WILDGuides was created in 2000 as a non-profit making publishing organisation with a commitment to supporting wildlife conservation. In 2003, WILDGuides teamed up with English Nature (now Natural England), the Government agency that champions the conservation of wildlife throughout England. Together, we produced a series of simple-to-use yet definitive photographic guides on Butterflies, Dragonflies, Orchids and Arable Plants, the profits from which support a range of conservation charities.
Our first title, Birds, Mammals & Reptiles of the Galápagos Islands was published in August 2000 in partnership with Pica Press (now A&C Black). WILDGuides was pleased to support the Galápagos Conservation Trust by donating a portion of our share of the profit. Our second title, Whales and Dolphins of the European Atlantic was published in June 2001 with the generous support of P&O Portsmouth. Money from sales benefits both the Whale & Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) and Organisation Cetacea (ORCA). Our third title, Britain's Butterflies was published in July 2002, supported by Leica Camera Ltd and with Butterfly Conservation as the beneficiary.
In 2003 WILDGuides began to work in partnership with English Nature (now Natural England), producing the first title in a series of joint publications. Arable Plants - a field guide, was launched at Kew Botanical Gardens in July 2003 and has since received widespread acclaim as the only guide available on the group of plants showing the steepest decline of the British flora over the last 25 years. In order for the information contained within the book to be available to the widest possible audience, a free web version was also created and can be viewed at www.arableplants.fieldguide.co.uk
Our expansion continued in 2004, assisted greatly by the support of English Nature and motivated by the feedback that we have received from the conservation charities we support and the readers of our books. In summer 2004 we published a further two titles in partnership with English Nature. Britain's Dragonflies, which supports the work of the British Dragonfly Society, and Britain's Orchids, which supports The Wildlife Trusts. Finally, in the autumn we published Red Kite Country - a celebration of the wildlife and landscape of Mid Wales, and the first book in our WILDeARTh series.
During 2005 and 2006, we continued producing books on overseas locations, with A Visitor's Guide to South Georgia being the first of its kind for that region, whilst also printing a second edition of A Visitor's Guide to the Falkland Islands, which had already proven a valuable aid to travellers to this remote and distinctive part of the world. In pursuance of our continuing support for Falkland Island conservation, we also published Birds and Mammals of the Falkland Islands which chronicles in greater detail the wildife to be found there. More recently Wildlife of the Seychelles became another essential companion for visitors to these islands, with contributions going towards the work of Island Conservation Society and Nature Protection Trust. Yet another 'first' for the book world produced by WILDGuides has been Below Freezing, the first dive guide for the seventh continent of Antarctica.
But we have not been ignoring the UK, with a beautiful guide book to the top butterfly sites in UK, Discover Butterflies, published in the autumn of 2006. Hot on its heels was a book which examines the changes which have occurred in Britain's rural settings over the last one hundred years, Birds in a Village - A Century On.
The year 2007 saw production of Whales and Dolphins of the North American Pacific, designed to serve the needs of the huge number of cetacean watchers along this important coast. One new title in 2007 might imply a quiet year, but work was going on apace for another series of titles due in 2008. First we had created a 2nd edition of Below Freezing, which had already run out. Meanwhile, an impressive international team has completed Endemic Plants of the Altai Mountain Region, yet another 'first' for us, as botanical importance of this region had not been dealt with in print previously. Completed in February 2008, it has already attracted a lot of interest from eco-tourist organisations and botanists from around the world.
In the meantime we are finalizing Britain's Bees and Britain's Reptiles to expand our home series of UK wildlife titles. Also, with stock of Britain's Butterflies and Britain's Dragonflies fast running out, we have embarked on 2nd editions of these two titles.
In continuation of our interests on the botanical front, work is also underway with Arable Bryophytes Field Guide and the first of our 'where to find plants' books with Botanical Hotspots - New Forest. Yet another cetacean book is in the making and additional work during 2008 should see our major publication, Nightjars of the World reach a conclusion.
The beginning of 2008 also heralded a working arrangement being reached with the well-known Dutch publishing house, Crossbill Guides Foundation. Sharing our ethical aims for the support of conservation through the proceeds of sales, Crossbill has been producing visitor's guides to some of the most important natural history sites across Europe and future titles will be produced as a joint venture with ourselves, WILDGuides acting as sole UK distributor for these books whilst also creating input for additions to the list covering locations in the UK.
We very much look forward to working with Dirk Hilbers and his team to continue encouraging travellers to these inspirational locations to become familiar with the fascinating habitats and wildlife that thrive there.
At WILDGuides we are proud of our dual achievements in producing field guides which will appeal to the widest possible section of the general public, whilst financially supporting worthy causes linked to the species / habitats described in our publications. To date, we have contributed over £10,000 to conservation charities in Britain and around the world. In the coming years we intend to better our achievements by producing additional field guides to wildlife in Britain and abroad, raising awareness and supporting conservation initiatives in the process. We would like to thank all of our authors, partners, sponsors and, most importantly, the people who buy our books, for helping us to achieve these objectives.
We are always pleased to hear from prospective authors with title ideas. Whilst WILDGuides is principally a publishing house, we do offer both in-house and, through our associates, a graphic and website design service. We also hold an extensive photographic library of wildlife images which are available for publication. Examples of our work, and further details of our services can be published on request.
Email: sales@wildguides.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0)1628 529297
Fax: +44 (0)1628 525314
Address for Correspondence:
WILDGuides Ltd.
PO Box 680
Maidenhead
Berkshire
SL6 9ST
