Stephen Moss

In eleven years time, a million members of an alien race will arrive at Earth. Years before they enter orbit, their approach will be announced by the flare of a thousand flames in the sky, their ships' huge engines burning hard to slow them from the vast speeds needed to cross interstellar space. These foreboding lights will shine in our night sky like new stars, getting ever brighter until they outshine even the sun, casting ominous shadows and banishing the night until they suddenly blink out. Their technology is vastly superior to ours, and they know they cannot possibly lose the coming conflict. But they, like us, have found no answer to the destructive force of the atom, and they have no intention of facing the onslaught of our primitive nuclear arsenal, or the devastation it would wreak on the planet they crave. So they have flung out an advanced party in front of them, hidden within one of the countless asteroids randomly roaming the void. They do not want us, they want our planet. Their Agents are arriving. "Fear the Sky is a brutal and powerful rendering of what would really happen if a race capable of interstellar travel set its sights on taking our planet from us. Book 1 in The Fear Saga sees very human protagonists pitted against an interesting and three-dimensional alien culture. It is as enjoyable as it is frightening." Reviewer - Chronicles Science Fiction Fantasy Community "Sometimes even a superior foe is worth fighting. Fear the Sky is an explosive story filled with awesome tech: from the best of today's military machines to the worst of tomorrow's death dealers." Reviewer - SyFy

Fear the Sky

While alien Agents stalk the earth, a team of exhausted scientists and military outcasts struggle to fight them amongst a planet on the brink. The brink of plague, the brink of war, and the brink of an invasion larger than they can possibly imagine.But they have allies. Two of the alien Agents have forsaken their homes, their families, their very species to stop the greatest act of genocide any of them has ever known. John and Shahim have great abilities. They carry with them the knowledge we need to save humanity and take us into a new and marvelous age.But Lana and the remaining enemy Agents are far from defeated. As they begin to reap havoc among the diseased and bereft, Neal, Ayala, and Barrett must find a way to achieve the impossible, by fair means or foul they must unite the world's disparate nations. And they must do so quickly.For the Armada is fast approaching, and behind the great fires of their decelerating engines, the huge fleet is readying itself for war.

Fear the Survivors

Ten Birds That Changed the World

The Life of Britain's Favourite Bird

Robin

Swallow and starling, puffin and peregrine, blue tit and blackcap. We use these names so often that few of us ever pause to wonder about their origins. What do they mean? Where did they come from? And who created them? The words we use to name birds are some of the most lyrical and evocative in the English language. They also tell incredible stories: of epic expeditions, fierce battles between rival ornithologists, momentous historical events and touching romantic gestures. Through fascinating encounters with birds, and the rich cast of characters who came up with their names, in Mrs Moreau's Warbler Stephen Moss takes us on a remarkable journey through time. From when humans and birds first shared the earth to our fraught present-day coexistence, Moss shows how these names reveal as much about ourselves and our relationship with the natural world as about the creatures they describe.

How Birds Got Their Names

Mrs Moreau's Warbler

Swan

A Biography

Wren

Naturalist Stephen Moss digs beneath the surface of some of our most popular Christmas carols in an ornithological celebration of the Festive Season. Using the structure of the carol as a jumping off, he explores the palce of twelve fascinating British birds in our, history, culture and landscape. Some of the birds are obvious, there's the swan and of course the partridge. Other chapters are loose interpretation of a verse- for drummers drumming he delves into the woodpecker's distinctive drumming tap. Woodpeckers, he explains, have special padded skulls to mitigate against using its head like hammer drills. They carefully select dead trees for the most hollow, sonorous sound, and in Florida a space mission was once delayed because woodpeckers had pecked holes in the outer surface of the space shuttle. With brilliant anecdotes and insights, Stephen Moss weaves history, culture, bird behaviour and folklore into a compelling narrative for each species, tracing its fortunes over the past two centuries.

The Twelve Birds of Christmas

Family isn't just important. It's everything. From lions hunting as a pride to penguins huddling together to keep from freezing in the bitter Antarctic winter, many animals are dependent on complex social relationships for their survival. Powerful dynasties lay claim to vast swathes of territory, fighting off rivals and securing their hunting grounds for generations to come. Dynasty offers an immersive insight into the shifting hierarchies of animal families. Each chapter follows a different dynasty, from the Marsh Lions of the Masai Mara to rival packs of African hunting dogs, from a tiger protecting her newborn cubs to a chimpanzee troop and the penguin colonies of the Antarctic. Alongside tender moments when bonds are strengthened through grooming and play, the book charts the rivalries that tip the balance of power, when family members turn against each other and younger animals grow strong enough to challenge for control. With over 200 stunning photographs and insights from the crew of the BBC series, Dynastyreveals in astonishing detail the intricate social lives of our planet's most fascinating animals.

The Rise and Fall of Animal Families

Dynasties

A Somerset Spring

Skylarks with Rosie

Can Britain make room for wildlife? Stephen Moss believes it can. The newspaper headlines tell us that Britain's wildlife is in trouble. Wild creatures that have lived here for thousands of years are disappearing, because of pollution and persecution, competition with alien species, changing farming and forestry practices, and climate change. It's not just rare creatures such as the Scottish wildcat or the red squirrel that are vanishing. Hares and hedgehogs, skylarks and water voles, even the humble house sparrow, are in freefall. But there is also good news. In Newcastle, otters have returned to the river Tyne and red kites are flying over the Metro centre; in Devon, there are beavers on the River Otter; and peregrines - the fastest living creature on the planet - have taken up residence in the heart of London. Elsewhere in the British countryside things are changing too. What were once nature-free zones are being 'rewilded'; giving our wild creatures the space they need - not just to survive, but also to thrive. Stephen Moss has travelled the length and breadth of the UK, from the remote archipelago of St Kilda to our inner cities, to witness at first hand how our wild creatures are faring, and offers us this complex, heartfelt and often unexpected response.

Bringing Back Britain's Wildlife

Wild Kingdom

Brett Westwood

25 Extraordinary Species That Have Changed Our World

Natural Histories

Go pishing for birds; become a bat detective; take a city safari; find snakes and lizards; identify spiders and their webs; look for owl pellets... Make nettle soup; or itching powder from rosehips; make a bark rubbing; an elder-stem peashooter; or elderflower fritters. Wake up in time to hear the dawn chorus; listen to the heartbeat of a tree; or just stand out in the rain for half an hour... With The Bumper Book Of Nature the whole family will want to switch off the television and computer, pull on their wellingtons and get outside to discover the endless bounty, beauty and fascination of nature right on our doorstep. Lavishly designed with over 160 full-colour illustrations of British wildlife and flora, along with gorgeous black-and-white line drawings throughout, this beautiful and timeless book will be treasured for years to come by children and adults alike.

The Bumper Book of Nature

From the bestselling author of The Robin, The Wren and The Twelve Birds of Christmas. With around 700,000 breeding pairs, the swallow is one of the most familiar birds in Britain. Though we consider the swallow to be 'our' bird, we also share this beloved creature with millions of others across the globe. Whilst we see it on a daily basis for half the year, the swallow then flies south to Africa, living on only in our memory in the long, dark winter. In The Swallow Stephen Moss documents a year of observing the swallow close to home and in the field to shed light on the secret life of this extraordinary bird. We trace the swallow's life cycle and journey, including the epic 12,000-mile round trip it takes every year, to enable it to enjoy a life of almost eternal sunshine, and the key part the swallow plays in our traditional and popular culture. With beautiful illustrations throughout, this captivating year-in-the-life biography reveals the hidden secrets of this charismatic and beautiful bird. PRAISE FOR STEPHEN MOSS: 'A superb naturalist and writer' Chris Packham 'Inspired, friendly and blessed with apparently limitless knowledge' Peter Marren 'Moss has carved out an enviable niche as a chronicler of the natural world' Daily Mail

The Swallow

Stephen Moss’s collection of Guardian ‘Birdwatch’ columns forms a fascinating picture of one man’s birding life: from early coot-watching as a young boy, through teenage cycle trips to Dungeness, to adult travels around the world as a TV producer working everywhere from the Gambia to Antarctica. Drawing on nearly twenty years of columns for the Guardian, Stephen covers local, national and foreign birding encounters. From the (varying) excitement and peace of his chosen pursuit, to the growing uncertainties posed by climate change, the author brings an enthusiasm and sincerity to the subject that will energise even the most fair-weather of birdwatchers. This elegant paperback edition features a truly beautiful cover linocut illustration by Robert Gillmor, the doyen of bird artists whose jackets grace all the illustrious Collins New Naturalist volumes.

The Best of the "Guardian's" Birdwatch

This Birding Life

A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Vibrant, fascinating, poetic - a year in living things: all the things we love, all the things we wish we could, all the little things we step over and never know - the best of British wildlife from two superb naturalists and writers' CHRIS PACKHAM From blackbirds, beavers and beetles to tawny owls, natterjack toads and lemon slugs. Every day of the year, winter or summer, in every corner of the British Isles, there's plenty to see if you know where - and how - to look. From encounters with the curious black redstart, which winters on our rocky coasts, to the tiny green snowdrop shoots that are the first sign that spring might be round the corner. And from the blossom-time and dawn choruses of April and May into the abundant noisiness of summer, where days start with hawker dragonflies and drowsy bumblebees and end with glow-worms and ghost moths; to autumn when in the early morning mist of London's Richmond Park male red deer lock horns in competition for a mate. Nature is always full of surprises - whether it's the strange behaviour of clothes moths or the gruesome larder of the strike. Distilling two lifetimes' knowledge, expert insight and enthusiasm, award-winning authors and passionate naturalists Brett Westwood and Stephen Moss take us through the year, day by day, sharing the unexpected delights that we can experience in our skies, beaches, rivers, fields, forests and back gardens. There are all kinds of adventures waiting on your doorstep, any day of the year, all you need is Wonderland.

A Year of Britain's Wildlife, Day by Day

Wonderland

- The follow-up to the very successful This Birding Life (7000 copies sold) - Another fabulously beautiful linocut jacket illustration by Robert Gillmor - By the author of the regular Guardian 'Birdwatch' columns - Author the producer of such high-profile BBC Natural History unit series as Alan Titchmarsh's The Nature of Britain, Birding with Bill Oddie and Springwatch

A Diary of a Birding Year

A Sky Full of Starlings

Selected as a Book of the Year 2017 in The Times 'There is no doubt that Moss’s book, with its charming cover and quaint illustrations, will make it into many a stocking this year' The Times No other bird is quite so ever-present and familiar, so embedded in our culture, as the robin. With more than six million breeding pairs, the robin is second only to the wren as Britain’s most common bird. It seems to live its life alongside us, in every month and season of the year. But how much do we really know about this bird? In The Robin Stephen Moss records a year of observing the robin both close to home and in the field to shed light on the hidden life of this apparently familiar bird. We follow its lifecycle from the time it enters the world as an egg, through its time as a nestling and juvenile, to the adult bird; via courtship, song, breeding, feeding, migration – and ultimately, death. At the same time we trace the robin's relationship with us: how did this particular bird – one of more than 300 species in its huge and diverse family – find its way so deeply and permanently into our nation’s heart and its social and cultural history? It’s a story that tells us as much about ourselves as it does about the robin itself.

The Robin

'BEAUTIFULLY, A BOOK ABOUT BIRDS' The Sunday Times | 'ENGAGING AND EYE-OPENING' The Countryman Uncover the life of owls through this beautiful guide to these secretive and charismatic birds from the bestselling author of The Robin, The Wren, and The Swan. Owls are among the most mysterious birds in the world. Their hauntingly beautiful calls and mostly nocturnal habits have long captured our collective imagination, inspiring more superstitions, folktales, and myths than any other group of birds. Seven species of owl - the tawny, little, barn, long-eared, short-eared, snowy and eagle owl - can be found in the British Isles (out of sixteen different kinds across Europe). They have lived alongside people for thousands of years, yet we still know so little about their day-to-day lives. Discover their fascinating lives, from the moment they first hatch, to the way they hunt their prey and how they raise the next generation. Explore the rich folklore they've inspired around the world and learn how, with a bit of luck, you can catch a glimpse of them yourself. With beautiful illustrations throughout, and expert birdwatching tips, this eye-opening biography reveals the hidden secrets of one of the world's most famous and beloved birds.

Stephen Moss

Books

Your next favorite book is out there