Recension i Birding World 7/2003 (dvs augusti-numret)
Av Brett Richards

With the increasing numbers of photographic books and identification guides being published, I wondered what this book had to offer that I did not already have, but I was pleasantly surprised in more ways than one. This is a superb book, well written, excellently laid out and with enough mouth-watering photographs to keep anyone happy.
	Unlike previous photographic seabird guides, this one include wildfowl, in addition to ’real’ seabirds. After the acknowledgements, foreword and introduction, the layout of the book is briefly explained, the basics of field identification are discussed and there is a useful synopsis of western European seawatching sites (although to omit skuas from the key species to be seen at Flamborough, and include petrels, which are scarce at best, is slightky inaccurate).
	Next comes the main part of the book: the species accounts, each of which follows an overview of the species group. The photographs are either adjacent to the text or immediately following it, or both, and each photographs is individually captioned, complete with the location and date where these are known, making the book a real pleasure to use. The number of photographs per species varies between one (for Red-billed Tropicbird, Spectacled Eider and Elegant Tern) and 11 (for Arctic Skua), with most species having between four and six. Although we are told that the photographs have been chosen to convey the impression of how the birds appear on seawatches, many of them are simply superb. As befits the tiltle of the book, all the photographs show birds in flight or just taking off, and there are many group shots. Different plumages and ages are well covered, and different subspecies are shown when these can be distinguished in flight. Probably my only real disappointment in the book was that the difference between the nominate Mediterranean form of Cory’s Shearwater (Scopoli’s Shearwater) and the Atlantic form (borealis) are not pictured or discussed. There are some nice shots of Fea’s Petrel, but none of Zino’s. This latter species is only discussed briefly in the text. I was pleased with the underwing shots of adult Bridled and Sooty Terns, which show that these two species can appear much more alike in this respect than is depicted in field guides. From a British standpoint Shag could have been better covered by including a photograph of one of the pale juveniles which are not uncommon in southwest England, and which look strikingly different to anything depicted in this book.
	The text for each species with a brief summary of the breeding and wintering areas and then short sections on Size, Silhouette, Flight & flocking and Plumage & bare parts. As well as describing different ages and seasonal variation, this last section also discusses subspecies where this is considered relevant. Although fairly breif, I found the text accurate and thorough in most cases, with plenty of thought-provoking new (for me) material. There are some useful additional pointers to identifying heinei Common Gulls, and I found the account of Heuglin’s Gull Larus heuglini (the authours favour a ’progressive’ taxonomy) fascinating.
	I have just a few minor quibbles with the book. Herring Gull can have grey mantles at least as dark as those of Common Gulls, contrary to what is stated in that species’ account, and I was also puzzled by the authours stating that Razorbills sometimes seem larger than Guillemots. This is perhaps true in Scandinavia, where both Guillemots and Razorbills are larger than British birds (with Razorbills proportionately more so), but at Flamborough, Razorbills never look bigger than Guillemots; they usually appear smaller, sometimes markedly so, and it is not uncommon to see Razorbills appearing little larger than Puffins. There is no mention of the differences in wing-shape either, which can be a useful long-range identification feature. The reference to juvenile Lesser Back-backed Gulls having dark tail (meaning as opposed to a dark tail-band) I found misleading, as this is only sometimes the case. I have not read every word in this book, but the only error I have noticed is a reference to a photograph of Sooty Shearwater on page 17 when it is actually on page 18.	This book is very easy to read, as well as being thorough, informative and helpful, and the general layout is excellent. With all this and so many gorgeous photographs (even if some are little too blue), it is destined to become a favourite, with seawatchers at least. It is just small enough to fit into a large pocket and, in fact, the authours recommend taking books into the field. I would be afraid of spoling such a splendid book by carrying it around with me, however. Perhaps I should have two copies!