A good field guide for bad bird-watchers

A review of the Hamlyn Guide "Birds of Britain and Europe".

This isn't my favourite field guide to European birds. Still, the Hamlyn guide is something of a classic, ever since the first edition was published over 30 years ago. The book covers all European species of birds, and also illustrates the most common North American and Siberian vagrants.

The illustrations emphasize the most conspicuous form of each bird, usually male birds in adult summer plumage. This will no doubt annoy advanced bird-watchers, who would like to have a comprehensive guide to all possible varieties of every species. However, it's probably good for "bad" bird-watchers, both those who are beginners, and those who are simply too lazy to identify birds not in summer plumage (me!). Thus, if you are completely new to the craft of bird-watching, and don't care about gulls in second winter plumage, female blackbirds or duck hybrids, the Hamlyn guide might be your first choice.

I only have two complaints about the book: the illustrations of gulls are really bad in all editions, and some of the shorebird illustrations have been screwed up in this particular edition. Otherwise, the illustrations (most of them in colour) range from acceptable to good.

During my childhood, this guide was considered to be *the* field guide to European birds here in Sweden. People who used it considered themselves experienced birders. It seems birding has evolved since then! One of the authors of the Hamlyn guide, Lars Svensson, went on to produce a more advanced field guide of his own, which I have reviewed elsewhere.

But for those of us who consider bird-watching a sheer weekend or lunch hour pastime, the Hamlyn guide is quite enough!