Birds & Flowers: An Intimate 50 Million Year Relationship is my latest book, published by Pelagic in March 2024. It’s available from all the usual places where you buy books, or direct from the publisher. It’s the first book to deal with birds as pollinators in their entirety, i.e. going beyond the usual culprits of hummingbirds, sunbirds, and honeyeaters.

Early reviews of the book have said things like:

Since the dawn of life on Earth, living things have co-evolved with our planetary environment and with each other. It is this interconnectedness that, almost paradoxically, underlies both the resilience and fragility of our world. There is perhaps no better example than the remarkable relationships between birds and flowering plants over the eons, adeptly explored by Ollerton in Birds and Flowers. Go on this amazing journey through time with Jeff and gain a better appreciation for our wondrous and beautiful living planet, the threat it is under today from human disturbance, and what we can still do to preserve it.
—Prof. Michael E. Mann, author of Our Fragile Moment

Join Ollerton in exploring the fascinating relationship between birds and flowers. His blend of ecological and evolutionary insights, enriched with a personal touch, makes this book a must-read. Don’t miss the chance to unravel the secrets of this marvelous interaction – a captivating exploration for anyone curious about the intricacies of our natural world.
—Anna Traveset, Research Professor, Mediterranean Institute of Advanced Studies

A tale of two of our best-loved categories of wildlife, their elaborate and often surprising interactions, and the dedicated scientists trying to untangle them. An absorbing, enriching account by a reliable (and very well-travelled!) expert witness.
—Ian Carter, author of Rhythms of Nature and The Hen Harrier’s Year

Ollerton gives us a masterful perspective on the biodiversity and evolution of the pollination of flowers by birds. A superbly written collection of vivid stories, plenty of knowledge, amusement, and passion for nature within a perfectly-blended cocktail of ornithology and botany.
—Professor Pedro Jordano, evolutionary ecologist, Doñana Biological Station

Ollerton takes us on a journey through deep time – wading through Jurassic forests – back to the dawn of an intimate relationship that evolved between birds and flowers: a story played out by hitchhikers, drunks and killers. Birds and Flowers challenges our perception of birds as mere natural curiosities, and puts them centre-stage in a quietly significant drama that first unfolded 50 million years ago: pollination. —Dr Chris Thorogood, Deputy Director of Oxford Botanic Garden and author of Chasing Plants

Buy your copy here

Pollinators & Pollination: Nature and Society was my first sole-authored book, published by Pelagic in 2021. It’s an up to date and highly personal account of why pollinators are important, how they interact with flowers, trends in their diversity and abundance, and how we as individuals and as a society can help to conserve them in a rapidly changing world.

The book was unanimously well reviewed and plaudits include:

Fascinating, entertaining, and thought-provoking. A highly readable mix of science, personal observation and anecdote, this is my favourite book of the many published on pollinators and pollination in recent years.

Professor Dave Goulson, author of A Sting in Tale, Bee Quest, A Buzz in the Meadow and The Garden Jungle

SUPERB. It contains everything I’ve spent the last 10 years trying to grasp, all in one book, AND written in a way I can understand! It makes such a difference to a non-scientist (like me) to be able to grasp the facts, and the science behind the facts, without having to first look up dozens of terms I don’t understand.

Brigit Strawbridge Howard, author of Dancing with Bees: A Journey Back to Nature

The first book that I was involved with, as a co-editor with Nick Waser, was Plant-Pollinator Interactions: From Specialization to Generalization (University of Chicago Press 2006). The volume was extremely well received and also gained some very positive reviews:

A masterful overview of a rich field in a stage of dynamic ferment….Plant-Pollinator Interactions will define much of the debate on the central issue of specialization and generalization in pollination biology. I recommend it to all students of pollination, as well as to those interested in broader issues of plant and animal interactions.

Henry F. Howe in BioScience

In Plant–Pollinator Interactions, Waser and Ollerton bring together experts from different regions of the world to address how patterns of specialization and generalization in pollination systems vary across spatial and temporal scales. . . . An important contribution to our understanding of plant–pollinator interactions. . . . By reading this book . . . one will conclude that pollination biology is undergoing a renaissance that will ultimately provide us with a deeper understanding of the evolutionary and ecological processes involved in this fascinating interaction.

Shuang-Quan Huang in Trends in Ecology and Evolution

Pollination biology at its best!…This book is a must-read for pollination biologists, and for those interested in evolutionary ecology, biological interactions, and co-evolution.

Markus Fischer in Basic and Applied Ecology

A timely piece, providing a comprehensive view of our current understanding of multispecies plant-pollinator interactions. The chapters are well referenced and well written, making for an informative text for graduate students as well as researchers.

Rebecca E. Irwin in Ecoscience