THE BRITISH BIRDS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2018

Combining volumes one and two, these spectacular handbooks form the most complete and comprehensive photographic guide to the passerines of the Western Palearctic.

Written by two of the world's most respected ornithologists, it contains the most up-to-date information available on bird identification covering all aspects of plumage, moult, ageing and sexing, with sections on voice and other identification criteria, and detailed taxonomic notes.

The passerines are divided into two volumes, with the first covering larks, hirundines, pipits and wagtails, bulbuls, accentors, robins, chats, wheatears, thrushes, prinias and cisticolas, and warblers, and the second covering flycatchers, reedlings, tits, nuthatches, orioles and sunbirds, shrikes, corvids, finches and buntings, along with extreme vagrants.

The exceptional text is backed up by a remarkable collection of more than 5,000 photographs, featuring a comprehensive range of plumages that illustrate every race and morph of each species in the region.

This stunning handbook will be the definitive reference for the region for years to come - no birder's shelf will be complete without it.

Hadoram Shirihai is Israel's foremost ornithologist and the author of books including the acclaimed Sylvia Warblersand A Complete Guide to Antarctic Wildlife. While his work, especially on tubenoses, has taken him to virtually every corner of the globe, his love of deserts and bird migration means that he is still to be found at Eilat, the watchpoint at the head of the Red Sea that he brought to the world's attention, virtually every spring. The scientific name of the Desert Tawny Owl (Strix hadorami), a species that has attracted his attention and research since he was a schoolboy, honours his devotion to Middle Eastern ornithology.

The name Lars Svensson can truly be considered 'household' among European birdwatchers. His knowledge of Western Palearctic birds, in both field and museum, is second to none, and has resulted in two best-selling works synonymous with his name: his 'bible' for ringers, the Identification Guide to European Passerines, and the field guide to Western Palearctic birds universally known simply as the Collins Bird Guide. During the extensive preparations for this book, his in-depth work yielded a brace of previously undescribed subspecies. He lives in southern Sweden.