Changes

{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1529395224|title=Animal LivesLetting the Cat Out of the Bag: LionsThe Secret Life of a Vet|author=Sion Rowlands|rating=3.5|genre=Animals and Wildlife|summary=Siôn Rowlands fell into veterinary science accidentally. His father was a GP and Rowlands didn't want to follow in his footsteps, particularly when he considered the strain that being on-call put on his father's life. When he was seventeen he took the opportunity of doing work experience with a family friend who was a vet and was convinced this was the job for him. Before long, he was at Liverpool University. It hadn't - as with so many students - been his dream since he was a child. If anything, he'd wanted to be a professional footballer.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1839948493|title=A World of Dogs|author=Carlie Sorosiak and Luisa Uribe|rating=5|genre=Children's Non-Fiction|summary=In the interests of full disclosure, I must tell you that I'm a sucker for dogs. In nearly eight decades, I've never met one I didn't trust and I've loved most of them. I wish I felt the same about human beings. So, any book about dogs, I'm going to sit down and devour. Then I'm going to go back and read it properly. And so it was with ''A World of Dogs'', with ninety-six pages devoted entirely to my four-legged friends. Author Carlie Sorosiak found herself the accidental owner of an American Dingo - she's learned quite a lot about dogs since then.}}{{Frontpage|author=Sally MorganLev Parikian |title=Light Rains Sometimes Fall

|summary=If you’re a writer yourself, or an aspiring writer, or someone who pretends to write, then you know that there are unnumbered types of books. Some you read for fun, some for distraction, some for vicarious emotion, some to learn from in a random way, some for focussed research, and some because they are, broadly speaking, the kind of thing you think you might like to write. Or, indeed, are actually trying to write.|isbn=1783966386}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1398508632|title=The Wilderness Cure|author=Mo Wilde|rating=5|genre=Lifestyle|summary=It had been on the cards for a while but it was the week-long consumer binge which pushed Mo Wilde into beginning her year of eating only wild food. The end of November, particularly in Central Scotland was perhaps not the best time to start, in a world where the normal sores had been exacerbated by climate change, Brexit and a pandemic. Wilde had a few advantages: the area around her was a known habitat with a variety of terrains. She had electricity which allowed her to run a fridge, freezer and dehydrator. She had a car - and fuel. Most importantly, she had shelter: this was not a plan to ''Lionslive'' is part wild just to live off its produce.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0711266204|title=The Secret Life of Birds|author=Moira Butterfield and Vivian Mineker (illustrator)|rating=5|genre=Children's Non-Fiction|summary=I have recently discovered a great pleasure: I sit and watch the vast numbers of birds which visit our garden on a daily basis. An hour can pass without my noticing. I've established which species feed from the ground, which pop to the feeders for a quick snatch of some food and who settles in for a good munch but I wish I was more knowledgeable. It would have been wonderful if, as a child, I'd had access to a book such as ''The Secret Life of Birds''. So – what is it?}}{{Frontpage|isbn=gareth_steel|title=Never Work With Animals|author=Gareth Steel|rating=4|genre=Animals and Wildlife|summary=I don't often begin my reviews with a warning but with 'Animal Lives'Never Work With Animals' series, each focusing on ' it seems to be appropriate. Stories of a particular animal from vet's life have proved popular since ''All Creatures Great and Small'' but ''Never Work With Animals'' is definitely not the African savannahcompanion volume you've been looking for. This timeAs a TV show the author would argue that ''All Creatures'' lacked realism, as do other similar programmes. Gareth Steel says that the king of the beasts takes centre stage, in a book is not suitable for younger readers and - after reading - I agree with him. He says that mixes stunning photography he's written it to inform and provoke thought, particularly amongst aspiring vets. It deals with plenty of fascinating facts some uncomfortable and distressing issues but it doesn't lack sensitivity, although there are occasions when you would be best choosing between reading and figureseating.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781715297</amazonuk>

I was going to argue. I mean, cows are for cheese (I couldn't consider eating red meat...) and I much prefer my elephants in the wild but then I realised that I was quibbling for the sake of it. Essentially that quote sums up my attitude to animals - and I consider myself an animal lover. If I had to choose between the company of humans and the company of animals, I would probably choose the animals. I insisted that I read this book: no one was trying to stop me but I was initially reluctant. I eat cheese, eggs, chicken and fish and I needed to either do so without guilt or change my choices. I suspected that making the decision would not be comfortable.}}{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1786495902|title=The Natural Health Service: How Nature Can Mend Your Mind|author=Isabel Hardman|rating=5|genre=Lifestyle|summary=Isabel Hardman suffered a trauma which she chooses not to share. She says that a friend who does know, burst into tears and health-care professionals' jaws have sagged in disbelief. Hardman dealt with this at the time by 'keeping going': the next day she went to work to cover the budget, next there was the EU referendum, the political party leadership contests and then it was party conference season. One night she had to be sedated and returned home to begin long-term sick leave. That was what brought me to this book: 2020 was the year when the bins went out more often than I did.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1782407480|title=Animal LivesBird Love: GiraffesThe Family Life of Birds|author=Sally MorganWenfei Tong and Mike Webster

|summary=The new I was a little perturbed when I looked at the blurb for ''Animal LivesBird Love'' on a couple of on-line booksellers: '' series exploring the sex life of picture books aims to help young children become animal expertsbirds'' it said. I very nearly passed over the book, with each but a closer examination suggested that the book focusing on a is about the ''family life'' of birds, which is rather different wild animal. The current series looks at animals If the book was confined to the sex life of birds, you would be missing an opportunity to understand how birds live day-to-day, bring up their families and cope in the African savannah and this time it is wild. Not only that, you have missed the turn treat of so many beautiful illustrations about a wide variety of birds which run through this book from the noble giraffe first page to take centre stagethe last.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781715300</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1846045576|title=Animal Lives: ElephantsWalks In The Wild|author=Sally MorganPeter Wohlleben and Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp (Translator)|rating=4|genre=Animals and Wildlife|Animals and Wildlife|summary=''An instruction manual for the forest'' is how Wohlleben's publisher described the idea for this book, and that's basically what it is – although right at the end the author says that it is not intended to be a reference book, but an appetiser.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Buckingham_Dawn|title=The Little Book of the Dawn Chorus|author=Caz Buckingham and Andrea Pinnington|rating=5

|summary=What a treat! I really did mean to just ''glance'' at ''The eye-catching image on Little Book of the Dawn Chorus'' but the pull of the cover sounds of this glossy picture book certainly encourages young readers a dozen different birds singing their hearts out was far too much to pick it up resist on a cold and start rather wet February morning. I spent an indulgent hour or so reading. Two cute baby elephants gaze confidently into all about the camera lens whilst sharing a trunkful of lush green vegetationbirds and listening to their song. There is Then - just ''something'' about baby elephants, isn't there? Who because I could resist opening - I went back and did it all again and it was just as good the book for a closer looksecond time around. So, what do you get?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781715319</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=Honeyborne BlueII|title=Animal Lives: CheetahsBlue Planet II|author=Sally MorganJames Honeyborne and Mark Brownlow

|summary=The You may well remember when the sticking of a number '2' after a film title was suggesting something of prestige - that the first thing that struck me about this book film had been so good it was fully justified to have something more. That has hardly been proven correct, but it has until recently almost been confined to the excellent use cinema - you barely got a TV series worthy of visuals. Most of the photographs a numbered sequel, and never in the book are for world of non-fiction. If someone has made a double page spread. The images nature series about, say, Alaska (and boy aren't there are crisp and clear and provide a great close-up view lot of those these beautiful cats. Using the photograph as a centrepiecedays) and wants to make another, each twowhy she just makes another -page section examines a different aspect of cheetah behaviournothing would justify the numeral. Subjects covered include growing upBut some nature programmes do have the prestige, hunting, territory the energy and cheetahs under threatthe heft to demand follow-ups. The sections have a brief introductory paragraph And after five years in large, bold print and then several smaller facts surround the main picturemaking, sometimes including smaller photographs to illustrate the main pointsBBC's Blue Planet series has delivered a second helping.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781715327</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=Taylor_Owls|title=The BeeOwls: A Natural History Guide to Every Species|author=Noah Wilson-RichMarianne Taylor

|summary=Bees have been making a bit I feel like I am being watched. A huge pair of a media splash of latepiercing orange eyes are staring right at me, due to heightened concern about locking me into their declining numbers and general welfaregaze. Governments have been urged to do more to protect these important creatures, In contrast with a recent EU ban on neonicotinoid pesticides hailed as a 'victory for bees'. There is no doubt that these prolific pollinators are a vital part the hardness of our ecosystemthe deep-amber eyes, soft grey feathers fan out into the surrounding area, intricate, detailed and beautiful. An enigma; harsh and gentle at the same time, the owl is beckoning the human fascination with bees goes back reader to our ancient historyturn the pages and take a closer look inside... But just why do we find these hardworking insects so fascinating?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782401075</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Ellie LaksMontgomery Tamed|title=My Gentle BarnTamed and Untamed: where animals heal Close Encounters of the Animal Kind|author=Sy Montgomery and children learn to hopeElizabeth Marshall Thomas|rating=43.5|genre=AutobiographyAnimals and Wildlife|summary=As Sy Montgomery and Elizabeth Marshall-Thomas are best friends who also happen to be ''New York Times'' best-selling authors. They first bonded over their shared love of animals: shortly after meeting, Sy's pet ferret had given Liz a child Ellie Laks was abusednasty bite, but not only did she suffer Liz didn't seem to mind at the hands of her abuserall. ''She REALLY didn't mind being bitten by a weasel. I knew we were soul mates, she also had to endure parental indifference to what was happening to her'' recalls Sy. Her only relief came through animals - ''Tamed and Untamed'' is the resulting collaboration between the two friends as they share personal anecdotes and even then she had to cope when amazing stories about the animals were taken from heranimal world. As }}{{Frontpage|isbn=Barr_Elephant|title=10 Reasons to Love an adult she discovered that she had a real talent for healing animals - Elephant|author=Catherine Barr and Hanako Clulow|rating=4|genre=Animals and that Wildlife|summary=Ten reasons to love an elephant, eh? Well, personally, I've never needed ten reasons as they helped her 've always been my favourite large animal, the gentle giants of Africa and India, but it was good to heal toofind out more about them. In a brilliant leap of intuition she realised Perhaps the most surprising fact which I discovered was that if the animals could help her to heal they could do the same for live in herds headed by their ''grandmothers''. others Female elephants and their calves stay together and so the Gentle Barn was born - a place oldest female elephant is the one in charge as she knows where animals were brought as a place of safety to find food and where disadvantaged children water - and special needs groups could use as therapyshe knows her herd. She remembers about people too.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099584883</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Michael Fogden, Marianne Taylor and Sheri L WilliamsonGrindrod Outskirts|title=Hummingbirds: A Life-Size Guide to Every SpeciesOutskirts|author=John Grindrod|rating=4.5|genre=ReferenceAnimals and Wildlife|summary=I've always been fascinated by hummingbirds ' Outskirts'' is an interesting take on a phenomenon of the modern age: the introduction of the green belt of the countryside surrounding inner- delicatecity housing estates. John Grindrod grew up on the edge of one such estate in the 1960s and '70s, colourfulas he puts it, beautifully and brilliantly adapted to extract nectar from flowers''I grew up on the last road in London. '' Perhaps most Grindrod explores the introduction of all for me it's their acrobatic flight - the ability to hover green belt, and the various fights and manoeuvre which developments it has me hooked: I could watch them for hoursgone through over the subsequent decades, amazed that birds whose weight can only meaningfully be given in ounces can do so muchas environmental and political arguments have affected planning decisions. I was drawn Within this topic, he has somehow managed to this book as soon as I saw itwind around his personal memories of childhood, for producing a number memoir with a lot of reasonsheart.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782400893</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Marianne Taylor and Andrew PerrisMoss Wild|title=Beautiful OwlsWild Kingdom: Portraits of Arresting Species from Around the WorldBringing Back Britain's Wildlife|author=Stephen Moss

|genre=PetsAnimals and Wildlife|summary=Owls are strange birds: because they're crepuscular and twilight isn't Wildlife has been declining in Britain over the best time for ''seeing'' birds with any clarity they tend to be the stuff last few decades; it is an unfortunate by-product of legend and we don't know as much about them as we might. On the other handhuman population growth, they're which in the most recognisable of birds, perhaps because modern world has increased significantly. Through this book Moss suggests a few ways in which we can start to bring back some of Britain's wildlife without compromising the forward-facing eyes and would look almost human if it was not for that uncanny ability to swivel the neck to almost 360°. Marianne Taylor has gone some way towards correcting this lack of knowledge in ''Beautiful Owls''life: we can co-exist with nature. She gives us an overview of the species, traces them back to the earliest civilisations and shows their evolution.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908005971</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jill HucklesbySewell Spot|title=Little Lost Hedgehog (RSPCA Fiction)The Big Bird Spot|author=Matt Sewell

|genre=Confident ReadersAnimals and Wildlife|summary=Grace Fallon was out Recently I stood on a viewing platform at the RSPB reserve at Bempton Cliffs whilst a very helpful volunteer guided my sightline to one of the puffins who'd arrived on the cliffs in her garden the last few days. Finally, I found one evening, doing what she did every night - making certain that her pet rabbits were fed, watered after visually sorting through all the other birds on the precipitous cliff face. It was great fun and safevery rewarding. When she saw a movement The third double-page spread in the flower bed she went to investigate wild-life author and found a baby hedgehog - or a hoglet as theyartist Matt Sewell's first book for children, ''The Big Bird Spot'', shows some cliffs very like those at Bempton, but this time you're correctly called. Wisely she didn't attempt going to touch be looking for twenty-three Little Auks, in amongst the animal but told her parents guillemots, puffins, herring gulls and then kept watch from inside the houserazorbills. When the hoglet reappeared Oh, and looked rather distressed her mother rang the RSPCA and was told to give it some food - dog food and crushed dog biscuits (NEVER milk as it can make any hog you're looking for a pair of binoculars too: our bird watcher is very sick). Later someone from the RSPCA came round careless because you're going to collect the hoglet and take it have to their centre for carefind them in every picture.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407133217</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Simon BarnesBurkey_Ethics|title=How to be Ethics for a BAD BirdwatcherFull World or, Can Animal-Lovers Save the World?|author=Tormod V Burkey|rating=4.5|genre=Home Animals and FamilyWildlife|summary=Burkey argues that man''Look out s current practices are outside the realms of nature. He is no longer part of the windowecosystem but instead exists above it through his dominating ways.''<br>''See a bird''<br>''Enjoy He is himself distanced even further by advancement in technologies, industry, money and all the pollution that comes with them. The natural world, Burkey argues, no longer exists for man because he has altered itby such things.''<br>''CongratulationsIndeed, global warming has caused climate change, which, if it continues, will make the world unrecognisable. You are now For the world to become fuller, for it to be a birdwatcherworld that seeks to provide for the needs of every living thing, then it needs to change.''|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780720866</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Sam HayLjung_Butterfly|title=Archie the Guide Dog Puppy: Hero in TrainingBuild a ... Butterfly|author=Kiki Ljung

|summary=I donlove butterflies: they't often pick re one of the delights of my garden and it's always a pleasure when there are children there and they see a butterfly close up , possibly for the first time, as it rests on a non-fiction flower. Kiki Ljung has given us the opportunity to learn about butterflies and also to build a 3D model of our own. The book for is primarily aimed at the 7+ five to eight-year-old age group, find it riveting reading and informative about but I have to confess that I had a subject with which great deal of fun building my own painted lady. I'm already familiarlearned quite a bit too!}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Jones_Foxes|title=Foxes Unearthed: A Story of Love and Loathing in Modern Britain|author=Lucy Jones|rating=4|genre=Animals and Wildlife|summary=As one of the largest predators left in Britain, but that was the case with ''Archiefox is captivating: Hero a comfortably familiar figure in Training''our country landscapes; an intriguing flash of bright-eyed wildness in our towns. Archie is Yet no other animal attracts such controversy, has provoked more column inches or been so ambiguously woven into our culture over centuries, perceived variously as a puppy destined to be beautiful animal, a guide dog for cunning rogue, a blind person vicious pest and he's just one story in a book about worthy foe. As well as being the pups-in-trainingmost ubiquitous of wild animals, it is also the least understood. Here Lucy Jones investigates the working dogstruth about foxes – delving into fact, fiction, folklore and her own history with the creatures. Discussing the adults who have guide dogsdebate on foxes, Jones asks what our attitudes towards foxes says about us, or struggle to learn and our relationship with the techniques natural world.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Metisola_1st|title=My First Animals|author=Aino- or even what happens Maija Metsola|rating=4|genre=Animals and Wildlife|summary=Get used to the dogs who dontwo simple words if you have a child, ''t turn out to be whatWhat's neededThat?'' You will hear it over and over and over again. If you are lucky they are pointing at something that you actually know – chair, hat, my sense of regret. Sometimes they will point at something that is not too familiar. ThereHere the parental practice of making something up comes into play – it's a full range as well as information bird type thing. Books that show images of items, colours or animals may seem a little dull to an adult, but to a toddler learning about the world, they are a who's who of what a guide dog costs - and it's not cheap!that.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Packham_Babies|title=Amazing Animal Babies|author=Chris Packham and Jason Cockcroft|rating=3.5|genre=Animals and Wildlife|amazonuksummary=<amazonuk>033053792X</amazonuk>Many children love animals, but they love baby animals even more. Would you rather watch a dog or watch a puppy? A cat or a kitten? A meerkat or a smaller meerkat? The answer is a no brainer to most children who enjoy the wide-eyed stumbling of youth that is not dissimilar to their own. However, someone needs to give them the facts about baby animals and who better than wildlife presenter Chris Packham?

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Matt WhymanPrasadamHall_Pairs|title=Pig Pairs in the MiddleGarden|author=Smriti Prasadam-Halls and Lorna Scobie|rating=4.5|genre=PetsAnimals and Wildlife|summary=I'm so pleased I read this 'Pairs in the Garden'' is a fun book/game hybrid for little fingers into creepy crawlies. It's only a lift-the occasional writer who grabs me by the short and curlies -flap book with his observation of human naturea difference, but accomplished childrenbecause not only do you get to see what's writer Matt Whyman not only grabbed meunderneath, but sold me you then must see if you can find a matching pair on the mini-pigs as wellsame page. But beware! You cannot just use the process of elimination because there are 7 flaps on each page, but only 3 pairs to find. One poor creature is all alone with no partner.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444711466</amazonuk>

{{newreview|author=Gordon Grice|title=The Book of Deadly Animals|rating=4.5|genre=Popular Science|summary=Animals and humans have long mixed, even though the one has almost always proven capable of being lethal Move on to the other. Many scientists in the past decided animals killing humans were aberrant, and that the real animal knew it was second best to humans, having been saved in the Ark, and respected our dominion over them. Even now, it seems, there are opinions that creatures attacking mankind are somehow rogue and need destroying. But where is the wrong in an animal behaving as its nature compels it? Similarly, the human wandering around the wilderness, or even the idiot woman feeding a black bear her own toddler's honey-dripping hand (true story - what the bear thought of the taste of honeyed fingers we don't know) is just the same in reverse - humans behaving as only humans can.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0670919675</amazonuk>}}[[Newest Anthologies Reviews]]