Nature books in the library

We’ve been having a very nature filled summer at the Library. Back in May we celebrated Outdoor Classroom Day with a display at Walsall Campus sharing a fun selection of books to encourage children to spend more time outdoors looking at nature and our wildlife. In Harrison Library we have a display of new Nature books set up on the first floorwith a selection of works on all types of creature, from insect to mammal, amphibian to bird. These are great ways to delve deeper into the wildlife around us and understanding their behaviour.

Among all these books is the award-winning The Book of Frogs, by Wolverhampton’s own Professor Mark O’Shea. This work won the Dartmouth Award for most outstanding Reference work for 2026. Mark first published the work in 2016 with Tim Halliday who passed during COVID. Mark then revised the work alone, telling us “It was a big job because 8-9 years had passed since the first edition and taxonomy is fluid subject so every single one of the 500 species accounts had to be read and updated, and many had to be rearranged, edited, reorganised and some were even replaced.”

Mark has been working with snakes, other reptiles, and amphibians for 5 decades in more than 50 countries. He has been awarded many accolades for his contribution to the field of Herpetology in addition to the Dartmouth Award, including the prestigious Millennium Award for Services to Zoology, Lifetime achievement award from the University of Wolverhampton Alumni Association, and made an MBE in 2020 for services to Higher Education, Zoology, Reptile Conservation and Snakebite Research. Further, in 2018 a newly discovered Asian Pipesnake was named Cylindrophis osheai was named after Mark. We are very proud to have him at the University of Wolverhampton.

You can find The Book of Frogs in the library.

For more books by Mark O’Shea;

• Book of Snakes
• Snakes of the World
• Lizards of the World
• Frogs of the World

Our Outdoor Classroom Day included such fun books as:

• Nature Trail
• Where my Wellies take me
• Zeki hikes with Daddy

Books on Nature and Wildlife on our Harrison display include:

• Animal Behaviour
• The Great British River
• Encyclopedia of Cats
• RSPB Pocket Book of Hedgehogs
• A Life on Our Planet

Inspiring resources to learn more about the world this summer.