If you're looking for a gift for a bird lover or nature lover who also loves watching Bill Bailey on TV, take a look at Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide to British Birds. 

I gave my husband Bill Bailey’s remarkable book for his birthday and he chuckles away every time he reads it.   Bill Bailey is well known for his love of bird watching, and his enthusiasm for our feathered friends bubbles along wonderfully in this book. 

This morning, my husband is out having the car serviced.  Which has given me a wonderful opportunity to sit down with a mug of coffee and have a really good read.

I LOVE this book!

It is a guide written by Bill Bailey about his favourite birds in Britain (he covers about 50 birds in it), and it includes drawings, sketches and cartoons he has done himself.  Amongst his favourites, I was thrilled to find the green woodpecker, the puffin, the kingfisher, the barn owl and the peregrine falcon - they are some of my favourite birds, too! 

Bill Bailey includes wonderful facts about his favourite birds but in such a way that it never becomes boring.  He may (or may not) comment on what the birds like to eat, their behaviour and geographical spread.   He includes memories of bird watching occasions, his observations of them, and sometimes he includes information about where a saying comes from, such as “water off a duck’s back”.  There are historical references to beliefs about some of the birds too.

For a small book, it is amazing how much information about birds is in it – all beautifully written and illustrated.  It’s very easy (as I’ve found out this morning) to become completely immersed in this book and just break away from the world outside.  It’s also a very easy book to pick up and put down, pick up and put down, which is what my other half has been doing, reading bits aloud to me along the way.   And its pocket size (well it’s a small book, depends on what size pocket you’ve got) means it’s easy to carry with you so that you can see what Bill Bailey has said about it when you spot a particular bird.   We’ve both learnt a lot from it.

• A Birds checklist, so that you can put a tick by the birds on the list to remind yourself you’ve seen them, and where and how many you saw
• A list of the best places to see the birds he lists in the UK
• Suggestions of bird spotting equipment – I loved the “cheese sandwiches” inclusion!
• Bird conservation organisations you can join or get involved with to help birds
• The RSPB birdwatching code and also codes on access to the countryside
• A seasonal guide – summer, winter and all year round birds

This book is a great buy for bird lovers and people starting out in the birdwatching world, and  anyone who loves to watch Bill Bailey on TV.  He has a great way of writing – this book is light to read, yet you learn a lot, and there’s lots of humour along the way, as you’d expect.

Anyway, enough from me.  The book is £14.99 and you can buy it from the RSPB’s online shop – and help nature along the way! 

Find out more from the RSPB here.