The wren is a paradox of a bird. On the one hand wrens are ubiquitous. They are Britain’s most common bird, with 8.5 million breeding pairs & have by far the loudest song in proportion to their size. They also thrive up & down Britain and Ireland: from the smallest city garden to remote offshore islands, blustery moors to chilly mountains. Yet many people, particularly a younger generation, are not sure if they have ever seen a wren. Perhaps because the wren is so tiny, weighing just as much as two A4 sheets of paper, & so busy, always on the move, more mouse than bird.

However if we cast our eyes back to recent history wrens were a mainstay of literary, cultural and popular history. … More

We live in a world that prizes the fast over the slow, the new over the familiar and work over rest. Birds Art Life Death is Kyo Maclear’s beautiful journey to stake out a sense of meaning amid the crushing rush. One winter Maclear felt unmoored. Her father had recently fallen ill and she suddenly found herself a little lost. In the midst of this crisis, she met a musician who loved birds. When he watched birds and began to photograph them, his worries dissipated.

Curious, she began to accompany him on his urban birdwatching expeditions and witnessed the magic of a transient city. Birds … More

The Birds and the Bees series was designed for Vintage Classics by Timorous Beasties, the Scottish studio famous for their … More

Tim Dee maps his encounters with birds over four decades of tracking them around the world. He tells of familiar … More

Spotting a little bird perched in a tree or taking flight into a blue sky is one of those perfect, … More