Homebirds: Your Place and Mine's Anne Marie McAleese and Dot Blakely write book about birds and places around Northern Ireland

The pair, best known through BBC Radio Ulster’s Your Place and Mine, have put together a warm and personal book – a combination of memoir and nature writing illustrated with more than 100 stunning photographs.

Their friendship blossomed when Anne Marie invited birding expert Dot onto her radio show. She had no idea that it would mark the beginning of a life-changing birding odyssey.

For the next two decades, the pair travelled all over Northern Ireland, exploring the wonderful world of birds and the glorious and varied landscapes they inhabit.

In Homebirds, Anne Marie, who is from Portstewart, and Dot, who is from Bangor, tell the inspiring and often funny story of their adventures.

In all weathers, they make their way around parks and loughs, up hills and along coastlines, through villages and towns, meeting a cast of oystercatchers, blackcaps, fulmars, pied wagtails, buzzards, blue tits, herons, brent geese and many more.

The book is packed with information on how to identify birds and attract them to your garden, and includes fascinating facts about the places visited. Above all, Homebirds is a celebration of the wonders of nature on our doorstep and a call for us all to get out and enjoy them.

Anne Marie, who has been presenting Your Place and Mine since 1991, writes: “My first real bird memory is of going with my dad to see the seagulls flocking around Landsdowne and Ramore Head in Portrush. I was pretty young, probably smaller than the seagulls, but my enthusiasm for these wonderful birds stayed with me.

“It was not until I met Dot, however, that I really became interested in birds.

“She was brought in as a guest on Your Place and Mine about 20 years ago, and from the start her appreciation and understanding of nature and birds shone through. I found her passion and enthusiasm infectious.”

She said the pair meet regularly to explore Northern Ireland: “Because that’s the real secret of birdwatching – the beauty of the birds often goes hand in hand with the beauty of the place where they make their home.”