Robins and Chats
Peter Clement and Chris Rose
Birdlife's Spoon-billed Sandpiper campaign
The robins and chats include everyone’s favourite birds, from the familiar perky Stonechat to sought-after vagrants such as Siberian Rubythroat, dream foreign trip birds such as Güldenstadt’s Redstart and (for most of us) near-unattainable species such as Blackthroat.
All these and many more (175 in total) are the subject of this new volume in the Helm Identification Guides series. The format is by now familiar. After some brief introductory sections (including a useful chapter on higher level chat systematics by Per Alström) come a series of plates and then the meat of the book, the detailed species accounts. These cover nomenclature, field identification, similar species, voice, habitat, behaviour, breeding, status and distribution, movements, description, geographical variation, moult, measurements and taxonomy. In short, this is the full ‘handbook’ treatment and about as comprehensive as you are going to get. Despite the small font size and compressed writing style, the book still runs to nearly 700 pages - a weighty tome indeed.
The texts are of course hugely detailed and, just as importantly, they are fully referenced, the bibliography alone running to 22 pages. They clearly reflect an enormous commitment to the study of these birds in the field, the library and the museum. In a detailed read of a few carefully chosen species I noticed only one small error. The stejnegeri Siberian Stonechat recorded at Portland in 2013 is described as having “occurred two days later over 600km away on Texel” whereas the bird had of course already been in the Netherlands prior to its discovery in Dorset.
The book’s approach to taxonomy and nomenclature will doubtless be of interest to many, and it is worth pointing out that the author does not slavishly follow the BOU 8th Checklist for species on the British List. Most notably, Common Stonechat is retained as a single highly variable species, albeit with three distinct groupings corresponding to the now commonly-split European, Siberian and African Stonechats. The relationships between all the members of this group have not yet been resolved and this ‘conservative’ approach may be a sensible holding position. Similarly, the sometimes-proposed split of Tenerife Robin is not recognised. Conversely, the treatment of some subspecies is a little more ‘progressive’, for example the full recognition (as azuricollis) given to the often fully blue-throated Bluethroats of the Spanish mountains. As for nomenclature, the text is up to date, recognising for example the Bluethroats of Turkey and the Caucasus as luristanica (formerly magna) and accepting the recently-proposed relabelling of variegatus and armenicus Siberian Stonechats as hemprichii and variegatus respectively.
Published: Oct 2015
Helm
Hardback: Pages: 688
ISBN: 9780713639636
RRP: £59.99
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Embedded within all the text sections are clear, good-sized maps showing breeding, migrant and winter ranges and, to finish each species account, a section of photographs. The number of images is, however, relatively small, with many species being portrayed with just a single picture. Even the hugely variable Common Stonechat complex warrants just eleven images. Nevertheless those selected are excellent, with particularly eye-catching photographs of such desirable birds as Hodgson’s Bush Chat, Grandala and Przevalski’s Redstart.
The visual impact of the book relies on the 62 plates by Chris Rose. These are all conventional side-on field guide-type images arranged in typical field guide format but they are beautifully executed, accurate and well composed on the page. They convey well the perky, attentive and endearing nature of these species - the very reason why they are so universally popular. The cover is particularly stunning, featuring a full ‘wraparound’ mountain (presumably Turkish) landscape with a singing luristanica Bluethroat on the front and a White-throated Robin (and fleeing Wheatear) on the back.
This book has been a massive project many years in the making. It is a tribute to both its author and artist that not only has it finally seen the light of day but that it is also such a fine product. It may not be cheap but it is a hugely detailed and comprehensive treatment of one of our most-loved groups of birds. It will be the standard reference on these species for years to come.
Andy Stoddart
06 October 2015
