Merlin Unwin Books – The Bell Bookshop https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk Henley-on-Thames Fri, 19 Jun 2026 13:17:50 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9 https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/cropped-Bell-Background-Blue-32x32.png Merlin Unwin Books – The Bell Bookshop https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk 32 32 One Day a Thousand Songs https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/one-day-a-thousand-songs/ Wed, 06 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/one-day-a-thousand-songs/ On 6 May, from dawn to nightfall, John Miller recorded every bird he sees in his garden: their songs, behaviour, nests, battles, triumphs, survival techniques, backstory. The results are remarkable, inspiring and informative. If we garden for insects, we will have abundant wildlife, he writes.

]]> On 6 May last year, just before the first light of day,  a robin sang the opening notes of the dawn chorus in John Miller’s Wiltshire garden at precisely 4.35am.

For the rest of that day, until a tawny owl passed over at 9.23pm, each bird is briefly brought to life with John’s observations and fascinating backstories: their nests, their eggs, their battles, their triumphs.

Sound recordist Alex Byng and photographer David White were with John throughout this red-letter day – which anyone can replicate in their own garden, using the Merlin bird ID app to help identify bird songs and confirm sightings. 

Includes practical succinct advice on creating an insect-friendly garden, the bedrock of successful wildlife conservation.

]]> A String of Pearls https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/a-string-of-pearls/ Thu, 22 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/a-string-of-pearls/ Extracts inspired by the Lake District countryside from famous poets such as Wordsworth and Ian McEwan to modern thriller writers such as Reginald Hill and Val McDermid - each matched with a stunning specially-commissioned photograph.

]]> From famous poets such as Wordsworth and Ian McEwan to modern thriller writers such as Reginald Hill and Val McDermid, the awe-inspiring Fells, crashing waterfalls and dramatic still waters of the Lake District have inspired writers for centuries.

In this illustrated anthology, Margaret Wilson has selected the best Lake District literary extracts, each of which photographer Helen Shaw has paired with a stunning local landscape.

]]> Wild flowers of Britain https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/wild-flowers-of-britain/ Thu, 01 Sep 2016 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/wild-flowers-of-britain/ Over a period of 45 years, botanist Margaret Wilson painted and individually labelled over a thousand British and Irish wild flowers, depicted together in the months they appear. Previously unpublished, this little book is as informative as it is beautiful.

]]> Margaret Erskine Wilson, late President of Kendal Natural History Society, was a keen amateur botanist and water-colourist. In 1999, she donated to the Society 150 sheets of watercolour paintings representing a thousand British and Irish plants in flower and in fruit, painted in situ over many years and in various places.

At the time she donated the paintings to Kendal Natural History Society, she wrote:

Begun in 1943/4 for a friend who said, ‘I might learn the names of flowers if you drew them for me, in the months they’re in flower’!

The result is this beautiful, previously-unpublished little book of all her accurate and informative illustrations, painted over a period of 45 years.

This book today still serves Margaret’s original purpose in that it is indeed an attractive way to learn the names of our delicate and beautiful wild flowers

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