Reviews Atlas of Breeding Birds of the West Midlands

Reviews Atlas of Breeding Birds of the West Midlands. Edited by J. Lord and D. J. Munns. Published for the West Midland Bird Club by Collins, London, 1970. 276 pages; maps and line-drawings. 30s. The reasons for the decision by the British Trust for Ornithology to base their Ornithological Atlas of the British Isles fairly and squarely on the presence or absence of a breeding bird in each 10 km square rested on the possible, the practicable, the pecuniary and the fact that the West Midland Bird Club had stuck its neck out and was about to complete mapping a large and important area in three years flat. The appearance of their Atlas of Breeding Birds of the West Midlands comes half way through the field-work period for the National Atlas (1968-72)—exactly the right time to boost the flagging energies of the ornithological square-bashers. The keystones of the book are the nicely produced and easily under stood maps of the 121 species that bred in Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Staffordshire during 1966-68. Each map is accompanied by brief notes outlining the background history of the species in the area (largely gleaned from previous West Midland Bird Club publications) and decorative line-drawings of variable quality. Thus each species receives a double-page spread in a field-guide sized book that is lavish for the material presented. The text on the Willow Warbler, for instance, amounts to 45 words, leaving over half a page of blank paper; the Moorhen and many others are little better. A larger format with slightly smaller maps would have reduced the number of pages with an economy that could have been passed on to the reader. Coloured front and end plates provide identical but good maps of the three counties. So much for the book—what of its use? Several items are particularly interesting: and worthy of comment. The feral pigeon either does not breed in the West Midlands or is not a bird—presumably the latter. Never making a song and dance about the 'secret', and widely known, whereabouts of rare breeding birds has always been a merit of the Club. Doubtless some will object to a 10 km square being specified for breeding Marsh Warblers, a species for which the area is noted, and perhaps also to Red-backed Shrike and Cirl Bunting being similarly picked out. The reviewer's opinion is that the species meriting no data on grounds of security can be counted on the fingers of one hand—and none of these to my knowledge breed in the area in question. It is interesting to see that the Red Grouse has finally given up the ghost in Cannock Chase but that Black Grouse still cling to their foothold on the Staffordshire moors. Black Redstarts continue to breed in Birmingham and have recently been discovered in the Black Country to the north-west, a situation parallel to the move from the 217 218 Reviews City of London to industrial sites in the inner suburbs. The square containing central Birmingham (SP08) boasts 42 breeding species in cluding some perhaps unexpected birds such as Tree Sparrow, Bullfinch, Whitethroat, Nuthatch and Willow Tit. The editors do well to draw attention to the limitations of their work. The difficulty of under-coverage—three squares were worked for only a single season—and the varying ability of the field-workers has been carefully noted. They draw attention to several squares where, in their opinion, too few species were recorded. A square where only 31 birds were recorded is sandwiched between others boast ing 72 and 5 7 species for no apparent reason. The value of this excellently produced little book lies largely in its relationship to the grander work on the national scale. One can only hope that that will live up to this example. JOHN GOODERS Lundy. By A. and M. Langham. David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1970. 192 pages; 32 black-and-white plates; line-diagrams and end-paper maps. 45s. This book provides a useful introduction to a lovely and exciting island now happily safeguarded for the future in the ownership of the National Trust. Most of us try to find out beforehand about the birds of a new area we are to visit, but how often do we enquire into such things as the social and historical background, or the current land-use policy? On an island this is almost always fascinating and this book covers these points well and in some detail. My initial reaction was that it had little about birds. This is correct as far as the general text is concerned, but there is a carefully prepared and well-researched appendix giving notes on the status of all species recorded on the island. It occupies something like a tenth of the whole book and is more valuable than a more discursive treatment. The production is generally good, though I wish the map had been bound in rather than stuck (upside-down in my copy) inside the back cover. DAVID LEA .

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