Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide to British Birds

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The thing is we have a lot of animals in the house, lots and lots. It's gotten a bit out of hand, we found mates for some of them –pals –and now we have dozens and dozens of the things," he says.

I think Keir was up against a lot of baggage from the Corbyn era and he had to deal with that to make Labour electable. I think he’s done that. If there was an election he would win and he’d make an effective leader. It was like doing an arts centre in Surrey, but halfway to the North Pole, and if you stepped out the door without a gun, you might get eaten, so there was an extra element of danger. I'm trying to build into the show a part on identifying New Zealand native birds, sort of a quiz, so start mugging up now on your bird calls." When we speak, for example, it is the morning after Bailey had attended a zookeeper's symposium at theHouses of Parliament. We saw recent polar bear footprints, but no bears. We did see an Arctic fox, and lots of birds were starting to arrive, as it was getting into late spring.This book has two things in its favour. Firstly, it is about birds and clearly I am increasingly drawn to these. Secondly, it is by Bill Bailey who has the honour of being one of very few stand up comedians who can make me laugh. I’m a miserable person, really, but both Bill Bailey and Ross Noble can reduce me to tears of laughter. I don't know why I mention Ross Noble when the book is written solely by Bill Bailey. Their home zoo started, he says, with a few rescue animals –"the odd scruffy-looking dog, a mangy-looking parrot". Now it boasts a variety of birds, monkeys, snakes, chameleons, cats, dingoes and more. Premiership Rugby Union: Northampton Saints v Exeter Chiefs, 2.30pm, ITV1/TNT Sports 1 The fifth round of fixtures, at Franklin’s Gardens. Beardy UK comedian Rory McGrath likens birdwatching to a couple of things here in the Birmingham Post in 2008. One of them is Leonard Cohen, the other is a bit more specialist. Either way, he says that it’s the sort of thing people own up to once someone else has the courage to out themselves. Jimi Goodwin

He did his first stand-up gig in the early 1980s as a teenager and has made a living being funny ever since. ja pildid! igast linnust on foto ka olemas, nii et on võimalik teda selle järgi enamvähem määrata - aga Bailey on ise ka joonistanud neid. nii linde kui muid olulisi tegelasi (Henry VIII, rebased, tema ise mitmes interpretatsioonis), tihti juures ka asjakohased jutumullid, ja nojah, see kõik on küll juba koomikule täitsa kohane. ühesõnaga, need pildid täiendavad juttu hästi. He is having his picture taken in his garden, which is half zen-style light grey gravel and half astroturf. Visible through a circular partition – a Japanese moon gate, as Bailey explains – is a shed with a recording studio in it. More intriguingly, on one side of the garden is another narrow shed, its contents shielded from view by silver foil and bubble wrap. Better known for being a boisterous petrol head, it turns out that Clarkson is a birdwatcher according to his own article on the Top Gear blog… although he does admit “ But which do I prefer… the Peregrine Falcon – my favourite bird – or the Ferrari 458? I’m afraid the answer is the car” before going on to suggest that extinction of some useless animal species isn’t really a bad thing. Alex Horne In 2020, Strictly Come Dancing called. Partnered with Oti Mabuse, Bailey might not have looked like a traditional dancer, but made up for it with enthusiasm and, as the competition wore on, increasingly impressive routines. The BBC One Saturday night audience discovered what Bailey fans have always known; that beneath his somewhat shambolic exterior, there is a virtuoso with a perfect sense of rhythm and timing.The multi-instrumentalist from The Doves features in The Bird Effect, a film about how birds affect and inspire people. Not sure if the band name came before or after the passion for our feathered friends, but it’s an apt one anyway! Bill Bailey olin muidugi sunnitud võtma ette eestikeelsete linnunimede andmebaasi ja endale tabeli tegema, sest ega ma ikka ei teadnud küll, et bittern on hüüp ja dipper vesipapp, näiteks. siin sain ka selgust, mis vahe on viul, tuuletallajal, kalakotkal, rabapistrikul ja puna-harksabal (klge, Eestis vist ei ole puna-harksaba? elus pole enne kuulnud seda nime. jääb mulle seega igaveseks meelde kui sõna, mille õppisin enne ära kõmri kui eesti keeles. barcud coch, pole tänu väärt). enne olid nad kõik mu jaoks ühed kullid kõik. I've seen kiwi, wonderful birds, I love keas –they're probably my favourite bird in the whole word, so gorgeous and cheeky. There is a falcon Iwant to try and see and various other beautiful looking things. I'll be on the lookout," he says. The streets are full of drunk Englishmen, there are people tottering up my street in England shirts, shouting 'Eng-er-land!'and all that. What a time to be alive.

If you're a parent who'd like to appear a bit clever when your child asks you the name of a bird; if you want to find a new and healthy hobby that takes you outdoors; or whether, quite simply, you want to understand a bit more about our natural environment and have a laugh at the same time, this is the companion book to have. Most people know Bill Bailey for his amazing performances where he expertly mixes comedy and music with a large dollop of zaniness, or his appearances on various panel games. What most people don’t know is that he loves all things about the natural world and is a massive fan of birds in particular. For this book, he has taken 51 of his favourite birds, from the generally unloved pigeons and herring gulls to the tiny wrens, deadly peregrines and the cheeky corvid family. Each of the mini-chapters on birds has facts and details of where to find them or in the case of the bittern, where you can go and look and generally fail to see them. There are parts of Central Sulawesi where you can just head off into the national parks, where very few people go. Sumatra, too, has some amazing parts, with Gunung Leuser National Park at its centre, one of the few places in Indonesia where working elephants still help to build bridges. It’s amazing to see. This famous photographer says that “at one point I wanted to be an ornithologist” according to an interview with Photo District News, saying that his dyslexia made more visual pursuits more logical. Trudie Goodwin

And the supposedly famous birders I’m not sure about…

Beyond party politics, he is doing his best not to be depressed by the “mess we’re in.” He lists its components. “Well, there’s the climate emergency, war, fuel crisis, cost of living crisis, permacrisis…” He trails off. He has noticed the jar full of spanners. At the festival in Knebworth, Bailey arrived on stage via a secret door in the amps, in a cape and a "terrifying Slipknot mask" of himself, before performing one of the biggest comedy gigs in the world, in front of 65,000 metal fans and on the same bill as Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax. I'm always worrying about the bears. They just stand around going, 'Look at that hairy bloke staring at us.'" The guitarist for British Sea Power contributed to the Big Garden Birdwatch blog run by the Guardianin 2009, although he didn’t have much joy, writing “ It’s drizzling in Brighton, and there’s not alot of action in my tiny city garden at the moment. I regularly put bread, meal worms and table mix out, so i’m hoping there will be a few hungry regulars braving the rain.” Prince Philip Jarvis (of Pulp fame, of course) has worked on an album for the National Trust, sung about trees and written a song called “The Birds in Your Garden” on the album We Love Life, and generally seems like the sort of lefty, arty, eccentric bloke who would enjoy birding. Alex Zane, Jeff Green and Jayne Middlemiss

The US National Book Award winning novelist has written a number of birding related articles for The New Yorker, although this writer seems to be annoyed that he is the ‘public face of birding’ in their opinion. Bill Oddie Yes. Last year I walked The Ridgeway, which is the oldest road in Europe. It runs from near Tring in Hertfordshire down to the Avebury stone circle. It’s brilliant and has become one of my favourite routes. I often go up there now on the train to do a couple of sections. That’s the intention. It’s maybe not for the hardcore birder. It’s more for someone who doesn’t really think about birds, yet if something catches their eye, wherever they are in Britain, that bird will be in the book. Yes, the Baileys are registered, accredited members of the British and Irish Association of Zookeepers and Aquariums. Another commenter comes through for us, thanks Tom. Sam (Samuel) West, the English actor and director is apparently a keen birdwatcher, and the evidence this time comes in the form of a BBC radio show with Clare Balding (the show is still available as at 25th Jan 2015 if you are interested!). Not sure if that qualifies Clare Balding yet, although she seems to be on a series of wildlife walks in this series so it’s promising! And the supposedly famous birders I’m not sure about… Daryl Hannah

Walking helped them to open up to each other. “When you’re talking to someone on a walk you’re facing the same way,” Bailey says. “Strolling along, chatting about difficult subjects, is easier than having a sit-down chat about it.” He adds that men are especially bad at talking about serious subjects. “I remember a friend asked to speak about getting divorced. We spoke about art, football, music, everything, then right at the end I asked how things were with his wife and he said ‘not good actually’ and got a taxi.” I’ve just done a tour of Europe and got a glimpse of the future. When I’m in the EU and travelling with all my kit, I breeze in and out. But going between [non-EU] Norway and the Netherlands, I had to declare everything. There’s all the extra queues and paperwork. This is what we’ve got to look forward to. Hannah Waddingham on the green carpet for the 2023 Earthshot Prize Awards in in Singapore. Photograph: Vincent Thian/AP