I’m delighted to be taking part in the upcoming “Blog Tour” to celebrate the launch of the brand new bird field guide the Crossley ID Guide Britain & Ireland. I’ll be reviewing a copy of the guide in the Book Review section of the site in due course… but the blog tour is something a bit different.

Basically the publisher, Princeton University Press, has teamed up with what they describe as a “stellar group of bloggers” (and who am I to argue 😉 ) to help promote the book’s launch. What happens is that a different wildlife blogger posts a bird or birding related post every day between next Monday 04 November, through to Friday 15 November, each linking to the previous and the next entry on the tour, and using plates from the Crossley ID Guide to help illustrate the post.

In essence this helps readers to find lots of great wildlife related content on a variety of different blogs and websites across the interweb… always a good thing… as well as spreading the word about the new book.

You’ll find a full schedule for the blog tour over on the Princeton University Press website. You’ll see Ireland’s Wildlife is down for the Monday 11 November slot, and I’ll be covering how you can learn more about your garden birds and help conservation at the same time by taking part in the annual Birdwatch Ireland Garden Bird Survey.

The Crossley ID Guide Britain and Ireland is the latest in a series of bird guides from photographer Richard Crossley that shows all of the regularly seen birds in Britain and Ireland as you’re likely to encounter them in the field. It’s described by the publishers as “the most user-friendly guide to the birds of Britain and Ireland” and is aimed at beginner and intermediate level birders. The text is written by Dominic Couzens, one of Britain’s best known nature writers and a regular contributor to BBC Wildlife Magazine and Bird Watching.

We’ll leave a review of the book to… well, to the book review. Meanwhile if you fancy winning a copy as part of the blog tour promotion the publisher has five to give away… but you’ll have to wait for the tour to kick off on Monday to enter.