Arrivals and Rivals - A Birding Oddity: A Year of Competitive Twitching [Paperback]

... makes great bedside reading. An addictive and highly enjoyable book. --Stuart Winter, Birdwatching, 2005

This first edition is now out of print and has been superceded by a second revised edition (Arrivals and Rivals - A duel for the winning bird, ISBN-13: 978-0954334796) with a new strap line, along with a stunning new 'Firebird' cover, more colour photos and an extra chapter on how to prepare for such fantastic, madcap adventures. Adrian Riley provides with his book entertaining and highly illuminating insights into the obsessions and passions when he set out to become the nationally recognised 'Birder of the Year'. Here is a classic tale, set amidst the beautiful British countryside, involving a rivalry so strong that all else is forgotten - save the birds and the desire to see them, despite the many costs both mentally and physically.

Adrian Riley was born in Birmingham, grew up in Shropshire, and spent much of his working life at Rothamsted, the agricultural research station in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, where he pursued a professional career in entomology. On retiring early in 2000, he turned his energies to ornithology, more especially birding. In 2002, he won the Birder of the Year award, having recorded some 380 species that year. Whilst he is the author of several books and other articles on insects, this is his first book on birds.