NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

Even though I've got a pile of books waiting to be read, I couldn't resist re-reading Chris Gooddie's excellent ' The Jewel Hunter' , his account of seeing all of the worlds pitta species in a single calendar year - I bet he wept when Red-bellied Pitta was subsequently split into 16 species! Anyhow, a world birder I may not be, but I have seen a few of these marvellous birds and reading about Chris's exploits once more has taken me back to Malaysia in 1994... Hooded Pitta Our first full day in Taman Negara. Janice Hollingworth and I were walking back down from the lower slopes of Bukit Teresek (her husband Mark had gone back to our chalet), when she alerted me to a bird that was standing, motionless, on a fallen tree trunk that was lying in a dip beneath us. Even though it was in the gloom the bird shone out - a splendid Hooded Pitta. It stayed in place for just five seconds before it disappeared before our very eyes. It was if it had just vanished into thin ...

No, I haven't been spending Christmas in Asia and burning up those gems of the rainforest, the pittas. But a man that spent a year searching for every one of these beauties has enlivened my Christmas with his tales of the quest. 'The Jewel Hunter' by Chris Gooddie is a book that is as much a rare thing as the birds that it is partly about - a well-written account of the modern birder in action. Chris packed in a successful career whilst in his mid-forties to try and see every species of pitta in a calendar year. As someone who dreams of making similar grand plans (but never will) and who loves pittas (I have actually seen three species - Hooded, Banded, Blue-winged) and heard a further one (Mangrove), this book appeals to me on many levels. The writing style is one that accepts that most of the readers will be birders but never the less makes it accessible to those who are not. Part travel book, part social commentary, part natural history documentation, all intelligently ...