A Year in the Life of Snowdonia - Tapa dura

Bill Birkett has a wide-ranging eye that captures the colossal as well as the quirky and the curious. The captivating book depicts the rugged beauty of the high peaks around Snowodn and the outlying ranges, as well as the low-lying landscapes and townscapes from Conwy to Aberdovey. (Western Daily Press)

Crammed full of stunning photos, illustrating the four seasons and its affects of the Welsh landscape... A great gift for any keen walker or amateur photographer. (Westmorland Gazette)

The great joy is the fact that the photographer loves the landscape they are capturing and it shows in the stunning photos. (Irish Mountain Log)

We're told every picture tells a story; well you certainly have an abundance of stories here, with every photographer wishing they could take photographs like Bill Birkett. (Welsh Country)

Every year climbers, walker and nature-lovers trek there in their many thousands. Here they have a book to help them to cherish and preserve their memories. As for those who have not been fortunate enough to join these happy pilgrims, it gives a fine taste of what they have been missing. (Evergreen)

This is the seventh of Bill Birkett's prize-winning and widely praised photographic essays which portray, throughout the seasons, his love affair with the wildest and most impressive mountain areas of Britain.

Snowdonia, the third largest National Park in Britain, is unsurpassed in its variety of landscape. It ranges through the high rugged mountains around Snowdon to the far-flung high groups of the Rhinogs, Arennigs and Arans, and the mighty Cadair Idris. It stretches some 85 kilometres - from Conwy and its magnificent castle in the north to Aberdovey and its Roman road in the south.

Snowdonia attracts over 6 million visitors annually. A leading centre for all who love the natural world and a major recreational area for climbers and walkers, it is not a region of complete wildness: adding to its character are the 27,500 people who live and work there, in the heartland of Welsh-speaking Wales. Some 65 per cent of the inhabitants have Welsh as their first language, and have strong links with other peoples of the Atlantic coast, such as Cornwall, Brittany and the Basque region of Spain.

At 1,085 metres, Snowdon is the highest mountain in Wales and higher than any mountain in England; its evocative Welsh name Eryri means 'place of the eagles'. Along with some of the most dramatic and magnificent scenery in Britain, Eryri contains a huge variety of habitats for animals, birds and plants.

Between the sea and the mountains the region has 37 kilometres of coastline, with beaches cut by deep estuaries. Above the coast, glacially carved valleys fed by mountain lakes and streams support the remnants of broad-leaved woodlands of oak, ash, rowan and hazel. There are more National Nature Reserves in Eryri than in any other National Park in Britain.