'The Migrant Waders' - day of the launch

This is the day on which The Migrant Waders will be launched in Colchester.

This beautiful book is lavishly and exquisitely illustrated by designer Ella Johnston. You can see some of her drawings on the accompanying poster here in the Dunlin Press shop. The book, beautifully produced and edited by MW Bewick and Ella Johnston of Dunlin Press, is 'a collection of illustration, evocative prose, poetry and reportage that follows the migration routes of wading and shore birds from the high arctic to the tropics.'

One of the contributors, Samantha Franks, is a Research Ecologist with the BTO. Martin Harper is the Conservation Director of the RSPB.

My Bittern poem has been included; and in a serendipitous way, I see the RSPB have just posted a piece by Rachael Murray about this elusive bird, known more often by sound than sighting. The Bittern, as I recall, was one of the threatened species to feature in the RSPB 'Conservation' board game that we used to play in the mid 1970s. I saw my first Bittern some thirty years later at Minsmere, and have since seen - and heard - a few more on the reserve.