Rob Hume is a respected birdwatching professional. He has worked for Europe's leading bird charity, the RSPB, for 23 years, and for a good deal of that time he has been editor of its members' magazine, Birds. (Birds has a readership of 1.8 million.) Rob grew up in the 1950s, and Life With Birds tells the story of how he came to love birds and birdwatching. The book takes us through his boyhood and teens, when his passion for birding took him on many birdwatching holidays, and it includes his years at the RSPB. As well as writing with insight, affection and passion about birds, Rob also paints pictures of a lost rural England and a changing countryside. His gentle humour and wisdom permeate every page, making the book a must-read for everyone who cares about birds, conservation and the countryside. Rob has travelled all over the world watching birds, and he includes his reflections and memories of birds from places as far afield as the US, Israel and Africa. He has also met and worked with the leading names and personalities in the world of conservation, and the book is peppered with anecdotes about notable people such as Sir David Attenborough, Sir Patrick Moore and Sir Peter Scott. As well as being a best-selling author (his birding books for other publishers are massive critical and commercial successes), Rob is also an accomplished artist, and his illustrations bring a powerful additional quality to the book.