Birdwatching With Your Eyes Closed

First Winter 1 Muzak to my ears 3 Songs of life and death 5 Robin 8 Double figures 12 A place of my own 16 Wren 19 Talking birds 22 Pee-oo! 26 How to see round corners 28 Dunnock 31 Time and space 33 Birdsong to save your life 37 Long-tailed tit 40 First Spring 45 How to make spring last longer 47 Great tit 50 Keeping it simple 52 Song thrush 54 Get a load of that repertoire 58 Chaffinch 62 Saying your own name 64 Blue tit 67 Great spotted woodpecker 69 How we stole the music 72 Blackbird 76 When the singing began 80 Greenfinch 84 How I invented music 86 Skylark 89 A breath of fresh air 92 Blithe spirit 94 Chiffchaff 99 Crisis relocation 102 Cuckoo 106 Last cuckoo? 109 Swallow 111 Vertebrate chauvinism 114 Pigeons 117 Why warblers 122 Blackcap 126 Demise of the willow wren 129 Willow warbler 133 First Year Birdlistening 137 Turn on, tune in 139 Seagulls 142 Herring gull 144 Swift 147 And now your free gift 150 Seaside waders 154 Hello 158 Crows 161 Bleeding obvious 165 Two more crows 169 World Cup birding 172 Freshwater birds 175 But does it really count? 178 Geese 183 Song of the butterfly 186 Birds of prey 188 Silence 191 Owls 195 Winter thrushes 199 Second Spring 203 Birds and Venice 205 Mistle thrush 209 Starling 212 Learning curve 215 Mozart's starling 218 Goldcrest 221 Green woodpecker 223 Portrait of the artist 225 Goldfinch 231 Yellowhammer 234 The rhythmician 236 Nuthatch 239 Coal tit 241 Rhythm section 243 Pied wagtail 246 Meadow pipit 248 Peasant and phartridge 250 Be happy! 252 House martin 254 Garden warbler 256 Whitethroat 258 Nightingale 260 Heartache 265 Sweet music 270

Simon Barnes is the multi-award-winning chief sportswriter for the Times. He is also a novelist, nature writer and horseman, and the author of a dozen books, including the bestselling How to be a Bad Birdwatcher and The Meaning of Sport (Short Books). He lives in Suffolk with his family.

"Barnes is a unique voice, always willing to challenge conventional wisdom and look for deeper meanings..." Sunday Telegraph Most of us can see, but not everyone looks. Most of us can hear, but not everyone listens. This book will help you do both. And, above all, it will tell you how to enjoy. --Bill Oddie "A gem... All day, I've been fighting the urge to drop everything so I can devour this eloquent book in one siting... exquisite" --The Guardian "He'll tune your ears to winter's lonely voices - robins, wrens, long-tailed tits - before preparing you for the exultant sounds of spring" --The Times "Become a bird listener, says Barnes, and tune in to the special podcast of airborne song that comes free with this book, and you will better understand the lives of birds and identify the wild notes that first inspired human music. A delight." -- Iain Finlayson, Saga