INTRIGUING NEW BOOK TAKES US INTO THE LIFE OF A MUCH-LOVED BIRD OF THE BRITISH UPLANDS

                                                        

FASCINATING insights about a favourite member of the thrush family are revealed in a new book - The Ring Ouzel, A View from The North York Moors.

Although, within the UK, it is  a somewhat scarce breeding uplands species, it occurs widely on migration in all sorts of habitats, sometimes in unlikely locations such as London parks.

It is the favourite species of broadcaster and author David Lindo, The Urban Birder,  who encounters  it most years on scrubland at  his wilderness patch  near Wormwood Scrubs prison.

It also has a knack of turning up on allotments or in paddocks containing livestock.

The book's authors, Vic Fairbrother and Ken Hutchinson, have been studying the species for the past couple of decades, but they have also pored through countless historic publications to enrich their research.

 Using vivid extracts from field notebooks and profusely illustrated with photographs, as well as delightful paintings and sketches by  Jonathan Pomroy, the reader is transported to the beautiful North York Moors National Park. 

We can share in the excitement as the first ring ouzels of the year return from their winter quarters in North Africa, witness their courtship displays, the establishment of territories and the female ouzel painstakingly building her nest and laying eggs. 

This is followed by the monitoring of the hatching and fledging of chicks.

To hear the song of the ring ouzel carrying for a surprising distance across the high moorland in the early morning is one of the many delights of upland Britain. 

The authors have recorded and analysed both simple and complex songs in their study area and, following comparison with recordings from Scotland, Derbyshire and the Yorkshire Dales, have confirmed the suspected presence of local dialects.

The contraction in distribution and number of ring ouzels breeding in Britain, the work of the Ring Ouzel Study Group, the introduction of conservation measures and the potential impact of climate change are all described. 

Crucially, attention is also drawn to the first indications of the species' decline in Switzerland.

As a migrant, the ring ouzel faces additional pressures and problems on passage, and there is an important section on the challenges it faces in  in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco where it spends winter.

This milestone publication brings the ring ouzel into sharp focus for the first time.

This highly readable study book is published in softback at £21.95 by Dunbeath-based firm Whittles Publishing, and can be bought or ordered wherever books are sold.