About the Book
This extensively updated fifth edition of Bradt's The Arctic is an engagingly written and beautifully illustrated full-colour guidebook to some of the world's most exciting wildlife. Designed with expedition-cruise passengers in mind, it is an ideal companion both on board and ashore, providing fascinating accounts of the most likely animals and plants to be seen from polar bears and beluga whales to snowy owls and snow buttercups. Only a small number of hardy and evocative creatures including narwhals, walruses and Ross's gulls call the Arctic their year-round home. But come summer, the region explodes with life as plankton and plants flourish to support a massive population of fish, seabirds and whales, all taking advantage of seasonal abundance before retreating south to avoid the ice. For these few short months of almost endless daylight, the coastal Arctic from Greenland to Svalbard, Alaska to the Bering Sea offers a parade of wildlife delights. On a typical Arctic expedition cruise, you might marvel at walruses lounging on rocks or scan for harp seals bobbing in icy water. Watch Arctic foxes sniffing out goose eggs or gawp at the torrent of little auks flooding to cliffside breeding colonies. Keep your eyes peeled for polar bears and ivory gulls on ice floes, for the bushy blow that heralds a humpback whale or for a flash of white that signifies a beluga whale. Packed with fascinating natural histories that bring to life star species, and freshly updated throughout, The Arctic is a timely celebration of polar nature in an era when climate change is profoundly affecting extreme northern latitudes. Written by the late Tony Soper, expedition leader and founder of the BBC Natural History Unit, illustrated with full-colour watercolour paintings from award-winning wildlife artist Dan Powell, and updated by naturalist and award-winning travel writer James Lowen, this new edition is packed with fascinating insights into the natural history of Arctic wildlife, its narrative bringing to life the creatures that visitors are likely to encounter. An eminently portable guidebook, Bradt's The Arctic is the ideal companion for anyone exploring the far north. AUTHORS: Tony Soper was a naturalist film-maker who explored the coastal waters of Alaska, northern Canada, Greenland, Svalbard and Arctic Siberia north to the pole, as lecturer and expedition leader on icebreakers and ice-hardened vessels. His enthusiasm for wildlife was shared by a huge number of cruise guests for over twenty years. His Bradt guide, The Arctic, which has run to five editions, aims to answer some of their questions! Soper's other books include The Northeast Passage and Bradt's Northwest Passage. Tony Soper died in September 2024. Updater James Lowen (jameslowen.com) has been immersed in all aspects of natural history since he was able to walk, and is now a fully-fledged nature writer, editor, guide and photographer. James has written 17 books about wildlife and travel, landing two Travel Guidebook of the Year awards (plus two 'shortlistings'), a Nautilus Book Silver Award and a longlisting for the 2022 Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing. A longstanding tour leader in Antarctica, South America and Europe, he has also worked as a naturalist guide on a polar expedition-cruise ship exploring Svalbard, where he adored pointing out seals, cetaceans and unusual seabirds to passengers then inspiring them with tales of the creatures' natural history. Illustrator Dan Powell (powellwildlifeart.com) has been a wildlife artist since graduating from Dyfed College of Art in Wales in 1983. He was honoured as British Birds Illustrator of the Year in 1996. His work has appeared in numerous books and journals, including many publications by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, on subjects ranging from parrots to dragonflies. He is happiest when out sketching in the field especially when stuck in the middle of a bog. 160 colour, illustrations, 2 maps
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Exploitation and Conservation
Plants
Invertebrates
Fish
Birds
Red-throated diver, Northern fulmar, Northern gannet, Tundra (Bewick's) swan, Snow goose, Cackling goose, Brent goose, Barnacle goose, Long-tailed duck, Common eider, King eider, White-tailed eagle, Gyr falcon, Peregrine falcon, Willow ptarmigan, Sandhill crane, Purple sandpiper, Grey phalarope, Pomarine skua, Arctic skua, Long-tailed skua, Great skua, Iceland gull, Glaucous gull, Sabine's gull, Ross's gull, Black-legged kittiwake, Ivory gull, Arctic tern, Great auk, Little auk, Common guillemot, Bru¨nnich's guillemot, Black guillemot, Atlantic puffin, Snowy owl, Lapland bunting, Snow bunting
Terrestrial Mammals
Arctic hare, Lemmings, Arctic fox, Brown bear, Reindeer, Musk ox, Woolly mammoth
Marine mammals
Polar bear, Walrus, Ringed seal, Bearded seal, Harp seal, Hooded seal, Blue whale, Fin whale, Humpback whale, Common minke whale, Bowhead whale, Sperm whale, Northern bottlenose whale, Narwhal, Beluga, Killer whale
Bering Sea Nature
Plants, Pink salmon, Coho salmon, Short-tailed shearwater, Forktailed storm-petrel, Harlequin duck, Red-legged kittiwake, Pigeon guillemot, Horned puffin, Tufted puffin, Auklets/murrelets, Northern fur seal, Steller sea lion, Grey whale
Appendices
Guidelines for Arctic visitors, Glossary of snow and ice, Further reading, Species names in other languages
Index
Envoi
Author, Illustrator, Updater, Acknowledgements
About the Author :
Tony Soper was a naturalist film-maker who explored the coastal waters of Alaska, northern Canada, Greenland, Svalbard and Arctic Siberia north to the pole, as lecturer and expedition leader on icebreakers and ice-hardened vessels. His enthusiasm for wildlife was shared by a huge number of cruise guests for over twenty years. His Bradt guide, The Arctic, which has run to five editions, aims to answer some of their questions! Soper's other books include The Northeast Passage and Bradt's Northwest Passage. Tony Soper died in September 2024.
Dan Powell (powellwildlifeart.com) has been a wildlife artist since graduating from Dyfed College of Art in Wales in 1983. He was honoured as British Birds Illustrator of the Year in 1996. His work has appeared in numerous books and journals, including many publications by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, on subjects ranging from parrots to dragonflies. He is happiest when out sketching in the field - especially when stuck in the middle of a bog.
James Lowen (jameslowen.com) has been immersed in all aspects of natural history since he was able to walk - his love for nature initially inspired by a chance encounter as a toddler with a buzzard amid South Devon's leafy lanes. Upon fledging into adult plumage, James flirted with careers as a tropical conservationist and UK diplomat before becoming an award-winning wildlife and travel writer, guide and photographer. His 17 books include four for Bradt - Pantanal Wildlife, 52 Wildlife Weekends, A Summer of British Wildlife (winner, Travel Guidebook of 2016) and 52 European Wildlife Weekends.
Review :
"A beautifully written, engaging text by polar veteran Tony Soper which describes the habits and life histories of widespread species, which have been exquisitely illustrated in watercolour."
WWF Arctic Bulletin
"Bradt Travel Guides simply have the best wildlife coverage of any of the popular guide books."
BBC Wildlife
