Introduction iv
How to use this book ix
January
1 Into the trees
Bialowieza Forest, Poland, for European bison, Eurasian beaver, black and three-toed
woodpeckers, northern long-tailed tit
2 Hundreds and thousands
Extremadura, Spain, for common crane, great bustard, Iberian imperial eagle, red deer, otter
3 Big mouth strikes again
Kake Kerkini, Greece, for Dalmatian pelican, greater spotted eagle, lesser white-fronted goose,
sombre tit, rock nuthatch
4 Mid-Atlantic Europe
Azores, Portugal, for Azores bullfi nch, Atlantic canary, vagrant American birds, sperm whale,
short-beaked common dolphin
February
5 Wild goose chase
Black Sea, Bulgaria, for red-breasted goose, white-fronted goose, Yelkouan shearwater, pygmy
cormorant, golden jackal
6 The lynx effect
Sierra de Andujar, Spain, for Iberian lynx, mouflon,
Schreiber's bat, European free-tailed bat, stripeless tree frog
7 Blind love and headless chickens
Canary Islands, Spain, for houbara bustard, cream-coloured
courser, monarch, blind squat lobster, east Canary gecko
8 Snow? Go!
Latvia for Ural owl, pygmy owl, white-backed woodpecker,
three-toed woodpecker, raccoon dog
March
9 Parrots of the Arctic
Lapland, Finland, for Siberian jay, Siberian tit, pine grosbeak, red squirrel, aurora borealis
10 Lynxed in
Estonia for Eurasian lynx, Eurasian elk, hazel grouse, pygmy owl, three-toed woodpecker
11 Northern delights
Varangerfjord, Norway, for Steller's eider, king eider, gyrfalcon, Bruennich's guillemot, hawk owl
12 Giant transformers, phantom farters
Alentejo, Portugal, for great bustard, little bustard, black-bellied sandgrouse, Montagu's harrier,
calandra lark
13 Costa del Chameleon
Malaga, Spain, for Spanish ibex, Mediterranean chameleon, mirror orchid, black wheatear,
conehead mantis
April
14 Going underground
Sardinia, Italy, for Supramonte cave salamander, imperial cave salamander,
European leaf-toed gecko, lesser horseshoe bat, sawfly orchid
15 King of the gods - and orchids
Crete, Greece, for bory's orchid, Cretan orchid, snake's-head iris, dragon arum, Balkan terrapin
16 Hide and seek
Corsica, France, for Corsican nuthatch,
Corsican finch, Marmora's warbler,
Corsican fire salamander, Corsican crocus
17 Berlin's dark grail
Berlin, Germany, for goshawk, great bustard, mandarin,
wild boar, northern raccoon
May
18 Delta force
Danube delta, Romania, for white pelican, ferruginous duck, Pallas's gull, dice snake, steppe runner
19 Estonian nightlife
Estonia for Siberian flying squirrel, brown bear, raccoon dog, pine marten, capercaillie
20 Lesser is lovelier
Extremadura, Spain, for lesser kestrel, white-rumped swift, European roller, Spanish terrapin,
Schreiber's green lizard
21 Melting pot
the Burren, Ireland, for dense-flowered orchid, mountain avens, spring gentian, large-flowered
butterwort, transparent burnet
22 City-break falcons
Matera, Italy, for lesser kestrel, lanner falcon, Egyptian vulture
June
23 Nimble as a mountain goat
Gran Paradiso, Italy, for Alpine ibex, Alpine chamois, Alpine marmot, owly sulphur, nine-spotted
24 Perfect blues
Iceland for blue whale, humpback whale, harlequin duck, barrow's goldeneye, red-necked phalarope
25 Tisza, in bloom
Hungary for long-tailed mayfly, southern festoon, red-footed falcon,
European pond terrapin, common tree frog
26 Lakeland
La Brenne, France, for lilypad whiteface, yellow-spotted emerald,
brenne marsh-orchid, whiskered tern, viperine snake
July
27 Ultimate meat-eaters
Finland for wolverine, grey wolf, brown bear
28 Top of the world
Pyrenees, Spain, for lammergeier, Alpine marmot, Pyrenean rock lizard, Pyrenean brook newt,
Pyrenean saxifrage
29 Angel of the north
Svalbard, Norway, for Arctic fox, bearded seal, walrus, ivory gull, little auk
30 Butterfl y nirvana
Picos de Europa, Spain, for Apollo, dusky large blue, split-eyed owl-fly, wallcreeper, snow vole
31 Strong as an ox
Norway for musk ox, Eurasian elk, reindeer, Norway lemming, bluethroat
August
32 Moby-Dick under the midnight sun
Norway for sperm whale, long-finned pilot whale, harbour seal, white-tailed eagle, Atlantic puffin
33 Zino moonwalk
Madeira, Portugal, for Zino's petrel, Madeiran firecrest, bryde's whale, Madeiran pipistrelle,
Madeiran wall lizard
34 UEbercute
Vienna, Austria, for black-bellied hamster, European souslik, particoloured bat, moustached
darter, banded darter
35 Bounteous Biscay
Bay of Biscay, France/Spain, for Cuvier's beaked whale, fi n whale, basking shark, ocean sunfish,
Macaronesian shearwater
36 The bear necessities
Somiedo, Spain, for Cantabrian brown bear, wildcat, Iberian grey wolf, Pyrenean chamois,
Spanish ibex
September
37 Rock and a hard place
Spain and Gibraltar for barbary macaque, striped dolphin, honey buzzard, northern bald ibis,
two-tailed pasha
38 Et tu, Abruzzo?
Abruzzo, Italy, for Abruzzo chamois, Apennine grey wolf, Marsican brown bear, white-backed
woodp
