A love of birds has always been an important part of the British way of life but in wartime birds came into their own, helping to define our national identity. Matthew Rankin and Eric Duffey counted seabirds while looking for U-boats. Tom Harrisson, the mastermind behind Mass Observation, watched people ‘as if they were birds’ while POW Guy Madoc wrote a truly unique book on Malayan birds, typed on paper stolen from the Japanese commandant’s office. For Field Marshall Alan Brooke, Britain’s top soldier, filming birds was his way of coping with the continual demands of Winston Churchill. In comparison Peter Scott was a wildfowler who was roused by Adolf Hitler before the war but after serving with distinction in the Royal Navy became one of the greatest naturalists of his generation.

Bluebirds, Nightingales and Black Redstarts --Spitfires, Tawny Pipits and Ring Ouzels -- Convoys, U-boats and Seabirds -- Great Crested Grebes and Mass-Observation -- Pigeons and Peregrines -- Birds Behind Barbed Wire -- Wing to Wing -- Birder Brooke -- Birds, War and Winston -- Victory, Hobbies and Hosking -- Peter Scott, Hunting and Hitler -- Broke, Birds and Camouflage -- Grey Goose, Surrender and Slimbridge.