Our Wild Things columnist Eric Brown gets a look at the latest edition of the birdwatcher's identification bible with updates and changes which make it the indisputable market leader.

When news first broke of a new bird identification guide to be published in 1999 it was greeted with scepticism and disbelief by some of Britain's leading birdwatchers. They questioned why a new guide was needed to duplicate the excellent guides they had been using for years. They also expressed disbelief that the publisher behind one of their favourites was also producing the new book. Why is this publisher competing with itself, they wondered.

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For 55 years the Collins Field Guide to Birds of Britain and Europe had led the market in avian identification. In its first 39 years more than one million copies had been sold in 12 different languages. It had been reprinted 24 times and was so popular it was known by the nickname "Peterson, Mountfort and Hollom" after its authors. Many a bird ID dispute was resolved by the pages of Peterson, Mountfort and Hollom.

However, scepticism and disbelief soon disappeared when the newcomer was examined by those doubting eyes. The Collins Bird Guide seemed a worthy successor to Peterson, Mountfort and Hollom with superb bird paintings arranged opposite pages of description, eliminating the need to switch backwards and forwards from text to plates demanded by Collins Field Guide. Another classic had been issued.

Now the upstart has usurped the King, reaching one million sales in only 24 years after being translated into 23 languages with 300,000 sales in the Uk alone.

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Those sales figures are set for another hike with a third edition hitting bookshops. The first edition was updated and revised after 10 years to cover new trends in taxonomy and mirror advances in identification techniques.

This third edition takes bird ID guides to a new level. The cover price has increased by a fiver but you get plenty more bang for your buck. There are 32 extra pages with expanded bird groups, many former vagrants given full page status instead of a small entry at the back, extra and more detailed text and more than 50 plates fully or partly repainted. The entire text and range maps have been revised. The artwork is so skillful and eye-catching I'd be proud to have one of the pages framed and hanging on my office wall - especially the stunning redstart illustrations.

Of course 476 pages sandwiched between hard covers mean only the brave or foolhardy would venture into the field with this guide wedged in a pocket. But every birdwatcher eager to possess the latest avian information will be happy to store one in the car glovebox or at home. And anyway those clever people at Collins intend bringing out a paperback edition in May.

It seemed impossible to improve on the first edition of a book hatched largely in Sweden but with each new edition the publishers have done so. Utterly essential for the serious birdwatcher.

The book is dedicated to the memory of Kent's Peter Grant, acknowledged as one of Britain's foremost birdwatchers by the age of 28, who died tragically early at 46.