The Book of Birds is a compendium of forty-nine bird species, from Avocet to Yellowhammer, all of which are declining or endangered in Britain. Inspired by the classic bird-books with which the authors grew up, this is a field guide with a difference. It asks not ‘What is that bird?’, but ‘Who is that bird?’ It shows its readers how to identify birds, but also how to identify with them.

With lyrical precision and playfulness, Robert Macfarlane evokes each bird’s habits and habitats –– their patterns of flight and of song, how they hunt and gather, how they nest and raise their young, the stories and myths which attend them, the threats which shadow them, and how their wild lives intersect with our own. And on every page we encounter Jackie Morris’s exhilarating artwork, painted in watercolour and gold and animated by an extraordinary attention to detail and sense of life. Set among this dazzling flock of species are seven sections celebrating the 'Seven Wonders' that together make up the everyday miracle of 'Bird': Nest, Egg, Beak, Song, Feather, Flight and Migration.

Seven years in the making, The Book of Birds is a love letter to the splendours and mysteries of birdlife, and a clarion call to halt the loss of birds from land, sea and sky. From Dipper to Dunnock and Kestrel to Kingfisher, from mountain to ocean and city to river, Jackie Morris and Robert Macfarlane conjure the unique spirit and lifeway of each species. This is a book to be treasured by bird-lovers of all ages, and a future classic work of reference.

"The Book of Birds is a heart song, a soul song, for me. I have loved the shape of birds since I was a child and one of my most treasured possessions was my AA Book of British Birds. It was the drawings I loved, and paintings. Learning the names and the shapes of the birds so that when I saw them in the wild world I knew them, their form and their name. I guess this is the book I have been working towards since that time. The words are beautiful. I hope this book finds its way similarly into the hearts and souls of those who love words and birds and books" - Jackie Morris

384 pages

Hardcover

Publication Date: 7th May 2026

Weight : 1.09kg

Dimensions: 22.5cm H x 33.5cm D x 17.4cm W

Hamish Hamilton Publisher