[GreenLarry]

Having finished Attenborough's [b]Life in the Undergrowth[/b] (10 stars, as usual) I'm now on [b]Blind White Fish in Persia[/b] by [i]Anthony Smith[/i] (1953) about an expedition to the Persian Gulf and Iran to find these little known cave fish. I also have his later follow up A Persian Quarter Century, which I've had for years but was waiting to find the earlier book first.

[Hawk_Eye]

Haven't read a natural history book in a while although did see one thatbsounded quite good in the issue of BBC Wildlife that came through my postbox yesterday, called The Peregrine I think. Currently reading a book on Landscape Photography and one on the Battle of Britain.

[kimbers]

I am in the process of reading the 'The Peregrine ' . A book which is very well written and his descriptions and adjectives make the story jump out of the pages . The only criticism I have is that it can be a bit samey . It is like reading a dairy . Otherwise I have greatly enjoyed it and recommend it . A good book that can be put down and return to without losing the story .

[Jim Walker]

Is this a book that was first printed in the 60's/70's by, at the time, an unknown author? The same chap never wrote another book either?
I have a book about Peregrines that reads like a diary as you describe Kimbers but can't for the life of me remember who wrote, or in fact get at it without a full Time Team excavation crew! I've accumulated rather a lot of bits and bobs over the last few years. [:)]
I seem to spend most of my time reading text books, currently The Tidal Model by Phil Barker and Poppy Barker-Buchanan. Good and interesting stuff but I am looking forward to reading something different! [:D]

[Sandra]

"Ireland's Mammals" by Juanita Browne.

It's a lovely book packed with photographs and a text that's not too "highbrow" and, as such, means that my children dip in and out of the book as well.

The book is in two parts, the second being a shorter version of the first but in the Irish language.

[deibune]

An amazing natural history book to read is Wolf Totem. It is about the decline and eradication of the wolf in China over the past 30 years, where it had established itself for thousands of years. How fragile life can be. The BBC Wildlife magazine recently featured the return of wolves, but only European and North American wolves. Asian wolves are not broadening their habitats in the same way. Wolf Totem is a semi autobiographical book that features the decline of wolves centrally but is more symbolic of the destruction of habitats through human greed and ignorance.

[cabbage]

I picked up Mike Tomkies 'Out of the Wild', 'On Wing and Wild Water' and 'A Last Wild Place' in a second hand book store and really looking forward to them. Plus managed to pick up Chris Packhams nature handbook for £1 in a sale, I think its aimed at a younger audience than me but I'm not very grown up at the best of times

[cabbage]

Just finished 'Silent Fields' by Roger Lovegrove about the historical persecution of British wildlife. Fascinating stuff, really well researched and with plenty of facts, figures and tables to back up the story.

The next time anyone I meet starts banging on about the 'wisdom of the ancients' or how everyone was more in touch with nature in the past I'm going to remind them that hedgehogs were hunted with dogs and slaughtered (8585 in one English parish alone) because they 'stole milk from cows in the night'; Dippers were wiped out in several areas because they were 'female kingfishers' and 'ate salmon'; Choughs were driven almost to extinction because they 'deliberately set fires' and of course their red beaks were 'stained by lambs blood'

Not that we're much better nowadays of course.