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Bird Life

The Extraordinary World of Ordinary Birds

Len Howard

$32.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English
Miscellaneous
18 August 2026
An enchanting and fascinating work of classic nature writing about Britain's ordinary garden birds, told by the brilliant, unconventional woman who opened her doors to them.

Enchanting and fascinating, discover the extraordinary world of Britain's ordinary garden birds, related.

In the late 1930s, Len Howard packed up her life in London, bought a plot of land in Sussex and built herself a little house there. This was to be Bird Cottage, a place where the doors of the house were open to the birds of the garden - great tits, blue tits, robins, blackbirds, willow warblers and many others. Len lived the rest of her life alongside her bird neighbours, with some sleeping in her bedroom and many flitting in and out all day long.

This edition contains the two books she wrote about the birds, Birds as Individuals and Living with Birds. They are studies not just of bird behaviour but of their character, intelligence, singing voices, likes and dislikes. Enchanting, life-enriching, revelatory and completely original, this is a gorgeous evocation of a life lived in intimate contact with nature and a book about birds unlike any other.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY STEPHEN MOSS

CONTAINS BIRDS AS INDIVIDUALS AND LIVING WITH BIRDS

Praise for Birds as Individuals

'A unique, engaging and elegant insight into the lives of our precious and magical songbirds' Arthur Parkinson

'It impressed and moved me very much' Steven Lovatt, author of Birdsong in a Time of Silence
By:  
Imprint:   Miscellaneous
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Edition:   Combined volume
Dimensions:   Height: 197mm,  Width: 127mm,  Spine: 29mm
Weight:   348g
ISBN:   9781784879365
ISBN 10:   1784879363
Pages:   416
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming

Len Howard (1894-1973) was a British naturalist and musician best known for her studies of birds, published as Birds as Individuals (1952) and Living with Birds (1956). In her early life, Howard pursued a career in music in London, giving music lessons, organising concerts for the children of the poor and playing the viola professionally in an orchestra under Malcolm Sargent. In 1938, she purchased a plot of land outside the village of Ditchling, Sussex, and built the house she called Bird Cottage. There she developed an intimate and unusual relationship with the wild birds in the area, providing food (including her own war rations), chasing away predators, tending to damaged nests, and allowing the birds to fly and roost throughout her home. Her musical training gave her a unique insight into the diverse character of birdsong. Howard died at Bird Cottage in 1973.

Reviews for Bird Life: The Extraordinary World of Ordinary Birds

Original and detailed... The book is full of original observations and is a valuable addition to bird behaviour * Guardian * Miss Howard's book of bird observation is the most remarkable I have ever read * Spectator * An unforgettable contribution to ornithological literature * Sphere * Howard seems to have stood on the brink of communication with a wild bird, something till now hardly conceivable...awe-inspiring * Observer *


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