The Ring Ouzel: A View from the North York Moors
by Vic Fairbrother and Ken Hutchinson
From Whittles Publishing:
Using vivid extracts from field notebooks and profusely illustrated with photographs as well as paintings and sketches by wildlife artist Jonathan Pomroy, the reader is transported to the beautiful North York Moors National Park. We can share in the excitement as the first Ring Ouzels of the year return from their winter quarters in North Africa, witness their courtship displays, the establishment of territories and the female ouzel painstakingly building her nest and laying her eggs.
To hear the song of the Ring Ouzel carrying for a surprising distance across the high moorland in the early morning is one of the many delights of upland Britain. The authors have recorded and analysed both simple and complex songs in their study area and, following comparison with recordings from Scotland, Derbyshire and the Yorkshire Dales, have confirmed the suspected presence of local dialects.
Crucially this book is much more than a remarkable record of twenty years’ fieldwork as it builds on earlier research elsewhere and relates local findings to the results of other current studies in England, Wales and Scotland. As a migrant, the Ring Ouzel faces additional pressures and problems on passage and conditions in their wintering areas in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco are described. The importance of Britain as a stop-over and refuelling area for Fennoscandian birds on passage in Spring and Autumn is stressed. This milestone publication bring the Ring Ouzel into sharp focus for the first time.
I’ve never seen a Ring Ouzel, but I could really get to know them through this book. Lots of photos, along with some beautiful paintings, accompany years’ worth of observations and data. Anyone remotely interested in this cool-looking thrush or this area of Britain should enjoy this.
The Ring Ouzel: A View from the North York Moors
by Vic Fairbrother and Ken Hutchinson
Paperback; 288 pages
Whittles Publishing; September, 2020
ISBN: 9781849954587
$27.95
Buy from NHBS
(based in the U.K.)
Posted by Grant McCreary on October 28th, 2020.
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