Lapwings, Loons and Lousy Jacks

• Utgivningsdatum: 2016-08-15
• Mått: 156 x 234 x 33 mm
• Vikt: 700 g
• Format: Inbunden
• Språk: Engelska
• Antal sidor: 303
• Förlag: Pelagic Publishing
• ISBN: 9781784270926

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Ray Reedman combines his love of birds and travel with a deep understanding of language and history. As a retired Senior Master of a successful independent school Ray rekindled a life-long love of the natural world by teaching courses on ornithology and travelling the world to watch birds.

It’s difficult for me to assess this book as I am a complete bird name nut. I’ve spent a big chunk of my spare time over more than a decade looking at the people whose names appear in either the common or scientific names of vertebrates in general and birds in particular. Along the way I’ve been fascinated by local names, and historical changes much of which this excellent volume covers. There must be something in the human psyche that drives our apparent need for conformity and for several centuries ‘authorities’ have sought to impose uniformity. These days it’s the job of the IOC to regularise common names across continents so that Brits, yanks, kiwis et al can all recognise what species is being talked about. Personally I can’t see the point as Linnaeus and others invented a system we all use of scientific names so whether I call a bird a yaffle or a green woodpecker makes no odds so long as I use the scientific name everyone can read off the same hymn sheet. I think it’s a shame that national names are under attack and that regional names are losing out to the standard common names in fieldguides. Having said that birders, if not ornithologists are stubborn fellows likely to go on calling a Great Skua a bonxie or even inventing their own names like spawk for Sparrowhawk or barwit for bar-tailed godwit. The richness of names is something I celebrate along with the author. Moreover, his depth of research has taught me things I didn’t know and I thank him for it. If I have to delve deep for a criticism it would be that once out of this country the areas covered are patchy depending on the author’s experience. If I were an American, Aussie or South African I might take up the challenge to give more depth to the common names used there and the rest of the English speaking world too. But, that is a minor issue and the bulk of this volume is full of fascination and fact that a great many birders will learn from and love.

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