“Greater Manchester Birding City Region”, is the new book from author and ecologist James Walsh, aka The Mancunian Birder, it is now available as a free e-book with colour photos via Borrowbox, the online book borrowing service, and Greater Manchester Libraries.

The culmination of thirty years of research of the environment of Greater Manchester, the book is a personal introduction to birding in the city region, and is James’ fifth publication – the follow on from “Fruitful Futures: Imagining Pomona”, “The Birds of Salford Docklands”, “The Big 400” and “The Northern Greenhouse – A New Vision Of The North”.

The “Greater Manchester Birding City Region” (GMBCR) project started as a pledge to the Mayor’s inaugural Green Summit in March 2018 at Manchester Central, where Greater Manchester stated its’ ambition to be a world-leading “Green City Region”. GMBCR is compatible with city region plans such as the Natural Capital Plan, the Business Tourism Strategy and the 5 Year Environmental Plan.

The author, James Walsh, said “The Greater Manchester area is known for innovation and this book shows that “We do things differently here” and “What Manchester does today, the rest of the world does tomorrow”, it is also the start of a new era, a “greenprint” if you like - the concept of a “Birding City Region” is potentially worth millions of pounds to the economy, can enhance the Greater Manchester brand and is a unique, evolutionary concept that can be utilised in city regions around the world”.

“The format of this book covers all ten boroughs and I have selected a “Big Five” sites and a “Big Five” species to represent each borough. It is a book to create an interest in birds, birding, ecology and the environment for residents of, and visitors to, Greater Manchester, and for anyone with an interest in the environment, heritage and culture of the North of England. This book is essentially about connecting people with nature.”

“It’s encouraging to see the popularity of programmes such as Springwatch, the global movement towards a Green New Deal, the enthusiasm of youth conservationists, David Attenboroughs’ call for a “Nature Recovery Network” in response to the “State of Nature” reports and also Prince Harrys’ new initiative on EcoTourism.”

“In my opinion, perhaps the most important conservation technique of the 21st century is educating people who live in city regions about the environment.” 

This is the first book to be published by James connected to the Greater Manchester Green City Region project. Publication of the text and photos as a free e-book is part of the innovative, grassroots process, a gift to the people of Greater Manchester. James says “I want the people of Greater Manchester to see the book for free before it gets published. This book is also interactive, I’m inviting people to comment on email: northerngreenhouse@gmail.com”

Publishing

The book is currently available for free on Borrowbox, and it is also available for publishing. Any publishers who are interested in publishing this book please contact, James at northerngreenhouse@gmail.com