Birds in a Cage by Derek Niemann

I received an email in mid-November from a reader suggesting that we should review Birds in a Cage. My curiosity was piqued and I emailed the charming folks at Short Books to secure a copy. We are more used to reviewing field guides, site guides and avifaunas, so the prospect of reviewing a "proper" book was rather a novelty.

First impressions were certainly favourable. The book is a hardback with a pleasing heft and a well-designed cover. Four uniformed men are pictured thereon: Peter Conder (who would go on to be director of the RSPB), George Waterston (who established Fair Isle Bird Observatory and the Loch Garten Osprey watch), John Buxton (poet and author of The Redstart) and John Barrett (whose books would inspire millions to enjoy natural history). All four were separately taken prisoner in 1940/41 and would see out World War II in a variety of prisons, eventually coming together at Warburg PoW camp in autumn of 1941. They were united in relying on their love of birds to provide a figurative escape from their confines.

The book starts with an introduction and cast list, which lends very helpful context. As the years since the end of the last great war begin to stretch beyond living memory, it is a sobering reminder that six million men fought for Britain during the campaign. However this book is far from being miserable, maudlin or moralising. It is instead insightful, inspiring and uplifting. It is also beautifully written. The author, Derek Niemann, will be familiar to many as a contributor to The Guardian's country diary as well as the author of many books. He puts his considerable skills to good use weaving these threads of history into a compelling yarn. The book is liberally sprinkled with line drawings, photos and reproductions of letters and telegrams.

Birding in the 1940s wasn't a straightforward pastime. Telescopes and "field glasses" were only available to a favoured few, and reliable field guides were thin on the ground, and nigh-on impossible to find in a prison camp. The literary John Buxton wrote home asking not for cigarettes or spare socks, but exhorting his father to send Gilbert White's Natural History of Selbourne. However, the men had plenty of time on their hands, and they filled it by observing nests, building nest boxes, counting birds, noting dates of arrivals and departures, all recorded in detailed and fiercely guarded notebooks. The central European avifauna was unfamiliar to our cohort of British officers, and tricky species such as Crested Lark gave them the runaround.

In addition, these men were surely the first proponents of vis-migging. They spent hours gazing at the skies noting the species that flew over. In March 1942 they noted some spectacular movements. On the 14th of the month they had nearly 7,000 Skylarks over, and noted a daytime passage of 7,659 Rooks and Jackdaws. At night they heard Cranes passing over — although it took until a daylight party flew over the camp to work out which species was making the haunting honks. The irony of their observation of migration was not lost on the prisoners. The German guards eventually began to look upon the birding prisoners as harmless enthusiasts and tolerated or even encouraged the hobby, a fact that tunnel-diggers were to exploit to their advantage. Some unlikely friendships born out of a love of birds and natural history were to flourish.

Birds in a Cage is not simply a book about birds, nor is it a biography of Conder, Waterston, Buxton and Barrett, and nor is it a history book about the PoW camps of World War II. It contains, of course, elements of all three. It is a tale of survival, endurance, adventure and resourcefulness all bound inextricably to a love of birds. Anyone who has sat miserably at a desk gazing out of the window willing a Waxwing to appear in a nearby Sorbus has some insight into the minds of these men. This is a fascinating and engrossing book, a perfect Christmas gift, but make sure you buy one for yourself at the same time.