Count me lucky to have a book like this to show me a place I've never visited. NATURAL WONDERS OF ASSATEAGUE ISLAND is enough to make anyone pack and head off to the coastal barrier island. The ponies on the cover are famous from Marguerite Henry's books about Misty of Chincoteague - the nearby, inhabited island. But the feral ponies graze on a wildlife haven, though today developers have created homes and holiday residences in some areas. From the dignified blue heron to the hunting osprey, this is a spectacular habitat among the dunes and sea grasses.

Mark Hendricks has captured the landscape and seascape in broad and minute canvases. His photography is full of vivid colour and immediacy, rewards for his time. He took to kayak as much as forest, spending weeks letting a great horned owl become familiar with him. Thirty-seven miles long and nowhere more than two miles wide, this spit protects the coastline and so is exposed to the wild Atlantic weather, constantly changing as a result. The dune plants tolerate salt, and the resulting barely disturbed natural area leads to a prime birding spot. Migrant as well as resident birds take shelter. Behind the dunes flourish shrubs leading to maritime forest which is home to many residents including the owl, deer and Delmarva fox squirrel. Blown in by bad weather come occasional visitors - Hendricks got a spectacular shot of a snowy owl.

Those famous ponies are all registered and monitored by either Maryland or Virginia. Hendricks often met a fine black stallion called Charcoal, guarding his herd. Winter brings a change of view - snow, bare trees, and geese feeding on eel grass in the salt lagoons. The white cattle egret has arrived here too - it recently turned up in Ireland - and follows the ponies as it followed buffalo in its native Africa. Shore birds include dunlin, whimbrel and ruddy turnstone, with Chesapeake's famous horseshoe crabs among other shore residents. Hendricks describes the conservation work involved in keeping nests of piping plover safe. He warns that small wildlife crosses roads, so drive slowly, and he participates in beach trash cleanups, imploring us to leave no litter. At the end Hendricks describes the photography equipment he used and assures us that no animals were disturbed while making the very fine work NATURAL WONDERS OF ASSATEAGUE ISLAND. As a coffee table book or a nature lover's dream, this is beautiful.