British Bird Sounds cover art

British Bird Sounds

The Definitive Audio Guide to Birds in Britain

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British Bird Sounds

By: Ron Kettle, Richard Ranft
Narrated by: uncredited
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About this listen

A total of 175 species are heard on this download, ranging from the familiar tawny owl to the very rare call of the bittern.

The authoritative guide to all British birds likely to be encountered by the average birdwatcher and the ideal gift for anyone wishing to learn the sounds of the great variety of birds that can be seen and heard throughout the seasons. A perennial best seller.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio on our desktop site.

©2000 The British Library Board (P)2000 The British Library Board Alternative & Complementary Medicine Animals Biological Sciences Biology Birdwatching Meditation Outdoors & Nature Science

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All stars
Most relevant

Any additional comments?

An Index is available as a short PDF download from the full audible site (under title). Although the Index is in the cd disk format, it still gives the order of play. Individual tracks can best be accessed in the player by accessing the 36 Chapters in the left margin.

Index is available

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What did you like best about this story?

I wanted to learn the calls of British birds and this book is a good learning aid.

Any additional comments?

While it is frustrating that the bird sounds are not separated in any way I have quite happily bookmarked as I have listened so that I can go back and listen to individual calls in future.

Useful for learning to identify by call

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Would you listen to British Bird Sounds again? Why?

Yes, I will listen to it over and over again to try to familiarise myself with the different bird sounds. This is a straight recording of the bird sounds with a simple spoken name of the bird before each recording. No other explanation or guidance.
You have to know the name of the bird first to find the sound recording, rather than matching/identifying the sound you hear in the wild by using the recorded sounds.

Any additional comments?

The Audible download dose not list any of the bird names separately (just chapters 1 to 36)
There is now a PDF download which lists all the bird sounds as individual items.

Chapter 1 = bird sound 1-5, chap 2 = bird sound 6-9, then every consecutive chapter includes the next 5 listed bird sounds (except for chap 20 which is only bird 95 &96)
Disc 2 starts with chap 21 = bird sound 1-4 (on disc 2) then back to each chapter being the next 5 bird sounds until the end.

Although this works, it's a real pain because you have to have a separate download or printed list rather than just scrolling through the playlist on your phone!!
Why make it so difficult to use??
Please, please update the chapter content on the actual playlist.

Great sound, difficult to use!!

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ideal for me i have trouble retaining bird sound , so i have to constantly refresh my memory . Also its relaxing to listen to. 1fault, brambling calls could be more comprehensive.

ideal for me i have trouble retaining bird sound

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Beautiful recordings: exactly what I needed to build up recognition of a few more birds each spring. This has added a wonderful extra dimension to country walks. It is also now fully indexed. Like earlier reviewers, my original download was one continuous recording, but my version on Audible has been updated and now has a separate, labelled chapter for all 175 birds. Try re-downloading if you're missing this.

Excellent guide and now fully indexed

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