Journey along with Hamza in Be a Birder as he recounts stories of his birding adventures, and shares tips and tricks to help you get started in birdwatching. In this beautifully illustrated guide, featuring fifty of Hamza's favourite birds, you will learn how to start identifying birds, understand their behaviour and movements, and find even more exciting birds, wherever you are. Starting with the…

Scotland is famed for its rugged coastlines, pristine beaches, endless rivers and deep lochs. It is a magnet for outdoor enthusiasts from all over the world. In this unique guide, adventurer Mollie Hughes introduces many of ther favourite places to paddleboard, kayak, swim and surf. Features: • Paperback book

How to speak whale This is a story about the pioneers in a new age of discovery, whose cutting-edge developments in natural science and technology are taking us to the brink of decoding animal communication - and whales, with their giant mammalian brains and sophisticated vocalisations, offer one of the most realistic opportunities for us to do so. Using 'underwater ears', robotic fish, big data a…

Islandeering is making a circular journey around the outer edge of an island by any means possible - walking, scrambling or paddling, Lisa says. So far she has been islandeering on 130 of Britain's "hidden" islands. She calls them "hidden" because, by looking for islands she can get to and get around in a day, she has uncovered some amazing places not many people know about. A fascinating book wit…

Scotland is one of the most appealing destinations for kayakers, canoeists and paddleboarders from all over the world. That's because if there is one country best seen from the water, it is Scotland. Loch Ness contains more water than all the rivers and lakes in England and Wales combined - and there are 27,000 other lochs to explore as well. What's more, with 125,000km of rivers and 800 islands,…

From Mexico to the Arctic ice, grey whale mothers swim with their calves.  Following them, by bus, train and ferry are Doreen and her toddler Max, in pursuit of a wild hope. Doreen first visited Alaska as a young journalist reporting on climate change among indigenous whaling communities.  There, drawn deeply into an Inupiaq family, she joined the bowhead whale hunt, watching for polar bears under…

A fascinating account of the ship building which took place in the small village of Kingston on the river Spey close to the Scottish Dolphin Centre. Speybuilt is a beautiful book which details the history of how the best timber from the great forests of Speyside was used to build over 80,000 tons of shipping. The book vividly illustrates the important connections between the military, political an…

A gothic tale of family, the legend of the selkies - shapeshifting mythological creatures - and a young woman who is offered an impossible choice. The only daughter in a family of Scottish seal-hunters, Kier Sealgair is becoming a burden. She cannot kill, and the family are facing hard times now that her father is ailing. On the neighbouring cliffs stands Erskine Manor, home to a mysterious and we…

Trains and stagecoaches stuck in the snow, wild storms driving sailing ships off course, traffic pile-ups on so-called 'killer' highways - stories abound about the horrors of travel in the Highlands and Islands, and have done for as far as the records go back. James Miller tells the dramatic and sometimes surprisingly humorous story of travel and transport in the Highlands. Some of the figures in…

In 2016, Sandy Winterbottom embarked on an epic six-week tall-ship voyage from Uruguay to Antarctica. At the mid-way stop in South Georgia, her pristine image of the Antarctic was shattered when she discovered the dark legacy of twentieth century industrial - scale whaling. Enraged by what she found, she was quick to blame the men who undertook this wholesale slaughter. But then she stumbled upon…

The ultimate guide to what the land, sun, moon, stars, trees, plants, animals, sky and clouds can reveal - when you know what to look for. Includes over 850 outdoor clues and signs for you to enjoy the wonders of the outdoors from your living room. This guide is the result of Tristan Gooley's two decades of pioneering outdoors experience and six years of instructing, researching and writing.

Exploring the Hidden Lives of Britain’s Grey Seals. There are fewer grey seals in the world than endangered African elephants, but the British Isles host almost half of this global population. Every year these charismatic animals, with their expressive eyes and whiskers more sensitive than our fingertips, haul out on our shores to breed and raise their pups. As graceful in the sea as they might se…