Set before & during the great war Birdsong captures the drama of that era on both a national & a personal scale. It is the story of Stephen a young Englishman who arrives in Amiens in 1910. Over the course of the novel he suffers a series of traumatic experiences from the clandestine love affair that tears apart the family with whom he lives to the unprecedented experiences of the war itself. ...

At last it is possible to listen to the amazing variety of birdsong that enriches our environment simply by opening this book. Delve into the absorbing text & beautiful photographs of each of the 150 birds whilst listening to their songs & calls. Among many others the sounds you will hear at the touch of a button include the cries of birds of prey like the Red Kite Osprey & Peregrine Falcon as well as the dramatic mewing or barking cries of several species of gulls that can be found both on our coasts & in the centre of towns. The recordings include the songs & calls of much-loved garden birds such as the Blackbird Song Thrush Robin Wren & Blue Tit as well as the sounds of many wonderful migrants: the call of the Cuckoo that heralds the arrival of spring the piercing cries of the Swifts that arrive later the distinctive sounds of the winter-visiting Redwing & Fieldfare. The recordings also include sounds that communicate a desire to mate or challenge a territorial rival: the rattling bursts of Woodpeckers as they drum their beaks rapidly against a hollow tree-trunk or the strange bleating sound made by the Snipe's outer tail feathers as it hurtles earthwards in its display flight. Concise descriptions are given of each species as well as fascinating nuggets of information. Did you know that both sexes of Robin sing almost all year that the Nightingale sings by day as well as at night & the Great Tit holds the record for the number of different songs & calls
- over 50
- it produces? With stunning colour photographs of each species accessible & authoritative text & a unique sound module this rich source of wildlife knowledge can be enjoyed at home or outdoors.

...

* Beautiful bird illustrations by Madeleine Floyd * Details of the wonderful songs & sounds of our birds * A celebration of our feathered creatures & their songs for all bird lovers A celebration of British birds & their songs from the sought-after artist Madeleine Floyd. Some 50 of her exquisite drawings of birds along with their specific eggs are captured here for fans of her work & wildlife enthusiasts. It

Includes:: details of the songs & sounds made by each of the birds from sparrows tits to the lyrical nightingale. The latter has up to 250 different phrases in his song & each performance is made up of a unique composition. The art of Madeleine Floyd is beautifully presented in this gem of a book & should delight all bird lovers.

...

Birdsong is a novel about the tenderness & the limits of human flesh about men & women living at the edge. Set mostly in France spanning the years before & during the First World War it captures the drama & destruction of that era as it tells the story of Stephen a young Englishman who is impelled through a series of extreme experiences from a traumatic clandestine love affair which rips apart the bourgeois French family he lives with through grim insanity of the Great War. In the vast scenes of suffering & the tender depiction of human love Birdsong is at times almost unbearably too moving to read. Faulks has brought to it the same richness of writing & emotional intimacy that characterised The Girl at the Lion d Or but has widened the scope to produce a novel of moving grandeur. Since its first publication Birdsong has become a huge bestseller & one of the most popular literary novels of its generation. In 2012 it was adapted into an acclaimed two-part TV drama starring Eddie Redmayne. ...

A lone bird sits in a big tree merrily singing its tune to the world. But soon it will be joined by a friend & then another & another... As each colourful bird lands on the branch of the tree it joins the last in a cheerful song. But one flashy bird wants to rule the roost
- until something small changes his tune.
...

This is the most compact & concise guide to the 430 species of birds that live in or regularly visit Britain & the rest of Europe. It is the only truly pocket-sized field guide. There are at least six illustrations of each species & Peter Hayman's unique painting style brings the birds to life. The well-researched text in the form of captions & annotation tells you all you need to know to be able to identify correctly different species. Symbols show at a glance in which habitats each bird can be found & at what time of year each is present
- both essential factors for correct identification. Differentiating between one species & another could never be made simpler. This guide is the essential companion for taking into the field wherever you go birdwatching in Britain & Europe.
...

Learning birdsong is not just a way to become a better bird-spotter. It is tuning in: a way of hearing the soundtrack of the planet earth... Why do birds sing? What are they trying to say? Birdsong is not just about natural history. It is also about our history. We got melody from the birds as we got rhythm from the womb. Birds are our music: they teach us to express emotion & beauty in sound. The first instruments ever made were bird-flutes. This book takes the reader on a journey from winter into spring. Along the way you will learn something of the science of birdsong
- the difference between song & call the physiology of songbirds what birdsong tells us about evolution & indeed the very beginnings of life itself. The aim is to give you a flying start in birdsong so that after reading this book youll be listening to order not chaos to Bach not white noise. You will be more aware of the wild world & better able to understand it.
...

Learning birdsong is not just a way to become a better bird-spotter. It is tuning in: a way of hearing the soundtrack of the planet earth... Why do birds sing? What are they trying to say? Birdsong is not just about natural history. It is also about our history. We got melody from the birds as we got rhythm from the womb. This vital book
- with a free podcast
- takes you from winter into deepest spring teaching you to how recognise song after song as the chorus swells. You start with robin & end up listening to nightingales. Along the way you will learn something of the science of birdsong
- the difference between song & call the physiology of songbirds what birdsong tells us about evolution & indeed the very beginnings of life itself. The aim is to give you a flying start in birdsong so that after reading this book you'll be listening to order not chaos to Bach not white noise. You will be more aware of the wild world & better able to understand it.


...

Take a fascinating & nostalgic visual journey back to 1960s Birmingham to witness the much-loved Bull Ring the grand city-centre buildings that were demolished to make way for the modern city & the streets & courts that were swept away during the last fifty years of development. Mark Norton author of Birmingham Past & Present: In My Fathers Footsteps presents many previously unpublished pictures alongside his own colour photographs of the area in the twenty-first century. Thoughtful & detailed captions provide a new insight into the ever-changing city. ...

Birmingham was last visited by these authors for a Past & Present" volume right back at the beginning of the series when they produced " No 5 The West Midlands" more than 20 years ago in 1987! It also fell within the Warwickshire volume of 2001 but this is the first time that the city's railways have been treated to a " Past & Present" volume of their own neatly complementing Andrew Doherty's " Rail Around Birmingham" series. This volume looks in detail at: Birmingham's principal stations: New Street Snow Hill & Moor Street; The Cross City Line from Barnt Green to Blake Street; Former LMS main line from Birmingham International to Sandwell & Dudley; Former GWR lines through Snow Hill some now forming part of the Midland Metro light rail network; The Camp Hill line; Loco sheds at Tyseley Monument Lane Aston & Saltley; Goods yards & industrial installations including the Cadbury's system; & The Harborne branch." ...