Book excerpt: Acclaimed wildlife artist Darren Rees lives in Wales and in this illustrated book he depicts the birds of the area. He takes as his theme a typical year and the birds that he will encounter in a wide variety of habitats. There are the familiar woodland birds, whooper swans at Charles Tunnicliffe's old house, Shorelands, kites, wheatears in Snowdonia, merlins and harriers, puffins, kittiwakes, gulls and other sea birds. Migrant birds are also captured by the artist, and as well as formal paintings there are sketches and notes from Darren Rees' sketchbook.