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All Reviews

sakoala

Kit Reviews

We're not experts, just users. We have compared various different brands and types to see what suits our needs the most, as wildlife watchers.

Different situations require different solutions. If you are walking through the Himalayas, weight and size (or lack thereof) is very important; however if you are driving round the Kruger National Park in a large car, the larger the binoculars and lens the better. Children may not be so interested in latin names, and someone who occasionally looks out at their bird-table doesn't need a scientific guide to the birds of Europe. 

Click here for a review of A complete guide to Antarctic Wildife.

reviews/aa_bird_guide

AA/BTO Birds of Britain and Europe

Covering more than 500 species, and using a mix of photos and illustrations, there is plenty here for all bird enthusiasts.
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reviews/collins_bird_guide

Collins Bird Guide - 2nd edition

The long awaited second edition of Collins Bird Guide is now here. Covering Britain and Europe, the second edition has been update and revamped. Distribution maps have been updated allowing for recent bird movements; the text has been expanded and new illustrations have been included - There are now 3500 illustrations!
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reviews/bats_dietz

Bats – Of Britain, Europe and North Africa

More than 400 colour photographs is an achievement in itself, considering the subject
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reviews/planet_ape_r

Planet Ape

This is one of the best books we have seen this year, a step up from the usual "Wildlife is lovely, we must be nicer to it" sort of book.
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reviews/cheetah_cheats

Why the Cheetah Cheats - And other mysteries of the animal world. By Lewis Smith

Strange and quirky facts, new discoveries and unusual facts about the animal world.
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Life in the Wild

This book has no pretensions. It is a celebration of wildlife photographs, and I say photographs rather than photography. The book contains some 200 stunning wildlife images and virtually nothing else.
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reviews/wildlife_garden_dk

Wildlife Garden - By Martyn Cox in conjunction with the Royal Horticultural Society.

This is a top book for youngsters with any sort of interest in wildlife & conservation.
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reviews/bat_detector_pettersson

Pettersson D 240x Bat Detector

The automatic playback of the Time Expansion gave us a real thrill; listening to the previously silent Pipistrelles as they flitted around our heads.
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reviews/big_cat

Stars of Big Cat Diary

Nowadays it regularly pulls in some 7 million viewers, and has launched a series of ‘diaries' and copy cat (excuse me) programmes across the airwaves (bears, elephants, meerkats.), but Big Cat was the original and is still the best.
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reviews/volunteering_bradt

Wildlife and conservation Volunteering

But how do you chose which project to go for? Or, even more importantly, how do you know that the 'elephant faeces sampling' in Sri Lanka or the 'snake weighing project' in Guyana are bona fide, well run, worthwhile and safe pastimes for young Johnty & Jemima to undertake?
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reviews/sparrow_nest_box

Sparrow nest box

According to the BTO, House Sparrows are social birds, they, roost and breed colonially and need space to live together.
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Olympus SP-590UZ teleconverter and adapter

We think that the Olympus SP-590UZ is the best camera in its class, with a very good 26X built-in zoom (click Olympus SP-590UZ to read the full review). However, if that isn't enough, Olympus also make a 1.7 Tele Conversion Lens.
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reviews/access_africa

Access Africa – A guide to safaris for people with limited mobility

Gordon Rattray is a quadriplegic who had visited 300 hotels, lodges and safari camps across East and Southern Africa. Before his diving accident, he drove overland trucks across Africa, so few will know the continents whims better.
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reviews/wild_kew

Wild Kew

The birdlife is the most visible of the wildlife, but Angel has captured the squirrels, foxes, and even the rats amongst the mammals. More dramatically, the insects, especially the butterflies, wasps, dragonflies and beetles are all resplendent.
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reviews/quill_drinker

Quill garden bird drinker and feeder

It has been very popular in the Wildife Extra garden. It did take the birds a few weeks to work out where to find the water (There has been plenty lying about in puddles for them recently) and they aren't particularly concerned that it isn't a great masterpiece of sculpture.
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reviews/orchids_uk_harrap_

Orchids of Britain & Ireland – A field and site guide

Personally, I am not really into orchids, or flowers of any kind. But if I had any interest in orchids, this book would be the first in the bookcase.
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reviews/britains_reptiles

Britain's reptiles and amphibians

There are several ways provided of identifying the various species, from quick ID charts that will help you discern those similar species from each other (I still struggle with smooth and palmate newts). Additionally each species is described in great details, with illustrations to match that show male and females, immature, larvae (tadpoles) and even eggs & frogspawn.
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reviews/kingfisher_cover

Kingfisher - Tales from the Halcyon River

This book raises the bar with some extraordinary photographs.
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reviews/pajaro_jacket_paramo

Paramo Pájaro Jacket

I don't know if this is the first jacket specifically designed for wildlife watching, but it is definitely the best.
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reviews/bbc_natures_great_events_

Nature's Great Events - BBC

Nature's Great Events was the BBC's latest wildlife spectacular, following the great wildlife spectacles driven by nature.
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reviews/snow_monkeys

Snow Monkeys

This book covers all aspects of the Japanese macaque's lives, but concentrates heavily on the snow monkeys. They are very photogenic, with bright pink faces and backsides - especially when set against the snow. And images of them chilling out in the thermal pools surrounded by snow, even with snow on their heads while immersed in the hot water, have become amongst the most iconic in the world.
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reviews/bradt_nz

New Zealand Wildlife

Wildlife Extra has just launched a guide to where to see wildlife in New Zealand, and this book provides the perfect companion with detailed descriptions of all the wildlife and birds that you are likely to see, including birds, whales, dolphins, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, insects, trees and shrubs, and even some fish.

Click here to see the full review


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reviews/wild_geese

Flight of the Wild Geese

I picked it up expecting a reasonably dull monologue on how clever geese are to fly from Svarlbard to Scotland and back, but the book surprised me.
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Sunagor, the World's most powerful binoculars

Sunagor Reader Offer Sunagor are offering readers and subscribers of www.wildlifeextra.com their fantastic 25 - 150 X 70 MEGA ZOOM binoculars for just Ł199.99 (Inc P & P) , RRP Ł399.99. To buy a pair of the world's most powerful binoculars at this special price, call Sunagor on 020 7722 1476 or email info@sunagor.com and quote WE1. Sunagor claim that their 25 - 150 X 70 MEGA ZOOM binoculars are the world's most powerful, and they are certainly the most powerful that we have ever come
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reviews/rare_birds_2009

Rare Birds Yearbook 2009

Rare Birds Yearbook 2009 updates the status of the 190 rarest birds in the world. For anyone with an interest in the conservation of the world's rarest birds, this book is a must. The book also helps the conservation of the species as £4 from each sale is donated towards saving the birds included.
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reviews/bird_ringing_bto

Bird Ringing

The BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) started bird ringing 100 years ago, in 1909. To date some 36 million birds have been ringed.
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reviews/sunagor_waterproof

Sunagor all weather binoculars

The first question I asked myself was "Why would I want binoculars designed to work in the rain?" Just stay indoors. Then I thought about it.
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reviews/shark_encyclopedia

The Encyclopaedia of Sharks

There are some weird and wonderful shapes and sizes. The Hammerhead we all know, but the extraordinary Goblin shark, with its hugely elongated nose (and even more unusually, with a liver that accounts for 25% of its bodyweight.), the prehistoric looking Frilled shark with trident teeth, to the tiny pygmy shark, which checks in at less than a foot long.
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reviews/ospreys_roy_dennis

A Life of Ospreys

Written by Roy Dennis. What Diane Fossey is to gorillas and David Shepherd is to Elephants, Roy Dennis is to ospreys.
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reviews/Atlas_of_endangered_species

The Atlas of Endangered Species

120 pages of information about the who, what, where, how long and why of the worlds endangered species.
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reviews/fruit_papadakis

Fruit - Edible, Inedible, Incredible

Available to readers of Wildlife Extra at £30 post-free (RRP £35). To order, telephone 01635 248833 or email info@papadakis.net and quote 'Wildlife Extra'.

This book is truly gobsmacking. The photography is truly spectacular, mostly very close up and set against black backgrounds which brings out the colours wonderfully.


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reviews/wild_amazon_Nick_gordon

Wild Amazon - Nick Gordon

This is an important book. One of its kind, and although it is always easy to be pessimistic about this rainforest - his sentence about the Brazilian government's claim about timber production is truly frightening - Gordon eschews this doom mongering and remains upbeat.
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reviews/Colin_Woolf_Barn_Owl

Daring to Fly - The wildlife paintings of Colin Woolf

Colin Woolf is one of Britain's best know wildlife artists, and the new book, written by his wife Jo, is a showcase of his work.
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reviews/bob_books

Bob Books - Your wildlife in a Bob Books photobook

The rapidly increasing use of digital cameras has meant that the age-old delights of family photo albums is declining. Our photographs are now stored on computers, yet the desire for the emotive, tactile experience of photographs remains.
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reviews/Creatures_of_the_deep_blue

Creatures Of The Deep Blue

Jonathan Bird is a professional underwater photographer who specialises in large marine mammals, Creatures of the Deep Blue is an underwater safari with Jonathan.


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reviews/whales-dolphins

The definitive field guide to the world's marine mammals.

10% off 'Whales, Dolphins and Seals', now £11.69.

Photos, illustrations, maps, hotspots and plenty of information, the best book in its field. Includes whales, dolphins, seals, sea-lions, Polar bears, sea otters, dugong and manatees.

Click here to buy this book.

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reviews/viewranger-screen

Mobile mapping and GPS review

In our guide to UK nature reserves, we provide the grid location for all the reserves we list. However knowing that you need to get to TQ226768 isn't that straightforward for everyone, and especially with those reserves (most of them it seems) that are ½ mile off the road or in the back of beyond. 
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reviews/gurneys-pitta1

Rare Birds Year Book 2008

If this book weren't so depressing, it would be one of the best books of the year.
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reviews/book-madagascar6[1]

Mammals of Madagascar, by Nick Garbutt

Madagascar is unique in many ways, but none more so than the mammals that are found there. Of the 123 species, at least 103 are found nowhere else.

This book is the most comprehensive guide that you need if visiting Madagascar.

10% off the RRP.Click here to buy this book.

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reviews/safari-huot5

Safari in wildest Africa - Michael and Christine Denis-Huot

Michel and Christine Denis Huot spend at least six months a year in East Africa. They have produced several books in the past, and the latest, Safari in Wildest Africa , is a fantastic photographic record of the big game of East Africa.
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reviews/insects-cover[1]

Insects of Britain and Western Europe

Now you can tell the difference between a bed bug and a pine cone bug. Over 2300 illustrations and an instant guide as to whether you might see them in the UK or not.
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reviews/raptors

Raptors - Second edition

Covering all birds of prey which occur regularly in Britain & Ireland, this is a very specialist book (and CD covering all the various raptor calls).
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reviews/mammals_europe

Mammals of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East

There is a wider range of mammals alive an well in Europe than you might imagine, with some 400 species listed.
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reviews/canals_of_britain

Canals of Britain- A comprehensive guide

Dragonflies, bats, water birds, water voles, fish and many others have all benefitted from the canal age, and possibly even more so from the railways superseding the canals, leaving miles and miles of ideal habitat unused, with just a few shopping trolleys to contend with.
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reviews/living_dinosaurs

Living Dinosaurs

There are considered to be 4 living groups of reptiles that have been around since the times of the dinosaurs, crocodilians; Turtles and tortoises,; Snakes, lizards and worm lizards; and tuatara.
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reviews/magenta_5

Bat detectors Magenta 4 & Magenta 5

I have never had a bat detector before but I was excited to have a go with one for the first time. I was hoping that it would be as simple turn the machine on, wave it around a little and be given a short print out as to how many of what sort of bats are flying around my head. That's not quite how it works though.
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reviews/puffins_cover

Puffins - By Heather Angel

Puffins, along with guillemots, auklets and razorbills, make up the auk family of seabirds; and there are four species of puffins, Atlantic, Tufted and Horned, as well as the Rhinoceros auklet.
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reviews/steiner_skyhawk_8x42

Steiner vs Swarovski binoculars

We tried two pairs of Steiner binoculars, and used our own Swarovski bins at the same time for comparison purposes.
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reviews/gorillas_book

Gorillas – The gentle giants

The book starts with a little history about the discovery of the gorilla; probably by a Carthaginian called Hanno the Navigator in the 5th Century BC. No further news came out of Africa for 2000 years until the 16th century
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reviews/Where_to_Go_Wild_dorling_k

Where To Go Wild In Britain

Jointly produced by the RSPB and Dorling Kindersley, Where To Go Wild In Britain provides a month by month guide to the UK's best wildlife experiences.
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reviews/addo-lawick

Hugo Van Lawick. "Addo - The African King" & "Playing in savage paradise"

These films, shot in 2002, are good honest wildlife films. None of the new tricks of cameras disguises as ants, or rather sanctimonious footage of water flowing over grains of sand, and 10 minutes on how they managed to shoot such an interesting subject.
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reviews/vanishing_animals_white_star

Vanishing Animals

This coffee table book is a pictorial journey through the world's most spectacular endangered animals.
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reviews/birds_of_gambia

Birds of Gambia

Gambia is one of the smallest countries in the world, at just 11,000 KMS2, yet some 550 species of bird have been recorded there, with another 120 or so in neighbouring Senegal.
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reviews/british_moths

British Moths and Butterflies - A photographic guide

The book covers 1420 species of moth, 850 macros and 500 micros, as well as 314 caterpillars, pupae and eggs and 74 butterflies.
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reviews/jurassic_coast_wildlife

Wildlife of the Jurassic Coast

If you are visiting the southern coast of England, anywhere between Exmouth and Swanage, and you are vaguely interested in wildlife, you should get your hands on this book.
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reviews/Albatross_Tui_de_Roy

Albatross - Their world, their ways.

The albatross has to be the world's most photogenic bird species. Theri size, their plumage, their eyes and the locations that they are found in make them wonderful subjects, and yet some of the hardest and most inaccessible birds to capture on camera.
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reviews/birds-tobago[1]

Birds of Trinidad & Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago provides some of the richest bird watching anywhere in the world. Despite having a combined area of just 4500 Kms, 470 bird species are found on the islands. A wide variety of habitats provides a very diverse setting for the spectalar birdlife.
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Woodland Trust 'Exploring Woodland' guides

Woodland Trust 'Exploring Woodland' guides
All of the following books can be bought online at the Woodlands Trust online shop.

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A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Japan and North East Asia

Quite unusual amongst bird guides in that it relies on photos, not illustrations, for all the birds. In fact most species merit 3 photos, and there are small distribution maps as well as brief notes giving a description, range, status in Japan, voice and similar species.
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