52 European Wildlife Weekends A Year of Short Breaks for Nature Lovers

This book should come with a travel warning. If you read this book, you might think there is no reason to travel beyond Europe. If you have been a regular reader of BBC Wildlife magazine or a regular attendee at the Bird Fair in Rutland, you are probably only too aware that Europe has its fair share of spectacular wildlife from wolves and brown bears to minke whales and seabird colonies. But not everybody knows how rich Europe is for wildlife and the strange and mysterious creatures that inhabit it. I have a friend who thought the wolverine was a fictional creature, known only from the films in which Hugh Jackman had a lead role.

Even for those in the know, this book is packed with wildlife watching insights, conveniently within the covers of a single book. Oh for sure, you can search on the internet for information. But as I know only too well, a key pointer like which boat operator is best for going out to look for dolphins or seabirds can make the difference between a special trip or one where opportunities were missed. Not everyone can attend something like the Bird Fair and meet tour operators who will help you to see Iberian Lynx in Spain or Orcas in Norway. This is where a book like this with suggested itineraries, tips on who to go with and where to stay and the URLs of relevant websites makes a difference.

Action movies have a reputation for a thrill-a-minute, fast pace. James Lowen in his characteristic style brings into nature writing a similarly fast pace which makes you drink in his accounts. You can almost feel the tension of waiting for a brown bear to come and inspect the log cabin you are holed up in or smell the sea being exhaled as a whale surfaces next to your boat. This book is trademark Lowen; an enjoyable cocktail of nature essays rich in detail melded into a practical and useful where-to-see wildlife guide, all packaged into a pleasingly designed book.

The 52 essays are arranged by month so that you can look for inspiration by season. But they are also indexed by type of activity (birds, mammals, butterflies and moths, dragonflies, flowers, city breaks, etc). Twenty-one countries are featured in an area bounded by Iceland in the North, Ireland and the UK on the West, Estonia and Finland to the Northeast and Greece and Bulgaria to the South-East. I certainly see myself using this book to plan optimally my European wildlife watching trips and to save myself hours of online research. The challenge is to decide what is next. Would it be Siberian Flying Squirrel in Estonia, Great Bustards in Portugal’s steppes, walrus in Norway, beaked whales in Biscay or goshawks in Berlin? There are so many tantalising possibilities once one awakens to the idea that Europe is, yes, exciting for wildlife. For those who want their holidays organised, key details of operators and accommodation are sprinkled throughout the book. The end pages include in addition, some useful advertisements from country specialists.