a real-life wild goose chase in the Inner Hebrides? Or make a spring pilgrimage to Yorkshire to see truly wild daffodils? Or experience underwater life by peering into rivers for rare fish in Powys, snorkelling in Dorset, or rock-pooling in Devon? Or gawp at starling murmurations, shape-shifting through the autumnal sky, in Suffolk or Somerset.
Combining the very best of travel and wildlife guides, and covering both well-known spectacles and less familiar species, Bradt's 52 Wildlife Weekends has something for everyone - wildlife experts and novice ecotourists alike.

This innovative new title from Bradt is the first of its type to focus specifically on the vast array of wildlife-watching opportunities found in Europe. Written by expert James Lowen, author of the best-selling 52 Wildlife Weekends: A Year of British Wildlife-Watching Breaks and award-winning A Summer of British Wildlife: 100 Great Days Out Watching Wildlife, this unique guide is packaged into 52 weekend-sized breaks highlighting the best of European wildlife including mammals, reptiles, amphibians, flora, butterflies, dragonflies and birds.We may think of snow-covered Antarctica, South American jungles or African savannahs as holding the world's most plenteous and special wildlife, yet Europe heaves with wildlife wonders year-round, many of which can be seen in a simple weekend break. This book suggests one wildlife-watching break, somewhere in Europe, for every weekend of the year. Want to see brown bears? Make for Finland or Slovenia. Fancy a crack at wolves? Hop on a flight to northern Spain or Italy's Abruzzo. If whales float your boat, a long weekend in Iceland, Ireland or the Bay of Biscay would suit. Orchid lovers can head to Corsica, Crete or the Costa del Sol in spring. Birdwatchers can flock to see migrating raptors in Gibraltar, great gatherings of cranes in central Spain, or vast flocks of seaduck in Arctic Norway. Then there's the wacky olm in Slovenia, cave salamanders in Sardinia and owl-flies in the Picos de Europa. Hungary's mayfly emergence is truly spectacular, as are Norway's musk oxen and Poland's bison.Stretching from the Arctic to its boundaries with Africa and Asia, Europe has enough exciting living creatures amid jaw-dropping landscapes to fill an entire lifetime of wildlife-watching. Ideal for both the experienced wildlife tourist and the novice and packed with stunning colour photos, Bradt's 52 European Wildlife Weekends shows when, where and how to see the most exciting wildlife, complete with inspiring itineraries, engaging descriptions, detailed directions and tips on how to find, identify and enjoy animals and plants. Each entry gives details on species of interest and the landscapes they inhabit, plus suggestions for extending your quick break into a longer visit.

Badgers are elusive wanderers of the night and few mammals are as mysterious. Their nocturnal lifestyle means not many of us have ever glimpsed their monochrome form as they sniff and bustle their way through woodland or across pasture - yet most of us live far closer to a Badger group than we might think. In Spotlight: Badgers James Lowen explores all aspects of their lives including their communal living, feeding habits, as well as the major threats to and conservation support for Badgers.

These iconic omnivores are widely represented in folklore and have permeated our popular culture. Generations of children have been entranced by Badger in Kenneth Grahame's book Wind in the Willows, however these determined yet mostly peaceful animals have also been loathed and persecuted for centuries. Badger baiting is thankfully now illegal, but the legal badger cull introduced in 2011 in parts of Gloucestershire and Somerset remains in place following the 2015 general election.

With so much politics surrounding Badgers in the UK, it's not easy to get unbiassed information. In RSPB Spotlight: Badgers James Lowen keeps a neutral tone on the debate about Badger culling. He describes the history, from the first Badger found to be infected with bTB in 1972 and the subsequent gassing of setts from 1975 to 1982. He also outlines the RSPB's stance on the Badger cull. As one of the UK's largest landowners, the RSPB oppose Badger culling on their land, in favour of vaccination, cattle testing, bio-security and movement controls.

The Spotlight series introduces readers to the lives and behaviours of our favourite animals with eye-catching, colour photography and informative expert text.