Get fully booked this Christmas

THIS is the time of the year when readers ask me to recommend books for Christmas presents either for themselves or other people.

How the books are obtained these days, either online or from book tokens in shops can be two of the choices, either way it is important to know which are the best books for wildlife.

The problem is that this year there seems to have been an even wider choice of books on the subject, no doubt partly because of the media coverage of wildlife, whether on the television or in magazines.

There has also been a dramatic rise in the number of free websites you can go on to. This year, for example, I not only looked at the ospreys nesting at two different sites in the Highlands, but also goshawks in the New Forest.

One of my favourites this year has been the grey seal blog from North Rona where I went a few times many years ago to see the grey seal mating and pupping season in the autumn.

This blog gives a daily summary of activities of the researchers, grey seals and other wildlife on North Rona and has been fascinating.

One word of caution - the list of recommendations is not exhaustive as they are chosen only from the books reviewed on this page every week during the last year.

The book of the year has to be one on butterflies and during the year there have been several books on this subject. By far the best and one that will set a marker for the future has to be The Butterflies of Britain and Europe by Jeremy Thomas and Richard Lewington, published by British Wildlife Publishing at £24.95.

It is not only the text which is thorough and as up-to-date as it can be in the publishing world, but also the illustrations by Richard Lewington. His work is, as always, exceptional and these are absolutely first-class.

The best book for gardening and wildlife, a popular subject for books in 2010, is the RSPB Gardening for Wildlife by Adrian Thomas, published by A & C Black, £35. The book covers all the bird species you are likely to come across and deals with not only the common birds, but also the unusual such as the male blackcap pictured here.

As for a regional book about the Highlands and Islands, I go for The Scottish Islands by Hamish Haswell-Smith, published by Canongate, £30. This made me relive my visits to many of the islands from Sula Sgeir to St Kilda and told me many things I had not known.

The mammal monograph is from the New Naturalists series. It is Badger by Timothy J Roper, published by HarperCollins, £30. Perhaps I am biased on this, as the badger is my favourite mammal, more so than the red squirrel and otter.

A close second to this book was The Otter by James Williams, published by Merlin Unwin, £20.

The bird monograph must, by far, go to The Golden Eagle by Jeff Watson, published by T & A D Poyser, £50.

I knew Jeff and worked with him and his devotion to the subject of golden eagles was remarkable.

My favourite book on the countryside in general was from one of that superb series of River Cottage Handbooks and it is No.7, Hedgerow by John Wright, published by Bloomsbury, £14.99. There have been so many books on the subject now commonly known as "food for free" but this is one of the very best.

To indicate the success of this series there is also a second book from them, namely Sea Fishing by Nick Fisher at £14.99.

Another successful series is from the publishers Whiffet Books and it is their Flowers of the Field by Faith Anstey at £12.99. This is a fresh look at wildflowers and is not to be missed.

The last two on my list are Naturalised Animals of Britain and Ireland by Christopher Lever, published by New Holland, £35 and Seton Gordon's Cairngorms compiled by Hamish Brown from Whittles Publishing at £25.

Enjoy the books whichever you choose.

* The record of the week is one that many readers will find very amusing and will no doubt laugh at my feelings for what happened. For many years, around 20 I think, I was an active bird ringer and so I have been fortunate in having had a wide range of birds in my hands.

Memorable ones were storm petrels in the Summer Isles, golden eagles in Sutherland, great skuas in Iceland and not forgetting waders on the coast.

But last week was different and it happened outside my study window. I had put up new bird feeder close to my study window and it has a small metal tray underneath to stop any small pieces falling to the ground. In the tray I had put crushed suet balls and one day I went to top it up.

As I approached the feeder a robin was on the tray and as I moved forward with the suet crumbs in my palm, it hopped onto by fingers and then fed from my hand. It really was a very strange and moving experience that I will never forget and I felt in some way very privileged and humbled by the bird's trust. I did tell you not to laugh.