WOODS, R.W. & WOODS, A. Birds and Mammals of the Falkland Islands. 144 pages, 43 colour plates (over 100 photographs by Alan Henry), endpaper maps. Old Basing, Hampshire, UK: WILDGuides, 2006. Hardback, £17.95 (including UK p. & p.) from WILDGuides Ltd, PO Box 680, Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6 9ST (sales@wildguides.co.uk), ISBN 1-903657-10-5. I well remember my first visit to the Falkland Islands, which lie deep in the South Atlantic and east of Patagonia, in 1970, when birds had to be identified from poorly illustrated South American guides. Slowly, however, the Islands became part of the birding map, initially through the dedicated work of two people in particular, Ian Strange and Robin Woods. In the past two decades, the military presence and an influx of civilians and tourists have increased the number of both resident and visiting birders. Coupled with the establishment of a small cadre of very active and highly committed staff at Falklands Conservation, this has rapidly led to a much-improved knowledge of the bird life. The key publications hitherto have been Ian Strange's Field guide to the wildlife of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia (1992), the more comprehensive Guide to birds of the Falkland Islands (R. Woods, 1988), and the very important Atlas of breeding birds (R.W. and A. Woods, 1997). More recent additions have been A. Jaramillo's Field guide to the birds of Chile (2003), and A complete guide to Antarctic wildlife by H. Shirihai (2002).
The latest arrival on the scene opens with a brief introduction to geography, climate and vegetation, and comments on the impact of humans and recent conservation initiatives. This is followed by a succinct summary of the status of the avifauna, which comprises a checklist, together with a brief summary of each of the families, incorporating a series of small tables for seven broader groups (seabirds, larger landbirds, etc.). Each table lists the total number of species, their status, and also the number of endemic species or subspecies. The species accounts comprise a well-written descriptive text, a box giving status details, and at least one photograph. I like the way Alan Henry has captured the particular character of some Falkland birds such as the Falkland Pipit Anthus correndera grayi and Cobb's Wren Troglodytes cobbi, and shown the wide range of plumages for Variable Hawk Buteo polyosoma, so confusing to many visitors. The quality of image for some of the more elusive species is not as good, although the field character of Grey-backed Storm Petrel Garrodia nereis is caught beautifully, despite the poor focus. Personally, I believe that for difficult groups such as prions Pachyptila ssp. or shorebirds, there is no substitute for a good painting, and only the bigger (and hence more expensive) guides can provide both paintings and photographs. The book ends with a small but impressive section on mammals. In summary, this is a very nice little book, which is ideal for visitors to the Falkland Islands and deserves to do well. It effectively replaces the earlier field guides, though those who prefer paintings may still opt for Strange (1992), and birders who want complete coverage of all plumages and a wider geographical remit will probably prefer Shirihai (hardly a field guide).

This is a typical WILDGuides guide: field guide-sized, with a wipe-clean hard cover and based around attractive digital montage, full-page photographic plates. An introduction describes the habitats and climate etc, and then a status-coded complete bird checklist precedes the bulk of the book: the photographic bird field guide, where the detailed texts face the large-format photographs. The mammals section is similar, and includes good photographs of the backs of numerous scarce cetacean species but, understandably due to the number of species, runs to fewer than 20 pages.