Andrew Darby 2020. Flight Lines. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin, 324 pp.

Ostensibly about the Grey Plover (which I haven’t knowingly seen yet) but really this is just the thread that ties it all together, there is a lot about other migratory shorebirds especially godwits and Spoon-billed Sandpiper. This is how to write a natural history narrative: extensively researched but with a light touch, not a lecture. A great summary of recent discoveries about migration in shorebirds in general. Of course a lot also about the loss of habitat in the Yellow Sea and elsewhere along the flyway and the natural history and prehistory of Wrangel Island. As with all books of this ilk these days, there is regretably no bibliography and it is necessary to read the notes to find further reading references. By far the best natural history/wildlife narrative book of recent years.