Robert `Rob` Hume is an English ornithologist, author and journalist specialising in avian and natural history subjects. From Spring 1989 (vol. 12 no. 5), until Summer 2009 (vol. 22 no. 6), he was editor of the RSPB's Birds magazine, having previously edited the young people's version, Bird Life, and been librarian at the RSPB's headquarters, The Lodge.
Hume did his early birdwatching at Chasewater, Staffordshire, and was a member of the West Midland Bird Club. He spent several years studying at Swansea University, during which time he birdwatched regularly at Blackpill and on the Gower Peninsula.
He is a past member (and the fifth chairman) of the British Birds Rarities Committee; and a past member of the editorial board of British Birds magazine, but resigned both posts in 1997. His autobiography, Life With Birds, was published in September 2005.
A Birdwatcher's Miscellany, Blandford Press, 1984 ISBN 0-7137-1385-2
A Year of Bird Life, RSPB, 1985 ISBN 0903138190
Birds of Britain, AA Publishing, 1988 ISBN 0751312347
Birds by Character - Britain & Europe: A Fieldguide to Jizz, Macmillan, 1990 ISBN 0333490533
Owls of the World Dragon's World, 1991 ISBN 1855853523
Focus on Birdwatching Heinemann, 1992 ISBN 0600573664
Discovering Birds, A & C Black, 1993 ISBN 0903138530
The Common Tern, Hamlyn, 1993 ISBN 0540012661
Seabirds (Hamlyn Bird Behaviour Guides) Hamlyn, 1993 (with illustrations by Bruce Pearson) ISBN 0-600-57951-4
Collins Gem Photoguide Birdwatching, Collins, 1995, ISBN 0004707567
The Shell Easy Bird Guide, (illustrated by Peter Hayman) Macmillan 1997, ISBN 033365420X
2002 edition ISBN 0-333-65420-X
The EBCC Atlas of European Breeding Birds, T & A D Poyser, 1997 ISBN 0-85661-091-7 (contributor)
Birds: An Artist's View, Courage Books, 1998, ISBN 978-0762403769
Macmillan Bird Guide, Macmillan, 1998 ISBN 0333766695
RSPB Birds of Britain and Europe, Dorling Kindersley, 2002 ISBN 1405307536
RSPB Complete Birds of Britain and Europe, Dorling Kindersley, 2002, ISBN 0-7513-7354-0
RSPB Complete Birds of Britain and Europe (revised and updated), Dorling Kindersley, 2007, ISBN 9781405322287 (includes CD of birdsong)
RSPB Birdwatching, Dorling Kindersley, 2003, ISBN 978-1405313520
English Birds and Green Places: Selected Writings: A Selection from the Writings of W.H. Hudson (Introduction), Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004, ISBN 0-575-07207-5
Rob Hume, Guilhem Lesaffre and Marc Duquet, 2004, , Larousse ISBN 2-03-560311-0
Life With Birds (autobiography), David & Charles, 2005, ISBN 0-7153-2181-1