Keen birdwatchers have experienced black holes in their year totals of species seen as a result of covid-19 regulations.

Annual list compilers suffered huge frustration as thousands of birds poured into the UK to breed while they were locked down in April and May. They kicked their heels at home as birds who know nothing of social distancing, self-isolation or quarantine arrived on migration.

Birders scrupulously observing government travel restrictions will have missed out on seeing reed warbler, sedge warbler and probably cuckoo unless a reedbed falls within the scope of their one-hour exercise walk from home. Similarly, tree pipit and redstart will have eluded anyone not living within walking distance of heathland.

Wild Things: An encounter with an elusive local resident

However, help is at hand. Bird guide illustrations have scaled such a peak of excellence you could be staring down a high-powered telescope at out-of-bounds species whenever you turn a page.

No guide I’ve seen contains better bird photographs than WildGuides’ Britain’s Birds and a revised second edition of this formidable 576-page tome has just been published. The photograph quality provides art gallery experience as you flick through colour-splashed pages seeking birds arriving during lockdown.

There are around 3,500 stunning photographs of birds in all plumages with more than 800 new images. The most up to date British bird guide available features all 631 species accepted onto the British list to the end of 2019 and 15 still under review. Twelve new entries include brown booby, first seen in Kent, red-footed booby, Dalmatian pelican, Bulwer’s petrel and least bittern.

Page layouts and content have been improved to make identification simpler. Revised species accounts feature updated status and geographical ranges and comparisons with similar or confusing species in a guide appealing to all bird lovers.

Wild Things: A silver lining to a time of crisis

A huge effort has been made to eliminate errors from the 2016 first edition but I discovered rufous-tailed scrub robin on page 414 where Kites should be according to the bird groups index.

Never mind. You get more bang for your buck than the first edition with 16 extra pages and pictures pleasing enough to hang on your wall. A real tonic in troubled times.

Britain’s Birds, (second edition) by Rub Hume, Robert Still, Andy Swash, Hugh Harrop and David Tipling is published by WildGuides for Princeton. Price £20.