A Guide To British Garden Birds: And Their Songs

I originally heard this as a BBC series on Radio 4 and have subsequently bought it as a download for my IPOD but I'm sure the CD is just as good. It is gentle chat between the two presenters as they listen to bird song in a garden. Really, really helpful for the novice bird watcher, with great tips about how to identify and remember bird song (for instance, "teacher, teacher" as the call of the great tit - that one will stick with me forever). I would definitely recommend this very highly for anyone starting out, together with Simon Barnes CD of his book, "A Bad Birdwatcher's Companion"

This is a great CD. We listen to it in the car and you can hear it clearly, the songs are clear of the one bird being described, the descrptions are not over the top of the song but preceed them and give interesting additional information. This has replaced more expensice CDs we bought and is much superior. Although I am not musical I have learnt new bird songs, and it has given much extra pleasure as my wife & I now listen when we are out and try and identify and then spot the birds.

Very good for a learner like me. I can identify the more common birds, but only a few by their song, this will improve that.The entire CD is narrated. Filled with interesting facts and usefull info about each of the birds, with handy little tips to recognise the bird calls.. (eg teacher teacher teacher - great tit).It covers 22 common garden birds. Over 5 BBC Radio 4 programmes. The programmes are seemlessly connectedIt is definatly good enough for repeated listens. For me it will be essential for memorising the details and of course to familiarise myslef with the bird calls. Some people may find they're style a bit waffley.If you're expecting straight, succinct run through of the birds of britain.. eg - Saying the name then playing the bird call immediatly - this is not the CD for you. This CD is much more conversational and filled out with info.The big negative- -It would have been good to have a track listing on the CD sleeve. It does give an overview of the 5 programmes, but the CD is divided in to 22 tracks, an index of these tracks would clearly be very useful for reference purposes. When I converted the CD to MP3 a track listing was found though... but strangely the track names are wrong. So when I click greenfinch, I get the coal tit bit.So - A very good commentary, but the big track listing mistake makes it more difficult than necessary to use as a reference tool, which is what I bought it for.

I have three boys aged three to eight and we are all learning the bird songs with this fabulous CD. One review mentioned they had a problem transferring the track titles in the correct order from CD to IPOD but I had no problems at all . The presenters are full of quirky and humorous tips to help you remember and identify different garden birds and their songs. I have put the rest of the CD's in this series on my wish list !

I have been gardening for wildlife for many years and recognize and understand most of the creatures in my garden - but I am always frustrated by my inability to differentiate bird song. This is a good basic guide to the birdsong most likely to be heard in a reasonably diverse British country garden - nothing very rare or unusual but a good starter, and pleasantly soothing to listen to while getting on with other things

love it- as well as bird song ident. for english country gardens- lovely stories from the 2 narrators.

This is a really good guide for the bird watching beginner but is also a good CD just to listen to. I like the conversation between the presenters with snippets of information about each bird. Great for just putting on the CD player and having the birds in your room!

An excellent guide to better knowledge and understanding of our daily visitors to our gardens, our wonderful and so enjoyable British birds, their habits and song. Jeff Williams.