Modern Express News (reporter Zheng Wenjing) Yilin Publishing House launched a new book "Birdsong Season: The Year of the British Birds". This is a home bird watching guide that can be scanned and listened to birdsong, introducing 247 species of birds in a beautiful and flexible language like prose, of which 200 species are distributed in China.
Author Brett Westwood and Stephen Moss are well-known British naturalist authors, BBC natural history program producers and veteran bird watchers who wrote scripts for the BBC's high-quality radio show Tweet of the Day, which is carefully written on the framework of the show.
In order of 12 months of the year, the book introduces 247 species of birds that are closely related to the four seasons with elegant and flexible brushstrokes, interspersed with folklore, poetry, and art, showing the important role that birds play in human culture. It encourages us to listen to the songs of the four seasons in our busy lives and rebuild our connection to nature. The author arranges May at the beginning and ends with April of the following year, and devotes a brief introduction to about 20 species of birds in each month. The reason why the whole book is laid out in this way is because May is the season for birds in the northern hemisphere to courtship and brooding, while April is the month when winter migratory birds migrate north and summer migratory birds return, thus forming a complete cycle, reflecting the flow of seasons and the cycle of life.
The UK is the birthplace of bird watching, and two-thirds of the population feeds birds in their gardens, and people have a close connection with birds. Although this book is a description of Britain's representative birds, about 200 species of birds in the book are also distributed in China, so it is also of great reference value for domestic readers.
The first bird introduced in the book is the "cuckoo" we are familiar with- the big cuckoo, and the house swallows, sparrows, and egrets mentioned in the book are common birds in the streets and alleys. In addition, the book also introduces birds such as nightingales (i.e., Xinjiang songbirds), robins (i.e., Eurasian plovers), and larks, which often appear in literary works, and cites related poems, which can be called the "home-based bird watching guide" for nature lovers and literature lovers.
It is worth mentioning that in order to enhance the understanding of domestic readers about each type of bird, the translated forest version of "Bird Song Season" has specially prepared a pleasing supporting audio-visual material. At the beginning of each chapter, a QR code is printed, and readers can scan the code to view the scientific names, photos, and distribution of birds in China in the month, and listen to representative birdsong and even related musical works.
The book "Birdsong Season" was co-translated by Dr. Zhu Lei, Wang Qi and Wang Hui, who, as naturalists and senior birdwatchers, ensured the scientificity and accuracy of the translation, and the beautiful and vivid translation also restored the author's style.
It is reported that the "Skyline" series of books belonging to the Translation Forest Publishing House of "Birds Singing Season: The Year of birds in the United Kingdom" also includes "Handbook of Cloud Collectors", "Looking into the Depths of the Starry Sky", "The Talent of Birds", "The Code of Water" and other popular science works that are well received by readers and experts, and will soon launch "The Journey of Finding Bees".