Mrs Moreau’s Warbler: how birds got their names

Naturalist, broadcaster and author Stephen Moss combines detective work, natural history, folklore and first-hand observations to explore how birds got their names and our long and eventful relationship with the natural world. Through fascinating encounters with the bird kingdom and the rich cast of characters responsible for coming 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 words reveal as much about ourselves and our relationship with the natural world as about the creatures they describe.

Stephen Moss is one of Britain’s leading nature writers and broadcasters. Now based in Somerset, he was born in London, and read English at Cambridge before joining the BBC. His TV credits include the BAFTA award-winning Springwatch, The Nature of Britain and Birds Britannia, while his books include Wild Hares and Hummingbirds, ‘biographies’ of the Robin, Wren, Swallow, Swan and Owl, and Ten Birds that Changed the World. He writes a monthly Birdwatch column for the Guardian, is President of the Somerset Wildlife Trust, and teaches an MA in Nature and Travel Writing at Bath Spa University. A lifelong naturalist, Stephen has travelled to all seven of the world’s continents in search of wildlife.

Stephen Moss’s book TEN BIRDS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD is shortlisted for the 2023 Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing.