A Bird in the Bush

by Stephen Moss

This book is a history of the kinds of interest people have taken in birds, from prehistoric times, through to when birds became the subject of scientific examination and interest, through to the 20th century, when they became the objects of conservation and of obsessive attention from the kinds of birdwatchers who would now be called twitchers. It’s a very good history of the social background to all this and it makes the point that birding is a very ecumenical activity – it involves all kinds and levels of people.